The Dancing Master vs BeatMirror
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
The Dancing Master
This app helps English Country Dance callers organize and plan their events. It also supports calling for contradances, squares, and other folk dance styles.
- Catalog dances
- Plan events
- Supports English Country Dance
- Supports contradances
- Supports square dances
- Supports other folk dance forms
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The Dancing Master is meant for English Country Dance callers to use for cataloging dances and planning their events. It can, of course, also be used for calling contradances, squares and other folk dance forms. Before you purchase the program, we strongly recommend that you download and read the instructions at http://www.transportedproductions.com/TheDancingMaster/instructions.pdf to see, in detail, how this program works and then decide if this program is right for you.
BeatMirror
This app uses your device's microphone to detect and display musical tempo in real-time. It provides a scrollable graph of your tempo history, helping musicians improve their rhythm and internal clock. Features include a wide tempo range, flexible accuracy across time signatures, and visual feedback for tempo drift.
- Real-time tempo detection
- Scrollable tempo history graph
- Wide tempo range (35-220 bpm)
- Flexible accuracy across time signatures and rhythms
- Visual feedback for tempo drift
- Customizable zoom features
- Tempo keyboard with tap pad
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BeatMirror uses your device's built-in microphone to detect musical tempo in real-time. Just tap start and a graph of your tempo will appear right away, allowing you to scroll through your tempo history and see trends. Perfect for musicians looking to build their internal rhythm, or to see the tempo of their favorite songs in real-time! TESTIMONIALS: "BeatMirror truly is simplicity at its finest. That quality is missing from most apps who try to cram too many features into one app thus making it difficult to use and many times buggy. We feel like your app is VERY good. We're reviewing BeatMirror and it will be a part of the next show. It's got nothing but thumbs up!" - Phil Smith of "Drummer's Weekly Groovecast" (podcast) "When I first heard about BeatMirror, I was kind of skeptical but after trying it out for weeks now and playing with it everyday, I'm mindblown. Alex really wanted to put a focus on helping drummers improve their internal clock and I really think he's done so." - Richard Ducat of "Drummers I Like" (podcast) "Overall, this app is so quick and simple to use, there's not really an excuse as to why you wouldn't use it during practice sessions, just to see how you’re improving. If you're a drummer, having an app on your phone or tablet like BeatMirror just makes sense." - Laura Barnes of MI-PRO (mi-pro.co.uk) FEATURES: Good music needs good rhythm. But learning to stay on beat—learning to groove—isn't always easy. Build your inner metronome with BeatMirror and catch yourself when you're speeding up or slowing down. Here’s what BeatMirror has to offer: - Wide tempo range. Tempo detection between 35 bpm and 220 bpm. - Fast. Detects tempo quickly and accurately. - Flexible. Accurate across time signatures (e.g., 4/4, 6/8) and rhythm styles (e.g., swing). - Real-time, scrollable graph. Displays current tempo and tempo history in real-time. - Zoom features. Choose tight, loose, or full zoom—or double-tap the graph for easy toggling. - Easy sharing. Share your tempo graph with a tap. - Easy-to-read interface. Optimized for various light environments, such as stages and practice spaces. - Tempo keyboard. A special tempo keyboard (with tap pad) lets you set a target tempo easily and intuitively. - Visual feedback. If you drift from your target tempo, BeatMirror shows a red (slow down!), blue (speed up!), or green (perfect!) indicator. - Custom count-in. BeatMirror gives you an optional count-in before you start playing. - Versatile. Perfect for solo practice, band rehearsals, recorded music, and you can even use it at concerts! - Triplet mode. Boost accuracy in triplet-time with the new triplet mode. - Tutorial. An in-app tutorial gets you up and running in a flash. TIPS FOR BEST PERFORMANCE: - Avoid handling your device during tempo measurement. - Be mindful of competing noise near the device's microphone (e.g., conversation, typing). NOTES ON USAGE: - Recorded music. To detect the tempo of recorded music using BeatMirror, follow these steps: 1) Play a song from your favorite music player app using the device speaker (i.e., unplug your headphones). Or, play the song from a different device altogether. 2) Open BeatMirror and start tempo detection, adjusting the tempo range if needed. 3) The song's precise tempo will then be displayed in real-time. Questions or feedback about BeatMirror? Please don't hesitate to get in touch anytime. Just tap the envelope icon in BeatMirror or reach out at tenkettles.com/contact. Happy practicing! -Alex
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: BeatMirror at $6.99 against The Dancing Master's $29.99. BeatMirror also leads on ratings volume (253 vs 1). The Dancing Master's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 65%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On update cadence, 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
The Dancing Master costs $29.99 and BeatMirror $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
The Dancing Master holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BeatMirror has 253 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of The Dancing Master's written reviews are positive against 65% of BeatMirror's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on June 5, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Dancing Master | BeatMirror |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29.99 | $6.99 — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.7 (253 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 65.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 253 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ralph Canapa | Ten Kettles Inc. |
Customer experience
The Dancing Master
BeatMirror
Bugs and requests
The Dancing Master
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
BeatMirror
Reported bugs
15 issues- Beat detection inaccurate for guitar picking speed
- App rounds BPM to nearest whole number, losing decimals
- Phone overheats after prolonged use
- App doesn't work unless a target tempo is set
- App is not precise enough to measure rapid beats
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- Beat mirror goes gray and stops tracking during certain song sections (e.g., bridges)
- App does not work with headphones
- App does not work with acoustic guitar
- App is not auto-detecting beats, requires tapping
- App performance appears inconsistent with tempo recording
- App doesn't pick up correct BPM by playing music
- Mic on phone sometimes fails to pick up beat
- App doesn't work on iPhone
- App doesn't work without headphones
- App doesn't track BPM without first entering a target BPM
Requested features
4 requests- Toggle for BPM decimals display
- Option to switch between integer and double numbers for DJs
- Mode to just detect playing without setting target tempo
- More customization for tempo range zoom
In-app purchases
The Dancing Master
No in-app purchases
BeatMirror
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is The Dancing Master free?
Is BeatMirror free?
Which has better reviews, The Dancing Master or BeatMirror?
Do The Dancing Master or BeatMirror have ads?
Which is updated more often, The Dancing Master or BeatMirror?
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