Comparison

Melody Ear Training vs ChordDeck

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Interval recognition
  • Pitch sense improvement
  • Transcription skills
  • MIDI keyboard integration
  • Adjustable difficulty settings
  • Customizable melody parameters
Features
Read full description

***** 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!

About

ChordDeck

This app provides jazz chord flashcards for musicians to practice chord recall. It displays chord symbols, tones, formulas, and keyboard highlights, with audio playback. Users can mark difficult cards for later review.

Highlights
  • Practice jazz chord qualities
  • Circle-of-fourths or random root order
  • Continuous or one-pass practice sessions
  • View chord tones, formulas, and keyboard highlights
  • Built-in audio playback
  • Mark and review difficult cards
  • Local storage for settings and marked cards
Features
Read full description

ChordDeck is a compact flashcard app for practicing jazz chord recall. Choose the roots and chord qualities you want to drill, then move through a focused deck one card at a time. Each card starts with a chord symbol so you can recall the answer mentally or on your instrument before revealing the details. Reveal a card to check the chord tones, a short formula, a compact piano keyboard highlight, and built-in audio playback. Mark difficult cards during practice and review them again later from the first screen. ChordDeck is designed for musicians who already know basic chord concepts and want a fast, repeatable way to build fluency. It keeps practice visual and direct instead of turning each session into a lesson page. Features: - Practice common jazz chord qualities across selected roots. - Follow circle-of-fourths root order or use random card order. - Choose one-pass sessions or continuous practice. - Reveal chord tones, formulas, and compact keyboard highlights. - Hear chord tones followed by the full chord. - Mark difficult cards and review them in a focused deck. - Use swipe navigation, previous and next controls, and timed autoplay. - Keep practice settings and marked cards stored locally on your device. ChordDeck is useful for jazz students, pianists, guitarists, bassists, arrangers, and other musicians who want quicker recognition of chord symbols, tones, and formulas.

Screenshots

Melody Ear Training4 screens
ChordDeck4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: ChordDeck at $0.99 against Melody Ear Training's $9.99. ChordDeck also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 7 months) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). Melody Ear Training's advantage is ratings volume (37 vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Melody Ear Training costs $9.99 and ChordDeck $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ChordDeck holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Melody Ear Training has 37 ratings behind it against 1, 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 100% of ChordDeck's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Melody Ear Training ships an update every 7 months, ChordDeck weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Melody Ear Training versus ChordDeck: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMelody Ear TrainingChordDeck
Price$9.99$0.99 — better
Rating4.6 (37 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings37 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size295 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer262HzShinhye Lee

Customer experience

Melody Ear Training

All ratings37 ratings
Positive89.2%
Neutral2.7%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews37 reviews
Positive75.7%
Neutral10.8%
Negative13.5%

ChordDeck

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Melody Ear Training

No in-app purchases

None

ChordDeck

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Melody Ear Training free?
Melody Ear Training costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ChordDeck free?
ChordDeck costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Melody Ear Training or ChordDeck?
ChordDeck is rated higher. Melody Ear Training averages 4.6 out of 5 from 37 ratings, while ChordDeck averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Melody Ear Training or ChordDeck have ads?
Neither Melody Ear Training nor ChordDeck shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Melody Ear Training or ChordDeck?
Melody Ear Training ships an update every 7 months, and ChordDeck weekly. Most recently, Melody Ear Training was updated on November 1, 2026 and ChordDeck on October 28, 2026.

Other comparisons