Comparison

FirstChair vs Ensemble Stage

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

Head to head
About

FirstChair

This app simplifies the process of planning and organizing seating arrangements for musical ensembles. It allows directors to create, customize, and manage seating charts for bands, orchestras, and choirs, offering virtual stages and flexible layout options.

Highlights
  • Customizable seating charts
  • Virtual stages for saved layouts
  • Grid-based and arc-based designs
  • Chair and stand numbering
  • Add names to charts
  • Export seating charts
Features
Read full description

Are you a band, orchestra, or choir director looking for an easier way to plan and organize your seating arrangements? First Chair is designed specifically for you! Whether you're leading a small ensemble or a full orchestra, this app helps you create, customize, and manage seating charts for your musical groups with ease. Key Features: - Customizable Seating Charts: Easily arrange your students in any configuration that suits your ensemble’s needs. Create layouts for bands, orchestras, and choirs. - Virtual Stages: Set up multiple seating arrangements and save them for future use, making it easy to prepare for concerts, rehearsals, and classroom setups - Flexible Layouts: Support for both grid-based and arc-based seating designs to accommodate different performance settings - Chairs and Stands: Get over all numbers and per row chairs and stands - Names: Add names to your seating charts - Export: Save or print images of your seating charts

About

Ensemble Stage

Effortlessly create stage layouts for bands and orchestras. Automatically place members, then fine-tune with intuitive touch controls. Export professional-looking charts for rehearsals, concerts, and competitions.

Highlights
  • Automatic member placement
  • Manual touch adjustments
  • Customizable stage types
  • Member data import (CSV)
  • PDF and image export
  • Cross-device sync (iPad/iPhone)
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

Do you spend hours every time you make a stage layout? Suisogaku Setting is an iPad and iPhone app for creating stage layouts (seating charts) for school wind bands, orchestras, and community ensembles. Register your members, choose the parts, and let the app place them automatically. Then just drag with your finger to fine-tune. You get a clean layout far faster than with PowerPoint, Excel, or hand drawing. ■ Who it is for ・Student conductors, band officers, section leaders ・Advisors, instructors, stage managers and stage crew ・Anyone who rebuilds a seating chart for every concert and competition ■ A layout in a few minutes 1. Register members (manual entry or CSV import) 2. Choose the stage (music room, gym, small/medium/large hall, competition stage, and more) 3. Select parts and place them automatically 4. Drag with your finger to adjust 5. Export and share as PDF or image ■ Main features ◎ Automatic placement for large groups Place parts or members in a straight row, an arc, or multiple rows at once. Set rows, players, spacing, radius, and conductor direction, and check a preview before confirming. With 60 or 120 players, rearranging takes a moment. ◎ Adjust directly with your finger Move, rotate, align, distribute evenly, group, and lock. Pinch to zoom and pan with two fingers. Every change can be undone. ◎ Designed for real band settings Players appear with an instrument color, abbreviation, and name. Place large instruments such as piano, double bass, timpani, marimba, and drum set, plus chairs, music stands, risers, and the podium. Add guest and extra players not on your member list, and show players who appear in only some pieces with a dotted outline. ◎ Sync between iPad and iPhone Signed in to the same Apple Account, your groups, members, and layouts are available on both devices. Build on iPad, check on iPhone on concert day. ◎ Member list import via CSV Import names, readings, grades, instruments, and more at once. The app suggests standard instrument names for abbreviations and English names such as Cl or Trumpet, and you review everything before importing. Your existing list is never overwritten without confirmation. ◎ PDF and image export for each purpose Create outputs for members, stage crew, or the hall from the same data, with or without names. A4 landscape by default, plus PNG, JPEG, printing, and sharing. ◎ Gentle notices The app points out objects extending beyond the stage and seats with no member assigned. The final decision is yours. ■ Use it with confidence ・All features are free, with no watermark. ・No account registration required. ・Data is stored on your device and in your own iCloud. The developer never sees it. ・Works offline and syncs when you are back online. ■ Where it helps Concerts / competitions / ensemble contests / rehearsals / welcome events / graduation concerts / stage meetings / documents for the hall Spend your limited rehearsal time on music, not on arranging seats. Try it for free. Designed primarily for iPad. On iPhone, you can view and make light edits to your synced layouts.

Screenshots

FirstChair4 screens
Ensemble Stage4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Ensemble Stage at Free against FirstChair's $1.99. Ensemble Stage also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.0) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Ensemble Stage is free to download; FirstChair costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ensemble Stage holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FirstChair ships an update monthly, Ensemble Stage weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
FirstChair versus Ensemble Stage: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFirstChairEnsemble Stage
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSteven QuinnKohei Ishikawa

Customer experience

FirstChair

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Ensemble Stage

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

FirstChair

No in-app purchases

None

Ensemble Stage

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is FirstChair free?
FirstChair costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ensemble Stage free?
Ensemble Stage is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, FirstChair or Ensemble Stage?
Ensemble Stage is rated higher. FirstChair averages 4.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Ensemble Stage averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do FirstChair or Ensemble Stage have ads?
Neither FirstChair nor Ensemble Stage shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FirstChair or Ensemble Stage?
FirstChair ships an update monthly, and Ensemble Stage weekly. Most recently, FirstChair was updated on November 4, 2026 and Ensemble Stage on October 31, 2026.

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