Ear Drone vs Sonofield Ear Trainer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ear Drone
Master musical intervals, chords, and scales with interactive exercises and reference drones. Learn solfege hand signs and practice with various instrument sounds or MIDI controllers. This app offers customizable training for musicians of all levels.
- Interactive ear training exercises
- Reference drones for pitch accuracy
- Multiple instrument sounds
- MIDI instrument support
- Customizable exercises
- Solfege hand sign learning
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Master your musical ear with the ultimate ear training app! Elevate your musical skills with our powerful and intuitive ear trainer application, designed to help musicians of all levels improve their ear training through immersive, interactive exercises and reference drones. Whether you're learning scales, modes, triads, or solfege hand signs (also known as Kodály or Curwen hand signs), this app has everything you need to master your musical ear with precision. Three Interactive Modes: Input mode: Dive deep into ear training with full user interaction. Listen to intervals, chords, and scales, then test yourself by inputting your answers. Listen mode: Improve your ear training without lifting a finger! Simply listen to the exercises and absorb the musical information hands-free. Great for passive learning, this mode is ideal for training your ear while you're on the go or in situations where interaction isn’t possible. Free play mode: Unleash your creativity with Free Play Mode! Choose your preferred instrument and explore its range of sounds in the app’s instrument views. Experiment with melodies, harmonies, and scales, using this mode for both practice and inspiration. Key Features: Background Reference Drones: Develop pitch accuracy and tonal memory using customizable reference drones. These steady tones provide a constant pitch foundation, improving your ability to match and recognize notes across exercises. Multiple Instrument Sounds: Train your ear in a wide range of musical environments by choosing from different instrument sounds, including keyed, stringed, wind, and synth instruments. MIDI Instrument Support: Expand your learning experience by integrating external MIDI instruments. Whether you prefer a digital keyboard or a MIDI controller, this feature allows you to practice ear training with the tactile feedback of your instrument of choice. Customizable Ear Training Exercises: Design your own ear training sessions to focus on specific intervals, scales, modes, or triads. The app supports a wide range of musical scales, from basic major and minor scales to more advanced scales such as Lydian, Phrygian, and Mixolydian. Build exercises that cater to your unique needs and push your ear training to the next level. Learn Solfege Hand Signs (Kodály/Curwen): Perfect your ability to visualize and sing pitches using solfege hand signs, an excellent method for enhancing sight-singing, pitch recognition, and tonal awareness. Who is This App For? - Musicians and music students who want to sharpen their ear for intervals, chords, scales, and modes. - Teachers looking for a comprehensive tool to assist students in learning music theory and solfege. - Instrumentalists who wish to improve their pitch recognition and tone matching skills. - Singers who want to master solfege hand signs and enhance their sight-singing abilities. - Producers and composers aiming to sharpen their tonal awareness across different instrument sounds, from piano and guitar to synths and wind instruments. Keywords: ear trainer, ear training, music practice, drones, instrument, piano, guitar, synth, MIDI, triads, scales, modes, solfege Hand Signs, Kodály, Curwen, hand signs, musical ear development. Download the app today and start your journey toward mastering your musical ear. Whether you're practicing with hands-on exercises, passively listening, or engaging in free play, you'll have all the tools you need to become a well-rounded musician!
Sonofield Ear Trainer
This app helps musicians develop their ear by focusing on the feeling of individual notes within a key, rather than traditional interval training. It uses sustained drones and offers various modes like identifying scale degrees, melodies, and singing exercises. The app adapts to your skill level with an intuitive interface and progression path.
- Feeling-based note recognition
- Scale degree identification
- Melody recognition training
- Singing exercises
- Hands-free training mode
- Interactive exploration instrument
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Sonofield Ear Trainer (SET) is a revolutionary ear training app designed to help you intuitively play the melodies you hear and imagine. Instead of relying on traditional old methods like intervals, SET focuses on helping you feel the unique character of each note within a key. By using sustained drones to create a tonal foundation, you’ll learn to recognize scale degrees based on their *feeling*, not just how they sound. The app offers a variety of ways to train: * Degrees Mode - Identify individual notes against the drone by feeling. The heart of SET. * Melody Mode - Identify short melodic phrases, preparing you for real music. * Voice Mode - Sing the requested scale degree into your microphone. * Pocket Mode - Hands-free training for when you're on the go. * Free Play - An interactive instrument for exploration. With its intuitive, color-coded interface, thoughtfully designed progression path, and multiple difficulty levels, SET adapts to your skill level while keeping practice engaging. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced musician, SET is your guide to unlocking true musical fluency through intuitive, feeling-based ear training. No ads or forced payments. The free version contains full foundations for feeling-based ear training. Download the ear training app now!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Sonofield Ear Trainer at every 9 days against Ear Drone's every 2 months. Sonofield Ear Trainer also leads on ratings volume (376 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.2). Ear Drone's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and review sentiment (100% vs 89%). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Ear Drone sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Sonofield Ear Trainer sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Ear Drone against 4.9 for Sonofield Ear Trainer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sonofield Ear Trainer has 376 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Ear Drone's written reviews are positive against 89% of Sonofield Ear Trainer's.
Ear Drone ships an update every 2 months, Sonofield Ear Trainer every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on June 7, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ear Drone | Sonofield Ear Trainer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.9 (376 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 88.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 376 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.2 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 919 MB | 105 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jason Fleischer | Sonofield Ear Trainer Education Ltd. |
Customer experience
Ear Drone
Sonofield Ear Trainer
Bugs and requests
Ear Drone
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Sonofield Ear Trainer
Reported bugs
1 issue- None reported
Requested features
5 requests- Option to switch between 12TET and just intonation
- Ability to reduce octave range
- Incorporate more timbre options for drone and notes
- Tracking and visualization of progress and learned skills
- Add interactive tutorial for level 1
In-app purchases
Ear Drone
- Fully Unlocked$1.99
- Generously Fully Unlocked$3.99
- Very Generously Fully Unlocked$6.99
Sonofield Ear Trainer
- Lifetime Pro$14.99
- Lifetime Pro$17.99
- Lifetime Pro2 variants$19.99
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- Lifetime Pro$24.99
Questions
Is Ear Drone free?
Is Sonofield Ear Trainer free?
Which has better reviews, Ear Drone or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
Do Ear Drone or Sonofield Ear Trainer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Ear Drone or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
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