Comparison

Basic Pitch vs Melody Scanner

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

Head to head
About

Basic Pitch

This app makes music education engaging for all skill levels. It offers a gamified approach to ear training and sight-singing, essential skills for musicians. Learn to identify pitches, intervals, scales, chords, and rhythms through interactive exercises.

Highlights
  • Gamified music education
  • Ear training exercises
  • Sight-singing practice
  • Learn music theory concepts
  • Identify pitches and intervals
  • Chord and rhythm recognition
Features
Read full description

Basic Pitch builds internal pitch awareness through simple, game-like listening, matching, and singing.

About

Melody Scanner

Convert audio recordings and YouTube videos into musical scores. View transcriptions as classical scores, piano rolls, or guitar tabs, and play them back. Download your creations in various formats or share them with friends.

Highlights
  • Transcribe audio to sheet music
  • Support for piano, flute, violin, and guitar
  • Multiple transcription views (score, piano roll, tab)
  • Playback functionality
  • Download sheet music (PDF, MIDI, MusicXML)
  • Share compositions
  • Desktop version synchronization
Read full description

Transcribe piano music recordings to scores and edit them online. SUPPORTED INSTRUMENTS: Piano, Flute, Violin (beta), Accoustic Guitar (beta) Currently only solo instruments are supported, no bands or orchestras. FUNCTIONS » Transcribe YouTube song covers, microphone recordings and audio files to sheet music » View the transcribed music as classical score, piano roll or guitar tab » Playback the sheet music and listen to the result » Download sheet as PDF, MIDI, or MusicXML » Share your compositions with your friends » Synchronize with the desktop version WHAT THIS APP DOESN'T OFFER » Separation of multiple instruments: The note recognition can't separate multiple instruments. If you record multiple instruments playing simultaneously you will get bad transcription results! » Live note recognition: This app is not able to show you live note recognition results. Instead, it will take some time to perform the frequency analysis and show you the results. » 100% match percentage: This app won't detect 100% of the played notes and there will also be wrong detections. But depending on the quality of the input signal, it will give you useful suggests! WHY DO I NEED AN ACCOUNT? You create an account to ensure that only you can access your created sheet music! A lot of computing power is necessary to generate the scores from the audio, so it needs to run on a powerful server in the cloud. Also, you can access your sheets from the desktop version, too, by signing in using the same account. FREE AND PREMIUM » Transcribing audio to sheet music is a computation expensive process and needs to be run on a powerful server in the cloud. Your PREMIUM purchase supports us paying our checks and developing new features for the app. » The FREE version of this app covers Microphone and YouTube transcriptions. Uploading your own files is a PREMIUM feature. » In the FREE version sheets are limited to 40 bars (about 2 minutes). Upgrading to PREMIUM will unlock the full sheet. » PREMIUM subscriptions can be cancelled at any time and you will continue to use PREMIUM features until the end of the subscription period. » All with PREMIUM transcribed songs will stay unlocked forever. REQUIREMENTS » Internet: active internet connection for server connectivity » Microphone (optional) DESKTOP VERSION » There is a desktop version of this app available, which you can access in your browser. » The desktop version covers even more features like editing your sheets, since there is more space available on a bigger screen » You can login with the same account and synchronize your scores between multiple devices Give music your personal note! SUMMARY Transcribe music recordings from YouTube, MP3 or microphone to sheet music and edit them online. With the Melody Scanner App you can create on-the-go recordings of your instrument. Those are uploaded to your personal cloud songbook and transcribed to score. You can record your instrument, import YouTube videos or upload MP3 files. It has never been so easy to create sheet music! CONTACT US  We're always happy to hear from you. No matter what comes to your mind, we want to hear it. Would you like another feature? Does something not work as expected? Send us an e-mail at: support@melodyscanner.com This app is actively developed and there are updates on a regular base The Apple Terms of Use apply: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Basic Pitch4 screens
Melody Scanner4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Melody Scanner at Free against Basic Pitch's $1.99. Melody Scanner also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 weeks) and ratings volume (35 vs 11). Basic Pitch's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 1.7) and review sentiment (67% vs 28%). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Melody Scanner is free to download; Basic Pitch costs $1.99 up front. Melody Scanner sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Basic Pitch asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Basic Pitch holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11 and 35 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Basic Pitch's written reviews are positive against 28% of Melody Scanner's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Basic Pitch ships an update every 5 weeks, Melody Scanner fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Basic Pitch versus Melody Scanner: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBasic PitchMelody Scanner
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (11 ratings) — better1.7 (35 ratings)
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews — better27.5% of reviews
Number of ratings1135 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better13.4
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB27 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCarlos DeSotoKlangio GmbH

Customer experience

Basic Pitch

All ratings11 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Melody Scanner

All ratings35 ratings
Positive11.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative85.7%
Written reviews69 reviews
Positive27.5%
Neutral2.9%
Negative69.6%

Bugs and requests

Basic Pitch

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Melody Scanner

Reported bugs

20 issues
  • Upload function not working
  • App doesn't recognize stave lines/notation
  • App gives too many notes at once or notes octaves apart
  • Errors when generating sheet music
  • Premium features not unlocked after payment
Show 15 more
  • No sound from transcriptions
  • App jams on recording
  • White screen when uploading from YouTube
  • Cannot log back in after first use
  • Transcription errors
  • App doesn't detect volume/sound
  • Cannot open YouTube to transpose
  • Transcription not accurate
  • App doesn't work after payment
  • Record function jams
  • Errors prevent music creation
  • Doesn't transcribe music correctly
  • Doesn't work at all
  • App doesn't recognize simple melodies
  • Audio quality is lousy and scratchy

Requested features

10 requests
  • Single instrument mode on app
  • Full song transcription (not just 1 min)
  • Ability to export full transcriptions
  • More accurate transcription for complex music
  • Improved MIDI playback accuracy
Show 5 more
  • Ability to add YouTube songs
  • More instrument options (e.g., drums)
  • Better sound quality for transcriptions
  • Full song playback without blocking
  • Option for one-time purchase instead of subscription

In-app purchases

None

Basic Pitch

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Melody Scanner

Subscriptions2
  • Melody Scanner Premium Monthly$5.991 Month
  • Melody Scanner Premium Yearly$44.991 Year

Questions

Is Basic Pitch free?
Basic Pitch costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Melody Scanner free?
Melody Scanner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Basic Pitch or Melody Scanner?
Basic Pitch is rated higher. Basic Pitch averages 5.0 out of 5 from 11 ratings, while Melody Scanner averages 1.7 from 35 ratings.
Do Basic Pitch or Melody Scanner have ads?
Neither Basic Pitch nor Melody Scanner shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Basic Pitch or Melody Scanner?
Basic Pitch ships an update every 5 weeks, and Melody Scanner fortnightly. Most recently, Basic Pitch was updated on October 15, 2026 and Melody Scanner on October 18, 2026.

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