Scaler 3 vs Fishtail
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Scaler 3
This music theory workstation helps you discover chords, explore harmony, and build complete musical ideas. It offers a redesigned workflow, expanded creative potential, and powerful new capabilities for songwriting and music production.
- Discover music's key with MIDI and audio detection
- Access over 1,000 chord sets, keys, and modes
- Build intelligent chord progressions with automatic voice-leading
- Structure full musical ideas with Scenes and Arrange Page
- Transform chords into melodies, basslines, and phrases
- Explore harmony with Circle of Fifths and modulation tools
- Host AUv3 plugins and interoperate with desktop versions
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The world’s most popular music theory workstation, Scaler 3, is now available on iPad — updated to Scaler 3.3 with Multi-Bind, improved Detection, enhanced workflow and desktop interoperability. With a redesigned workflow, expanded creative potential and powerful new capabilities, Scaler 3 helps you discover chords, explore harmony and build complete musical ideas. The workflow doesn’t have to end with your finished chord progression - Scaler 3 can host AUv3 plugins and features a full arranger and mixer, letting it fit into your existing setup or become your entire creative environment for music theory. Browse Draw from over 1000 chord sets, keys and modes, organised by mood, artist and genre. Build chord progressions by dragging and dropping chords, and receive intelligent suggestions for what could come next. Create Explore harmonic possibilities using tools like the Sketch Pad, Explore page, Circle of Fifths and Modulation pathways. Scaler’s creative tools and music theory assistance help you move beyond common progressions and discover new musical ideas. Arrange Turn your progression into a full musical sketch with tracks for chords, bass, melodies and custom MIDI patterns. Use Multi-Bind to perform and loop multiple lanes at once, creating fast composition ideas and live performance workflows. Scaler 3 can generate MIDI for all sorts of instruments and adapt it to the needs of your song. Host AUv3 plugins to play your parts, transforming Scaler 3 into a powerful composition and MIDI production environment. Key Features • Discover your music’s key with MIDI and audio detection and explore compatible scales, modes and chord sets • Access over 1,000 chord sets, keys and modes organised by mood, genre and artist inspiration • Build intelligent chord progressions with automatic voice-leading • Use Scenes and the Arrange Page timeline to structure full musical ideas • Transform chords into melodies, basslines, arpeggios and phrases using Scaler’s Motions library • Explore harmony using the Circle of Fifths, chord substitutions, inversions and voicing tools • Experiment with modulation suggestions to move between keys • Record ideas directly with User Track and edit them in the piano roll • Perform one-finger chords and melodies using Bind MIDI • Route generated chords and performances to other music apps using AUv3 and MIDI output • Play progressions using internal instruments including pianos, synths and orchestral sounds • Works standalone or alongside apps like Logic Pro for iPad, GarageBand, AUM and Cubasis • Move between Scaler 3 on iPad and desktop by sharing presets, chord progressions and files Content • Thousands of chords, scales and harmonic possibilities • Artist chord sets created by musicians including Carl Cox, MJ Cole and The Temper Trap • Generate MIDI with hundreds of melodic phrases, basslines and performances • Internal instrument library including pianos, synths and orchestral sounds Perfect For • Songwriting • Music production • Composition • Learning harmony and music theory • Exploring new musical ideas What People Are Saying “Scaler 3 is an incredibly powerful music theory tool. It's a gamechanger for both beginners and seasoned producers.” -David Wills (Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins) “Scaler 3 opens up a whole new world of possibilities… a fantastic gateway into harmony and composition.” -Daryl Bennett (Grammy-nominated composer) “Scaler 3 has evolved into a fully-fledged compositional toolkit. A triumph.” -Sound On Sound “Scaler 3 delivers the most comprehensive, powerful set of composition tools you can get.” -Attack Magazine “Scaler 3 takes everything that made Scaler 2 brilliant and makes it even better.” -The Sound Test Room Awards • KVR Readers Choice Awards - Winner 2025 • Plugin Boutique Awards - Best Music Theory Software 2025 • Sanjay C #1 Tool - Top Plugin of 2025 • #1 Music Theory App - Future Music Magazine 2024
Fishtail
This app generates complete musical forms using algorithmic composition based on music theory. Users can shape, perform, and rearrange these compositions, routing seven musical channels to their chosen instruments via MIDI. It offers extensive control over keys, modes, and expressive elements.
- Algorithmic music generation
- Multi-section compositions
- Seven-channel MIDI output
- Retain, reorder, and perform Takes
- Multiple intonation systems
- AUv3 MIDI plug-in support
- Ableton Link integration
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Fishtail is a generative MIDI instrument for iPhone and iPad. It composes complete musical forms, then lets you shape, perform, retain and rearrange them! Explore six composers, including Lumière’s evolving modal colour and Ritual Engine’s rhythmic energy. Roll D7 for a shaped recipe, then Generate and edit it. Fishtail does not use AI to generate music. Its musical output is created through algorhythmic generation grounded in musical theory. Build pieces from sections with independent keys, modes, meters, cadences and expressive treatments. Generate distinct Takes, compare them, reorder them and hand the next Take over at a natural whole-piece boundary. Fishtail produces MIDI rather than sound. Use it standalone or as an AUv3 MIDI plug-in, and route its seven musical channels to the instruments you choose. Ableton Link supports shared tempo and transport. Features: • Complete multi-section generative compositions • Seven-channel MIDI output • Retain, reorder and perform Takes • Seven intonation systems • Normal MIDI, pitch-bend and MPE output • MTS output • Ableton Link • .fishtail project save and recall • Standard MIDI and per-channel export • Experimental analogue CV file packages • Accessible light and dark interfaces No account, advertising, analytics or tracking. Tested in AUM
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Fishtail at every 3 days against Scaler 3's fortnightly. Scaler 3's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (165 vs 7). On review sentiment, 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
Scaler 3 costs $12.99 and Fishtail $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Scaler 3 holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Scaler 3 has 165 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Scaler 3's written reviews are positive against 50% of Fishtail's.
Scaler 3 ships an update fortnightly, Fishtail every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.
| Parameter | Scaler 3 | Fishtail |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $12.99 — better | $14.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (165 ratings) — better | 4.4 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 56.7% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 165 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.1 GB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Scaler Music | AMY NICOLA MCBRIDE |
Customer experience
Scaler 3
Fishtail
In-app purchases
Scaler 3
No in-app purchases
Fishtail
No in-app purchases









