Trompong vs PentaMonochord
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Trompong
Experience the authentic sounds of Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebyar with this app. It features a row of 10 gongs, offering a realistic playing experience with high-quality sampled sounds and interactive controls. Explore detailed instrument views and customizable notation displays.
- Authentic sampled sound bank
- Realistic playing experience
- Ultra-low latency audio
- Zoomable instrument views
- Customizable cipher notation
- Ad-free experience
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World's first iPhone/iPad implementation of the main instruments of a Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebyar! A Trompong is a row of 10 gongs or kettles mounted on a frame, and is played by four players in the Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebyar. It plays the interlocking or kotekan parts and also marks the music by the patterns it plays. * Authentic sound bank sampled directly from real instruments * User interaction designed to replicate true playing experience * Playing sound can be stopped --- essential for Gamelan! * High-quality photos showcasing real instruments * Optimized for ultra-low latency audio playback * Zoomable views for detailed instrument exploration * Customizable display of cipher notations to suit your preferences * Completely ad-free for uninterrupted enjoyment
PentaMonochord
Explore the relationship between pitch and string length with a digital monochord. Build scales, hear intervals, and learn about Pythagorean music theory through interactive blocks and historical context.
- Build two-octave G pentatonic scales
- Hear and see interval relationships
- View Hertz frequencies and string lengths
- Play pentatonic tunes
- Scale-building game mode
- Background information on monochord system
- Historical timeline
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The Pythagoreans’ foremost innovation was to correlate pitch relationships to calibrated speaking lengths of a string on a monochord. Now, for the first time, there’s an app for that! Use IntervalBlocks to build a two-octave G pentatonic scale on the PentaMonochord using only octaves and fifths. Touch any block to see and hear its interval again, and watch the Hertz box to see how the frequencies of the two notes relate inversely to the string lengths represented by the IntervalBlock. Touch the note labels any time to play a pentatonic tune. Press “Switch to Game” to join the Pythagorean pantheon by building the whole scale with the minimum number of steps. The Intro and the Background Information explain the monochord system in detail, and the Timeline puts it all in perspective.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: PentaMonochord at $1.99 against Trompong's $4.99. PentaMonochord also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Trompong costs $4.99 and PentaMonochord $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Trompong ships an update every 33 months, PentaMonochord every 24 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Trompong | PentaMonochord |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 33 months | Every 24 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | emacsian Company Limited | Lucy Hudson |
Customer experience
Trompong
PentaMonochord
In-app purchases
Trompong
No in-app purchases
PentaMonochord
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Trompong free?
Is PentaMonochord free?
Do Trompong or PentaMonochord have ads?
Which is updated more often, Trompong or PentaMonochord?
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