Comparison

MIDI Scribe vs MusicBall

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

Head to head
About

MIDI Scribe

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MIDI Scribe is a free productivity app for capturing and organizing practice takes from your MIDI-capable musical instrument. Run it while you practice, and it will automatically start new takes after every session break, with a configurable auto-take idle time, as well as support for specific MIDI commands (such as a middle or left piano pedal press) to manually start and end takes. A piano roll is provided to review and scrub individual takes. Star the takes that you want to keep indefinitely, while unstarred takes are cleaned up over time based on a configurable retention policy. All takes can be exported as MIDI files for use in other programs. MIDI Scribe is completely private. Connect your instrument, capture your takes, and keep everything securely on your device . No ads, no analytics, no snooping on your usage, and nothing ever leaves your device unless you export it. MIDI Scribe is completely free and open source for you to enjoy.

About

MusicBall

Features
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Drop in a song. Watch a machine get built to play it. MusicBall takes a piece of music and constructs a whole contraption around it β€” plates, curving rails, spiralling drops. Then a ball falls through the lot, and every note you hear is the ball hitting something. It's oddly hard to stop watching. EVERY SONG GETS ITS OWN MACHINE Change the song and everything changes. A gentle piece grows tall spirals the ball winds slowly down through. A fast one packs tight columns it ping-pongs between. Switch back and forth and you'll never see the same machine twice. YOU'LL START TO SEE THE MUSIC Every note has its own colour, and it keeps that colour wherever it turns up. A few minutes in and you're spotting a melody's repeats on the wall before you hear them come round again. PICK WHO PLAYS THE MELODY Hand the tune to a different part and the whole machine rebuilds around it. Or let the spotlight travel between parts as the piece goes on β€” the ball slides across to a new rig each time the lead changes. Or run two balls at once, side by side. EVERY HIT LANDS ON THE BEAT The ball never fakes it. It arrives exactly when the note does, every single time β€” so what you're watching and what you're hearing are the same thing happening. BRING YOUR OWN FAVOURITE Seven classics are built in to get you started: Canon in D, The Entertainer, Turkish March, In the Hall of the Mountain King, FΓΌr Elise, Prelude in C and GymnopΓ©die No. 1. After that, bring in anything you like β€” your file stays on your phone. FLY THE CAMERA Ride along with the ball, or take over: spin around it, pan across the machine, pinch to take in the whole thing at once. NOTHING TO SIGN UP FOR No account. No ads. No tracking, nothing collected. It works exactly the same in Airplane Mode.

Screenshots

MIDI Scribe4 screens
MusicBall4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: MIDI Scribe at Free against MusicBall's $4.99. MIDI Scribe also leads on iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

MIDI Scribe is free to download; MusicBall costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
MIDI Scribe versus MusicBall: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMIDI ScribeMusicBall
PriceFree β€” better$4.99
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksβ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac β€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.6 β€” better26.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size39 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJames RansonθΎ‰ ι‚“

In-app purchases

None

MIDI Scribe

No in-app purchases

None

MusicBall

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is MIDI Scribe free?
MIDI Scribe is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MusicBall free?
MusicBall costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do MIDI Scribe or MusicBall have ads?
Neither MIDI Scribe nor MusicBall shows ads.

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