Band vs StemScriber
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Band
Create professional backing tracks instantly from chord progressions. Choose from thousands of styles and hear real musicians play your music. View chords, notation, and tabs, and even generate solos for improvisation.
- Instant backing track generation
- Thousands of musical styles
- RealTracks with live musicians
- Chord sheet and notation display
- Generated solos for improvisation
- Interactive instrument displays
- Record melodies via MIDI
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Band-in-a-Box® for iOS – Your Personal Backing Band! Band-in-a-Box for iOS is a powerful music creation tool that works as a standalone version of the popular award-winning desktop software. Now, you can create, play, generate, and transfer songs directly on your iPhone or iPad—anytime, anywhere! Includes chords, professional lead sheet and notation display and print out of chords, melody, lyrics, tab and more! Create A Professional Arrangement in Two Minutes Building a song from scratch takes less than two minutes! Simply type in any chord progression using standard chord symbols (e.g., D, B7, C/E), choose from thousands of styles, and press play—Band-in-a-Box instantly generates full backing tracks that sound incredible, thanks to our industry-leading RealTracks, featuring real musicians playing real instruments. Not only can you hear your song, but you can see it too—watch it play on the guitar fretboard, in tab, or in standard notation. Key Features: Band-in-a-Box® for iOS is so easy to use! – Create, play, and arrange great sounding songs easily. Includes chords, professional lead sheet notation, and the ability to display and print chords, melody, lyrics, tabs, and more. Thousands of Styles – Choose from an extensive library of genres: jazz, rock, pop, country, blues, hip-hop, EDM, punk, Americana, world, and more! Instant Backing Tracks – Generates MIDI and RealTracks accompaniments in seconds. RealTracks & RealStyles – Enjoy high-quality, real-instrument backing tracks. Generated Solos – Band-in-a-Box not only creates backing tracks, but will also generate solos based on your custom chord progression—an excellent tool for learning and improvisation! Chord Sheet & Notation – View songs on the chord sheet, professional notation, tablature, and drum notation. Interactive Instrument Displays – Watch MIDI notes being played on the guitar fretboard or piano keyboard in real-time. Seamless File Management – Load and save individual or zipped song files. Export, print, and share via AirDrop, Messages, Email, and more. Customizable Display Options – Works in both portrait and landscape mode, with a choice of dark mode or light mode. Record Your Own Melodies – Capture your ideas by recording directly to the melody or soloist track using a MIDI controller. Mixer & Editing Tools – Adjust instrument volume, edit chords, and fine-tune your tracks with the Chord Sheet Editor. Song Demos – Browse and listen to demo songs in different styles to find the perfect sound for your track. Built-in Help & Tips – A handy HELP button provides guidance and useful tips on using the app. …and much more! Perfect for Musicians, Songwriters, and Educators Band-in-a-Box for iOS is the perfect tool for practicing improvisation and music theory, songwriting, and music production. Whether you’re learning your favorite songs, experimenting with different musical patterns, or composing new tracks in minutes, this app is for you! Band-in-a-Box® for iOS – Your Ultimate Songwriting & Practice Companion!
StemScriber
This music app isolates individual instruments from songs, allowing users to slow down playback without altering pitch. It also provides chord charts and a built-in tuner to aid in learning and practicing music.
- Isolate any instrument
- Slow down tempo without pitch change
- Generate chord charts
- Built-in tuner and fretboard
- Practice music by ear
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Slow down any song without changing the pitch. Change the key without changing the tempo. Also on the web at stemscriber.com and on Android. Learn any song the way you actually practice it. StemScriber pulls a song apart into its separate instruments so you can hear exactly what you're trying to play. Then it slows it down so you can keep up. What it does: • Isolate any instrument. Mute the vocals and band, solo just the guitar (or bass, drums, piano, vocals). Finally hear the part that was buried in the mix. • Slow it down. Drop the tempo without the pitch turning to chipmunks. Sit with a fast riff at half speed until it's under your fingers. • See the chords. A chord chart is generated for the song so you can follow the changes while you play. • Tuner + fretboard. Built-in, free, no sign-up. Made for the way musicians really learn. By ear, slowed down, one part at a time. Whether you're working up a cover, learning a solo, or figuring out a bass line, StemScriber gets you from hearing it to playing it faster. Use it with music you own or have the rights to. Chord detection is a strong starting point, not a perfect transcription. It gets you playing fast, and you can trust your ears for the rest. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://stemscriber.com/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: StemScriber at 100% against Band's 23%. StemScriber also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.9) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 2 months). Band's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (38 vs 2). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. StemScriber sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Band asks for nothing beyond the download.
StemScriber holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Band has 38 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 23% of Band's written reviews are positive against 100% of StemScriber's.
Band ships an update every 2 months, StemScriber every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Band | StemScriber |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (38 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 23.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 38 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 771 MB | 121 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PG Music Inc. | Jeffrey Kozelski |
Customer experience
Band
StemScriber
Bugs and requests
Band
Reported bugs
17 issues- App crashes when saving songs
- Changes to chords, styles, and form not applied to playback
- Cannot generate RealTracks, only MIDI output
- Notation feature shows whole bar rests instead of arrangements
- Playback sync lag with chord display (2+ measures behind)
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- Cursor position out of range during playback
- App freezes when touching song title area
- Files not saving to local storage or Files app
- Song data loss after updates
- Instrument settings not persisting
- Server connection failures and timeouts
- Transpose function disappeared in recent updates
- Style gets stuck and won't change
- Inconsistent RealTracks generation
- Pick server option missing in some versions
- Screen controls hidden on iPhone due to notch design
- App doesn't rotate to landscape mode
Requested features
16 requests- Loop function for specific song segments
- Transpose functionality for practice in all keys
- Multiple chords per measure entry
- Ability to change key automatically for transposing instruments
- Mute individual instruments
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- Change instrument types (electric to acoustic)
- Adjust instrument volume levels
- Go To and Loop conductor features
- Change number of choruses on mobile device
- Landscape orientation support
- Offline editing capabilities without server connection
- Manual and comprehensive documentation
- Export to email and messaging apps
- Better Mac OS compatibility
- Rotate portrait orientation 180 degrees
- Standalone functionality without desktop BIAB required
StemScriber
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Band
No in-app purchases
StemScriber
- Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
- Pro Annual$89.991 Year
- StemScriber Lifetime$199.99








