Melody Ear Training vs MeanTones
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Melody Ear Training
Develop your musical ear with this engaging piano game. It helps improve interval recognition, pitch sense, and transcription skills. Suitable for both beginners and experienced musicians, it offers adjustable difficulty and MIDI integration.
- Interval recognition
- Pitch sense improvement
- Transcription skills
- MIDI keyboard integration
- Adjustable difficulty settings
- Customizable melody parameters
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***** Highly addictive piano game. ***** A fun way to develop a better musical ear! Great for experienced musicians and beginners. Music students love this app. ---- Melody Ear Training can help improve: • Interval recognition • Sense of pitch • Transcription skills • Improvising skills • Self esteem --- How to Play: • Tap "play" to hear the melody • To hear the melody again, tap "replay" • Use the piano to play the melody yourself • Play often to improve your score! --- MIDI In – Plug in your MIDI keyboard to enhance the experience! (Core MIDI compatible) MIDI Out – If you have a music instrument app (such as a synth) that can run in "background mode" and accepts virtual Core MIDI, you can play Melody Ear Training using the sounds of that app. --- Tips for the Beginners: Start with "2 Notes" for the melody length, set the difficulty to "Diatonic", and set the "Scale" to "C". Use the + and - keyboard range control to set the keyboard to a small range such as "C, D" or "C, D, E". Keep practicing, and as you progress you'll want to make the range larger. --- Tips for the Pros: Set "Feedback" to "Never" and turn on "Autoplay" to play continuously without ever missing a beat. Crank up the tempo to see how fast you can go! --- Melody Settings: Scale – 13 major scales Difficulty – Diatonic, Random Tonic, Chromatic Length – 2 to 6 notes Tempo – 60 to 320 BPM Keyboard Range – Starting at 2 notes in a major scale (ex. “C, D”) and up to 12 notes in a major scale (ex. “C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G”) with the ability to change octaves. Feedback – Set to "Never" to stop all messages. Set to "Wrong" if you only want messages for incorrect melodies. Sound – Set to "Piano" to hear the built-in piano sound. Set to "MIDI Out" to hear the sound of a music instrument app (such as a synth) that can run in "background mode" and accepts virtual Core MIDI. Autoplay – Turn on to always play the next melody immediately. Turn off if you want to play the keyboard freely between melodies. Key Labels – Turn off to remove note names on white keys. Allow Unison – Turn off if you don't want the same note to be played twice in a row. --- About the Difficulty Setting: "Diatonic" uses notes from a major scale. This setting is recommended. "Random Tonic" uses notes from a random major scale each time. "Chromatic" mode is the "extreme mode" where any combination of notes is possible. As a result, strange intervals like the Augmented 2nd (ex. F to G#) are possible. --- About the Score: Melody Ear Training is all about self progression. Tap the score to reset at any time. The game goes on forever and the music never ends! --- Can you guess the next note? Download the app to find out!
MeanTones
Explore the historical meantone tuning system used in Renaissance music. Learn about its principles, compare intervals to equal temperament, and test your knowledge with an interactive game.
- Meantone tuning system explanation
- Interactive piano and organ
- Interval comparison charts
- Background information on tuning
- Historical timeline
- Meantone knowledge game
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Why is that wolf lurking in the clavichord? Because it skulks along with the meantone tuning system, used by most keyboards of the 16th and 17th centuries. What is quarter-comma meantone temperament and how does it work? Which problem does it solve, and which problem does it create? MeanTones answers your questions with some math, some music, and lots of fun. Choose a note and an interval to play on the Piano, or switch to the Cheesy Organ if you’re brave. Either way, you’ll hear the interval in meantone, and you’ll see a complete chart of the numbers comparing it to the same interval in equal temperament. The Background Information explains the meantone tuning system in detail, and the Timeline puts it all in perspective. Press “Play Game” to put your knowledge to the test. You see and hear an interval, and quick — is it a wolf? If you’re right, you add a new layer of bricks to your house. But if you’re wrong, the wolf will huff and puff and blow your house down!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Melody Ear Training at 76% against MeanTones's 0%. Melody Ear Training also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.0) and update cadence (every 7 months vs every 24 months). MeanTones's advantage is price ($1.99 vs $9.99). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Melody Ear Training costs $9.99 and MeanTones $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Melody Ear Training holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Melody Ear Training has 37 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Melody Ear Training's written reviews are positive against 0% of MeanTones's.
Melody Ear Training ships an update every 7 months, MeanTones every 24 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Melody Ear Training | MeanTones |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (37 ratings) — better | 4.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.7% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 37 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months — better | Every 24 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 295 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 262Hz | Lucy Hudson |
Customer experience
Melody Ear Training
MeanTones
In-app purchases
Melody Ear Training
No in-app purchases
MeanTones
No in-app purchases









