Comparison

Tenuto vs Quality Tones

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

Head to head
About

Tenuto

Enhance your musicality with a comprehensive suite of 24 customizable theory exercises and six essential musical calculators. Practice note and chord identification, ear training, and construct musical elements. Tools include accidentals, intervals, scales, chords, analysis symbols, and twelve-tone matrices.

Highlights
  • 24 customizable theory exercises
  • Note and chord identification
  • Ear training for intervals and scales
  • Musical construction exercises
  • Accidental calculator
  • Interval calculator
  • Chord calculator
Read full description

Tenuto is a collection of 24 highly-customizable exercises designed to enhance your musicality. From recognizing chords on a keyboard to identifying intervals by ear, it has an exercise for you. Tenuto also includes six musical calculators for accidentals, intervals, scales, chords, analysis symbols, and twelve-tone matrices. A short description of the exercises and calculators follows. –––––– • Note Identification • Key Signature Identification • Interval Identification • Scale Identification • Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the written staff line. For example: if shown a C, E, and G with a sharp; tap the "Augmented Triad" button. –––––– • Note Construction • Key Signature Construction • Interval Construction • Scale Construction • Chord Construction Construct the specified label by moving notes and/or adding accidentals. For example: if shown a C and an "Augmented 4th" label, move the second note to F and add a sharp. –––––– • Keyboard Reverse Identification Tap the piano key corresponding to the written note on the staff. While similar to Note Identification, this exercise uses a piano keyboard rather than note name buttons. • Keyboard Note Identification • Keyboard Interval Identification • Keyboard Scale Identification • Keyboard Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the highlighted piano key(s). If the C and G keys are highlighted, tap the "P5" (Perfect 5th) button. –––––– • Fretboard Note Identification • Fretboard Interval Identification • Fretboard Scale Identification • Fretboard Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the marked fretboard position(s). If the 2nd fret of the D string is marked, tap the "E" button. –––––– • Keyboard Ear Training • Note Ear Training Listen to the played reference and question notes. Select the piano key or note button corresponding to the question note. • Interval Ear Training • Scale Ear Training • Chord Ear Training Tap the button corresponding to the played notes. If E and F are played, tap the "Minor 2nd" button. –––––– • Accidental Calculator Display the accidental for a note and key. • Interval Calculator Display the interval for a note, type, and key. • Chord Calculator Display the scale for a tonic and scale type. • Chord Calculator Display the chord for a note, type, and key. • Analysis Calculator Display the chord for a symbol and key. • Matrix Calculator Display the twelve-tone matrix for a specified tone row.

About

Quality Tones

This app helps brass musicians improve their playing accuracy, range, and tone through randomized and customizable exercises. It offers a unique approach to practice, allowing users to focus on specific areas for dramatic improvement in sound and consistency.

Highlights
  • Randomized note practice
  • Customizable note range
  • Adjustable dynamics and articulations
  • Improve tone and accuracy
  • Practice full range on demand
  • Tailored practice sessions
Features
Read full description

Quality Tones train brass musicians to learn how to play any note, in any range, in any dynamic, beautifully and consistently. This method has been proven to dramatically help brass musicians of all levels develop a more beautiful sound, and a more consistent and accurate level of playing. Accuracy exercises are a must for brass musicians. There are hundreds of effective teaching methods designed to help brass musicians play more accurately, but there are two things that make the Quality Tone App unique and superior: 1. Randomization – In order to obtain maximum effectiveness, all quality tones in each session will appear in a random order. This method allows you to work on a variety of quality tones in your full range in a much more efficient manner. You will find this method more difficult than practicing attacks in a non-random order, but you will also find it supremely more effective. No longer will you have to worry about playing contrasting excerpts or passages right after the other, because you’ll be confident and trained to play any note beautifully, in any order, and in your entire range - on demand! 2. Customization – This app surpasses standard method books because it gives you the ability to work on exactly what you need to practice, and then constantly tweak it in a matter of seconds. You can customize the lowest and highest note that will be asked for in each session, and turn on or off 13 different variations of dynamics and articulations. This allows you to isolate and focus on specific areas you would like to improve. You could devote an entire session to soft high note attacks, improve your stopped horn technique if you’re a horn player, extend your extreme high range if you’re a lead trumpet player, or slow things down with a series of long tone variations - there are endless possibilities. This Quality Tone App will tailor to YOUR needs.

Screenshots

Tenuto4 screens
Quality Tones3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Tenuto at 665 against Quality Tones's 10. Tenuto also leads on chart position (#7 vs unranked) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 6 months). Quality Tones's advantage is price ($3.99 vs $4.99) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.8). On rating, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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

Tenuto costs $4.99 and Quality Tones $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Quality Tones holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tenuto has 665 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 94% of Tenuto's written reviews are positive against 92% of Quality Tones's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tenuto ships an update every 3 months, Quality Tones every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Tenuto versus Quality Tones: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTenutoQuality Tones
Price$4.99$3.99 — better
Rating4.7 (665 ratings)4.9 (10 ratings) — better
Positive reviews94.1% of reviews — better92.3% of reviews
Number of ratings665 — better10
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#7 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.89.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developermusictheory.netApps For Brass LLC

Customer experience

Tenuto

All ratings652 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral2.0%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews354 reviews
Positive94.1%
Neutral3.1%
Negative2.8%

Quality Tones

All ratings10 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive92.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.7%

Bugs and requests

Tenuto

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Sound cuts out
  • Unresponsive at times
  • Freezes up
  • Doesn't work well for guitar
  • Incorrect chord/key associations

Requested features

20 requests
  • Cadences and inversions for ear training
  • Chord progressions for ear training
  • Melodic and harmonic minor modes for scale recognition
  • 6th, 9th, 11th and 13th chord extensions for chord recognition
  • Melodic dictation
Show 15 more
  • Rhythm exercises
  • Fretboard reverse identification
  • Chord inversions for chord identification
  • Scales written on staff using various clefs
  • Rhythm, melodic, and harmonic dictation exercises
  • Part writing exercises
  • Exercises for form, cadences, etc.
  • MIDI support
  • Autoplay function
  • Ability to input notes/chords on fretboard
  • Chord progression ear training
  • Inversion options for chord and interval identification
  • Melodic and harmonic minor scale identification
  • Extended chord identification
  • Rhythmic dictation

Quality Tones

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Tenuto

No in-app purchases

None

Quality Tones

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tenuto free?
Tenuto costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Quality Tones free?
Quality Tones costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Tenuto or Quality Tones?
Quality Tones is rated higher. Tenuto averages 4.7 out of 5 from 665 ratings, while Quality Tones averages 4.9 from 10 ratings.
Do Tenuto or Quality Tones have ads?
Neither Tenuto nor Quality Tones shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tenuto or Quality Tones?
Tenuto ships an update every 3 months, and Quality Tones every 6 months. Most recently, Tenuto was updated on October 23, 2026 and Quality Tones on October 19, 2026.

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