Music Spectrograph vs Tachyon
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Music Spectrograph
Visually reverse engineer sound and music in real-time with a live MIDI piano roll displaying pitch and frequency. Slow down or stop audio to analyze musical patterns, aiding in music transcription and learning.
- Real-time MIDI piano roll
- Pitch and frequency visualization
- Slow down and stop audio
- Music transcription aid
- Adjustable playback speed
- Color-coded pitch graph
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Music Spectrograph allows you to visually reverse engineer sound and music, in real-time. See a live MIDI piano roll showing pitch and frequency. When playing music files, you can slow down, and even stop sound in time. Music Spectrograph is being using in college music programs to aid in learning music transcription. The Hotpaw Music Spectrograph presents a high-resolution scrolling spectrogram as you listen, so that you can see these patterns in sound and music, as well as how sound corresponds to notes on a piano keyboard. This piano alignment makes it far easier to spot which frequencies in sounds correspond to which musical notes. Features include: - 12th-octave MIDI-pitch-centered spectrograph (also called a sonogram) - Usable with live audio, tunes from your iOS device's music library, or a file downloaded via a URL (web address) - Records up to a 4 minute spectrograph history you can stop, scroll back and review - Slow Down music files by up to 8X, or speed music up by 3X to skip sections faster - Stop music in time, and still hear the music frequencies present via re-synthesis (scroll back a little in time to bring up the ReSynth switch). - Play tunes in mono, left or right channel only, or with center-panned vocals reduced - Color the pitch graph to see if notes are in-tune or out-of-tune - Color the spectrograph for loudness, or graph in black-and-white or with Pastel colors - Mid-pitch filtering to remove some of the higher overtones Use the Input? button to select a tune from your library (DRM protected iTunes files not supported). Use the Gear button to select among several viewing modes. There's a volume control to manually set the sensitivity threshold. Stop playing or recording to scroll back and review or resynthesize sound. Touch the keyboard during resynthesis to isolate one note. For many musical sounds, this app will show you many overtones and harmonics, not just the fundamental pitch of notes. Some musical experience is required to tell musical notes from their overtones and harmonic frequencies.
Tachyon
This app allows users to blend any two sounds together to create unique musical expressions. Its intuitive interface lets you control pitch and tone independently, offering a mesmerizing visual experience as you play.
- Blend any two sounds
- Independent pitch and tone control
- Intuitive touch interface
- Mesmerizing visual feedback
- Custom sound library
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Do you want to play an electric guitar and a piano at the same time? What about choosing the electrifying buzz of a drill and blending it into the soothing tone of a human voice? Jordan Rudess and Kevin Chartier’s Tachyon gives you all these options and more. From the makers of the award winning app, MorphWiz, comes a new creation that allows images and sound to become one as they magically blend under your fingertips. Each note you play is an individual expression, allowing independent control of pitch and tone far beyond that of traditional instruments. Most instruments only allow you to play one sound at a time, but with Tachyon, you can seamlessly blend between any two sounds as you slide your fingers up and down the screen. The visual experience of Tachyon is just as mesmerizing. As you move along the playing surface, a field of twinkling stars morphs into the shape of your selected instrument, allowing a direct correlation between sight and sound. As described by Jordan Rudess, “Tachyon is simple to use and at the same time offers a unique musical expressive power. The sonic core of the app is a custom crafted sound set from my personal library, encompassing sounds as familiar as those you would find in your home toolbox, and as exclusive as the ones I use on tour with Dream Theater." Whether you’re a seasoned musician looking for a next generation instrument to further express your creativity, or just a regular Joe browsing the app store looking for a fun and simple purchase that will delight the whole family, Tachyon is the app for you! “Check out Jordan Rudess’s new album with Steve Horelick entitled “interSonic”which features Wisdom Music Apps”
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Tachyon at 3.8 against Music Spectrograph's 2.5. Tachyon also leads on price ($1.99 vs $9.99) and review sentiment (78% vs 50%). Music Spectrograph's advantage is update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 14 months). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
Music Spectrograph costs $9.99 and Tachyon $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Tachyon holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 13 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Music Spectrograph's written reviews are positive against 78% of Tachyon's.
Music Spectrograph ships an update every 6 weeks, Tachyon every 14 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Music Spectrograph | Tachyon |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | 2.5 (4 ratings) | 3.8 (13 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 77.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 13 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 14 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.4 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | HotPaw Productions | Wizdom Music LLC |
Customer experience
Music Spectrograph
Tachyon
Bugs and requests
Music Spectrograph
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Tachyon
Reported bugs
9 issues- IAA and Audiobus compatibility issues
- Does not work with Audiobus
- Does not launch with Audiobus
- Inter-app audio and Audiobus connectivity missing
- Broken on iPad 2 - iOS 7
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- Not compatible with iOS 11
- No sound output
- App doesn't work anymore
- App is broken
Requested features
18 requests- Audiobus and IAA support
- MIDI support
- MPE support
- Ability to record
- Update for notched iPhones
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Keyboard view
- More sounds/instrument packs
- Reverb settings
- User sample import
- Customizable scales
- Automation/Arp
- MIDI control
- Ability to import sounds from other Wizdom apps
- Moving filter in FX section
- Hold button
- Option to choose backgrounds
- Lock menu buttons
- More scales and custom scale creation
In-app purchases
Music Spectrograph
No in-app purchases
Tachyon
No in-app purchases









