Comparison

Music Spectrograph vs Pinkish Trombone

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Real-time MIDI piano roll
  • Pitch and frequency visualization
  • Slow down and stop audio
  • Music transcription aid
  • Adjustable playback speed
  • Color-coded pitch graph
Features
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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.

About

Pinkish Trombone

This app is a studio-ready instrument for iOS, expanding on a classic web-based speech synthesizer. It offers multitouch playability with modulation options and automatable parameters, functioning as a standalone app or AUV3.

Highlights
  • Articulatory speech synthesizer
  • Multitouch playability
  • Modulation options
  • Automatable parameters
  • Standalone app
  • AUV3 support
Features
Currently charting
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Based on Neil Thapen's classic web-based interactive articulatory speech synthesizer, Pink Trombone, Pinkish expands the original into a studio-ready instrument for iOS. While staying faithful to the original's multitouch playability, Pinkish Trombone adds a suite of modulation options and automatable parameters that breath new life into that venerable vocal tract. Pinkish Trombone operates as a standalone app as well as an AUV3 so you can use it in any of your favorite iOS DAW apps. Apple Silicon macOS users can even use it in Ableton Live!

Screenshots

Music Spectrograph2 screens
Pinkish Trombone4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Pinkish Trombone at 100% against Music Spectrograph's 50%. Pinkish Trombone also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.5) and price ($4.99 vs $9.99). Music Spectrograph's advantage is iOS requirement (12.4 vs 17.0). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Music Spectrograph costs $9.99 and Pinkish Trombone $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pinkish Trombone holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 3 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Music Spectrograph's written reviews are positive against 100% of Pinkish Trombone's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Music Spectrograph ships an update every 6 weeks, Pinkish Trombone fortnightly. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Music Spectrograph versus Pinkish Trombone: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMusic SpectrographPinkish Trombone
Price$9.99$4.99 — better
Rating2.5 (4 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#117 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHotPaw ProductionsAaron Meyers

Customer experience

Music Spectrograph

All ratings4 ratings
Positive25.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative37.5%

Pinkish Trombone

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Music Spectrograph

No in-app purchases

None

Pinkish Trombone

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Music Spectrograph free?
Music Spectrograph costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pinkish Trombone free?
Pinkish Trombone costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Music Spectrograph or Pinkish Trombone?
Pinkish Trombone is rated higher. Music Spectrograph averages 2.5 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Pinkish Trombone averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Music Spectrograph or Pinkish Trombone have ads?
Neither Music Spectrograph nor Pinkish Trombone shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Music Spectrograph or Pinkish Trombone?
Music Spectrograph ships an update every 6 weeks, and Pinkish Trombone fortnightly. Most recently, Music Spectrograph was updated on November 10, 2026 and Pinkish Trombone on November 10, 2026.

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