Tachyon vs Scale Runner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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”
Scale Runner
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Scale Runner turns music theory into something you play, not something you read. Pick a mode and the app names a scale or a chord. You answer on a MIDI keyboard or the on-screen keys, and every note is checked as you play it. In the timed modes it checks when you played, too, against a metronome that never drifts. SIX WAYS TO PRACTICE • Scales: play scales from a random key, note by note • Chords: build the named chord, holding all the notes at once • Voicings: capture a shape you like, then play it in all 12 keys • Scale Running: hold chords and run their modes in time, key by key • Inversion Running: walk a chord up its inversions an octave and back down • Jam Mode: comp diatonic chords in time, one per bar, in a single key VOICINGS: YOUR SHAPES, IN EVERY KEY Play a voicing you want to own, say a drop 2, a rootless 13th or a stack of fourths. Tap its root and Scale Runner spells the shape out in degrees from the bass up. Name it, then drill it around all 12 keys. It is judged by shape rather than exact pitches, so you can play it wherever it falls under your hands, in any octave. Keep a library in order with folders, colour tags, text tags, search and drag-to-reorder. Three saved voicings free, unlimited with Pro. INVERSION RUNNING: ONE CHORD, TOP TO BOTTOM Walk a chord up through every inversion to the octave and back down, so your hand moves through the positions instead of jumping between them. The keyboard transposes to each new root, so the shape stays where you can see it. Run it untimed to build the map, or start the metronome and be judged a position per beat. JAM MODE: COMPING IN TIME Stay in one key and comp its diatonic chords against the click, one per bar. Follow the changes the app calls, or switch to freestyle and pick your own way through the key while it scores what you land on. Loosen it with "any chord tones", which accepts any voicing of three or more notes with the root in the bass, so the way you actually comp counts, not just textbook triads. Sessions run for as many bars as you set, after a counted-in start. SCALE RUNNING: CHORDS AND MODES AT ONCE Hold the diatonic chord in one hand and run its mode in the other, one note per beat, bar after bar, through a progression and around the keys. Set the progression, triads or sevenths, passes per key, and whether keys move chromatically or by fifths. WHAT'S COVERED • 25 scales: all 21 modes of the major, harmonic minor and melodic minor scales, plus both pentatonics, blues and chromatic • 13 chord types: triads, sixths, sevenths, sus and diminished • All 12 keys, cycled chromatically or by fifths • 5 progression presets, including 12-bar blues, as triads or sevenths PLAY IT YOUR WAY Connect any class-compliant MIDI keyboard over USB or Bluetooth and the app remembers it, reconnecting on its own next time. No keyboard? The on-screen keys do everything. TIMING YOU CAN TRUST The metronome runs on absolute time, so it stays honest from 40 to 240 BPM. A quick calibration measures your audio and Bluetooth latency and subtracts it, so an on-beat press reads as on-beat. Set the windows to Easy, Normal or Strict. KEEP THE HABIT Daily streaks with milestones, reminders at a time you choose, and per-key, per-chord and per-mode stats that show what you have actually drilled. PRACTICE WITH FRIENDS (OPTIONAL) Sign in to back up your streak, invite friends, applaud their practice and compare streaks. Only your display name, avatar and streak are shared, and only with friends you invite. Everything else works signed out and offline. SCALE RUNNER PRO A one-time unlock, yours forever on all your devices: • Scale Running, Inversion Running and Jam Mode, unlimited • Full progression presets, sevenths and key cycles • Unlimited saved voicings • Streak protection: one missed day a week is repaired automatically Every timed mode is free to try three times before you decide.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Scale Runner at Free against Tachyon's $1.99. Scale Runner also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 14 months). Tachyon's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). On ads 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
Scale Runner is free to download; Tachyon costs $1.99 up front. Scale Runner sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Tachyon asks for nothing beyond the download.
Tachyon ships an update every 14 months, Scale Runner weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tachyon | Scale Runner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.8 (13 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 77.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 13 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 14 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 35 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Wizdom Music LLC | C1GNUS STUD1O |
Bugs and 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
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- 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
Scale Runner
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Tachyon
No in-app purchases
Scale Runner
- Scale Runner Pro$14.99








