Melody Ear Training vs Tenuto
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!
Tenuto
Enhance your musicality with a comprehensive suite of 24 customizable theory exercises and six essential musical calculators. Practice note and chord identification, ear training, and construct musical elements. Tools include accidentals, intervals, scales, chords, analysis symbols, and twelve-tone matrices.
- 24 customizable theory exercises
- Note and chord identification
- Ear training for intervals and scales
- Musical construction exercises
- Accidental calculator
- Interval calculator
- Chord calculator
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Tenuto is a collection of 24 highly-customizable exercises designed to enhance your musicality. From recognizing chords on a keyboard to identifying intervals by ear, it has an exercise for you. Tenuto also includes six musical calculators for accidentals, intervals, scales, chords, analysis symbols, and twelve-tone matrices. A short description of the exercises and calculators follows. –––––– • Note Identification • Key Signature Identification • Interval Identification • Scale Identification • Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the written staff line. For example: if shown a C, E, and G with a sharp; tap the "Augmented Triad" button. –––––– • Note Construction • Key Signature Construction • Interval Construction • Scale Construction • Chord Construction Construct the specified label by moving notes and/or adding accidentals. For example: if shown a C and an "Augmented 4th" label, move the second note to F and add a sharp. –––––– • Keyboard Reverse Identification Tap the piano key corresponding to the written note on the staff. While similar to Note Identification, this exercise uses a piano keyboard rather than note name buttons. • Keyboard Note Identification • Keyboard Interval Identification • Keyboard Scale Identification • Keyboard Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the highlighted piano key(s). If the C and G keys are highlighted, tap the "P5" (Perfect 5th) button. –––––– • Fretboard Note Identification • Fretboard Interval Identification • Fretboard Scale Identification • Fretboard Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the marked fretboard position(s). If the 2nd fret of the D string is marked, tap the "E" button. –––––– • Keyboard Ear Training • Note Ear Training Listen to the played reference and question notes. Select the piano key or note button corresponding to the question note. • Interval Ear Training • Scale Ear Training • Chord Ear Training Tap the button corresponding to the played notes. If E and F are played, tap the "Minor 2nd" button. –––––– • Accidental Calculator Display the accidental for a note and key. • Interval Calculator Display the interval for a note, type, and key. • Chord Calculator Display the scale for a tonic and scale type. • Chord Calculator Display the chord for a note, type, and key. • Analysis Calculator Display the chord for a symbol and key. • Matrix Calculator Display the twelve-tone matrix for a specified tone row.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Tenuto at $4.99 against Melody Ear Training's $9.99. Tenuto also leads on review sentiment (94% vs 76%) and ratings volume (665 vs 37). Melody Ear Training's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.8). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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 Tenuto $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Melody Ear Training against 4.7 for Tenuto. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tenuto has 665 ratings behind it against 37, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of Melody Ear Training's written reviews are positive against 94% of Tenuto's.
Melody Ear Training ships an update every 7 months, Tenuto every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Melody Ear Training | Tenuto |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $4.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (37 ratings) | 4.7 (665 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.7% of reviews | 94.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 37 | 665 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #5 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.8 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 295 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 262Hz | musictheory.net |
Customer experience
Melody Ear Training
Tenuto
Bugs and requests
Melody Ear Training
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Tenuto
Reported bugs
5 issues- Sound cuts out
- Unresponsive at times
- Freezes up
- Doesn't work well for guitar
- Incorrect chord/key associations
Requested features
20 requests- Cadences and inversions for ear training
- Chord progressions for ear training
- Melodic and harmonic minor modes for scale recognition
- 6th, 9th, 11th and 13th chord extensions for chord recognition
- Melodic dictation
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- Rhythm exercises
- Fretboard reverse identification
- Chord inversions for chord identification
- Scales written on staff using various clefs
- Rhythm, melodic, and harmonic dictation exercises
- Part writing exercises
- Exercises for form, cadences, etc.
- MIDI support
- Autoplay function
- Ability to input notes/chords on fretboard
- Chord progression ear training
- Inversion options for chord and interval identification
- Melodic and harmonic minor scale identification
- Extended chord identification
- Rhythmic dictation
In-app purchases
Melody Ear Training
No in-app purchases
Tenuto
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Melody Ear Training free?
Is Tenuto free?
Which has better reviews, Melody Ear Training or Tenuto?
Do Melody Ear Training or Tenuto have ads?
Which is updated more often, Melody Ear Training or Tenuto?
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