Music Spectrograph vs SoundScope
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.
SoundScope
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See what you hear. SoundScope turns your iPhone and iPad into a professional audio analyzer: a real-time spectrum analyzer, a broadcast-standard loudness meter and a mix assistant that tells you what to fix. All in one app. LOUDNESS, MEASURED PROPERLY • Momentary, short-term and integrated LUFS to ITU-R BS.1770 • True peak, loudness range (LRA), DR and PLR • Start, stop and reset a measurement whenever you need MIX DIAGNOSTICS • Clear alerts for clipping, true peak, streaming loudness, crushed dynamics and mono bass cancellation • Tonal balance checked against genre profiles: General, EDM, Hip-Hop, Classical, Rock, Acoustic and Podcast/Voice • See how far Spotify and YouTube will turn your track down, before you upload SPECTRUM ANALYZER • Real-time FFT from 20 Hz to 20 kHz with peak hold • Bar or line view, 20 to 120 bands, logarithmic or linear scale • FFT modes for transients, balance and mastering, with adjustable FFT size and overlap • Hold the spectrum to study a single moment FIVE FULL-SCREEN VISUALIZERS Turn your phone sideways for Spectrum Bars, Spectrum Line, Radial Bloom, Spectrogram and Ribbon Tunnel. Double-tap to switch views. STUDIO METERING • Dual VU meters with peak hold • Stereo image, phase correlation and left/right/mid/side spectra • Band RMS and mono compatibility for every band MADE TO BE USED • Eight color themes, including the per-frequency Spectrum rainbow. Swipe to change. • Built-in microphone or a connected audio interface, with adjustable sensitivity • A brushed-metal interface built for one-handed use PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything runs on your device. No subscription, no account, no tracking and no internet connection needed. One purchase covers iPhone and iPad. Made for producers, mixing and mastering engineers, live sound engineers, musicians, podcasters and anyone who wants to see their sound.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: SoundScope at $3.99 against Music Spectrograph's $9.99. SoundScope also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 weeks). Music Spectrograph's advantage is iOS requirement (12.4 vs 26.1). 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
Music Spectrograph costs $9.99 and SoundScope $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Music Spectrograph ships an update every 6 weeks, SoundScope every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Music Spectrograph | SoundScope |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $3.99 — better |
| Rating | 2.5 (4 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.4 — better | 26.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | HotPaw Productions | Waldemar Schneider |
In-app purchases
Music Spectrograph
No in-app purchases
SoundScope
No in-app purchases








