Comparison

SongTab vs Scale Syllabus

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

Head to head
About

SongTab

Features
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SongTab is a chord recognition app designed for musicians and music enthusiasts. It identifies chords from audio, making it an essential tool for learning and transcribing songs. ## Key features: 1. Advanced Chord Recognition: SongTab excels at detecting a wide range of chords, from basic to complex jazz harmonies, including augmented, diminished, sixth chords, seventh chord, 7-flat-5 chords, inversions, and many others. 2. Capo Adjustment: Change virtual capo position to display transposed chord names. 3. Playback Speed Control: Alter song tempo without changing pitch. 4. Flexible Looping Options: Full song loop and A-B loop. ## Free Plan - Create 3 new projects per day - View chord progressions for the first minute of audio ## Pro Plan: - Identify chord progressions for entire songs - Unlimited projects - Adjustable playback speed ## About Subscriptions: SongTab offers three subscription plans to unlock unlimited access to all premium features: - 1-Month Subscription – $0.99 USD/month - 6-Month Subscription – $3.99 USD/half-year - 1-Year Subscription – $6.99 USD/year Prices may vary by region and are converted to local currencies according to the App Store pricing matrix. Subscription Terms: All plans are auto-renewable. Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your App Store account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period, at the then-current subscription price. You can manage or cancel your subscription at any time by going to your App Store account settings after purchase. Privacy Policy: https://soulreload.com/app/songtab/privacy-policy/ Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Scale Syllabus

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Scale Syllabus puts the 253 scales of Complete Scale Syllabus by Gianluca Barbaro in your pocket, and lets you see, hear and transpose every one of them. The scales are not a stored list. The app rebuilds them with the algorithm the book itself was made with: every seventh chord, every combination of available tensions, folded together by rotation. That is why the numbering matches the printed page exactly — scale 145 here is scale 145 in the book. WHAT YOU CAN DO • See any scale in standard notation, on a piano keyboard, or on a guitar or bass fretboard • Transpose to any of the twelve keys, with each note spelled the way a musician would write it • Start from any degree: pick a mode and the scale is shown from that note, in the key you chose • Hear a scale or any of its chords, ascending or arpeggiated, with the notes lighting up as they sound • See the triads and four-note chords every degree carries, inversions included, and view any of them the same three ways • Read the fretboard as a whole map, or touch a fret for the run one hand can play from there • Ask for a chord and the neck answers with shapes a hand can really hold — tap again for the next one • Walk through the sixteen ways a four-note chord can be laid out inside two octaves of keyboard • Choose your instrument once, and clef, written octave and transposition follow • Find a scale from the notes themselves: play a phrase into the microphone, or type the note names, and the app lists the scales that contain them and says what chord they make • Follow the relationships: which scales contain this one, which ones it contains, and which are a note away • Print a scale as a sheet of engraved music, export it as PDF, or share it • Read six short chapters of music theory, with figures the app draws itself • Mark favourites and keep your own written notes on any scale A guided tour goes through all of it the first time you open the app, and it can be replayed whenever you like. The app speaks English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese and Chinese, and you can look for a scale in your own language. The names of the scales themselves stay as the book prints them. WHAT MAKES IT ACCURATE The book's own derivation quietly loses four chord types, and with them five scales. This app generates them too — appended at the end, so that not a single number from the printed book moves. Note spelling follows musical function rather than whatever is cheapest to compute: a minor seventh chord is written C Eb G Bb, never C D# G A#. FREE AND COMPLETE Three scales are always open: major, harmonic minor and melodic minor — and with the major come all its modes, natural minor included. You can open two more of your choice, and the ones you open stay yours. A single purchase opens all 258 scales and unlocks printing, PDF export and sharing — no subscription, no account. Nothing you write leaves your device. The app has no accounts, no advertising and no tracking of any kind, and what you play into the microphone is analysed as it arrives and never recorded, stored or sent anywhere. Reports of wrong or missing scale names are welcome: me@barbaro.it

Screenshots

SongTab4 screens
Scale Syllabus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Scale Syllabus at 4 against SongTab's 2. Scale Syllabus also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, 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

Both are free to download. SongTab sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Scale Syllabus sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
SongTab versus Scale Syllabus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSongTabScale Syllabus
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 8 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer小舟 苏Barbaro Gianluca

In-app purchases

3 purchases

SongTab

Subscriptions3
  • Pro Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Pro Half-yearly$3.996 Months
  • Pro Yearly$6.991 Year
1 purchases

Scale Syllabus

One-time1
  • Scale Syllabus Complete$8.99

Questions

Is SongTab free?
SongTab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Scale Syllabus free?
Scale Syllabus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do SongTab or Scale Syllabus have ads?
Neither SongTab nor Scale Syllabus shows ads.

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