DronePlayer vs Note by Note
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DronePlayer
This app provides a practice tool for musicians to improvise over sustained tones, known as drones. It helps develop ear training and musical ideas by allowing users to mute drone voices for focused practice or add multiple drones for a richer experience.
- Improvisation practice tool
- Extended tonality practice
- Ear training development
- Muteable drone voices
- Multiple drone options
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DronePlayer is a fun, interactive practice assistant for improvising musicians. Playing over extended tonalities is a great way to develop your ears as well as your musical ideas. Long, sustained tones are generally known as drones. Drones have proven themselves quite useful for practicing. Many people use them to assist with intonation. Some enjoy playing scales over them. I personally have found them useful for practicing improvisation and improving my ears. Muting one of the drone voices is a great way to play with just a fundamental pitch. You can then improvise over this and focus on hearing how what you are playing relates. Adding a second drone voice just adds to the fun.
Note by Note
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Learn songs by ear by listening to real recordings. For each song we have slow simple recordings. We have a recording not only for each song but another recording for each section and another for each individual lick.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Note by Note at Free against DronePlayer's $4.99. Note by Note also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 months). DronePlayer's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.6). 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
Note by Note is free to download; DronePlayer costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
DronePlayer ships an update every 4 months, Note by Note every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DronePlayer | Note by Note |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 1.8 (5 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 37.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 57 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | tingjing.com | CGDevworks LLC |
In-app purchases
DronePlayer
No in-app purchases
Note by Note
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is DronePlayer free?
Is Note by Note free?
Do DronePlayer or Note by Note have ads?
Which is updated more often, DronePlayer or Note by Note?
Other comparisons
