SixStrings vs Ensemble Stage
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SixStrings
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Your all-in-one guitar companion. Tune up, learn any song, build layered loops, and play along with real-time chord detection — all from one app. SixStrings listens through your microphone as you play. Using advanced audio analysis, it detects the chord you're playing in real time and scrolls the song for you, hands-free. Keep your eyes on the fretboard — the app follows you. **REAL-TIME CHORD DETECTION** Play a chord and SixStrings identifies it instantly. The song auto-scrolls as you progress, so you never lose your place. Voice filter, sensitivity, and timing controls let you tune detection for any environment. **PRECISION TUNER** A smooth pitch-trail graph shows your note over time, while a floating cents bubble displays exactly how sharp or flat you are. Green means you're locked on — simple and fast. **MULTITRACK LOOPER** Build performances on the fly with a Loopy-style looper. Record rhythm, bass, and lead loops in sync, then overdub or clear tracks live. Native iOS AVAudioEngine delivers rock-solid low-latency timing, with routing to external USB and Bluetooth audio interfaces for studio-grade sound. **FOOT-PEDAL CONTROL** Pair any BLE-MIDI or Bluetooth HID foot-switch to trigger looper pads, switch sections, or advance songs hands-free. Perfect for solo gigs and long practice sessions. **THOUSANDS OF SONGS** Search by title or artist and instantly pull up chords with lyrics. Hands busy on the guitar? Use voice search — tap the mic, say the song name, and start playing. **INSTANT TRANSPOSE** Too high or too low for your voice? Transpose the whole song up or down with a single tap. Every chord updates instantly. **INTERACTIVE CHORD DIAGRAMS** Don't know a chord shape? The diagram shows you exactly where to put your fingers — open strings, muted strings, and finger positions, updated as the song progresses. **PLAYLISTS & LIBRARY** Organize your repertoire. Build playlists for gigs, jam sessions, or practice drills. Swipe to remove favorites, reorder songs, and jump into any track in one tap. **CUSTOM SONGS & EDITOR** Can't find a song in the catalog? Write your own. The built-in editor lets you create custom songs from scratch with chords, lyrics, and section markers — they play back with the same chord diagrams, transpose, and auto-scroll as any other song. **MULTILINGUAL** Full interface in English, Russian, and Romanian. Voice search adapts to your language. The app follows your device's system language or lets you pick manually. **KEY FEATURES** • Real-time chord detection with auto-scroll • Chromatic tuner with pitch-trail visualization • Multitrack looper with external audio-interface routing • BLE-MIDI / Bluetooth HID foot-pedal support • Voice search for hands-free song lookup • Instant transpose, chord diagrams, capo support • Playlists, favorites, and a dedicated Library tab • Custom song editor • English • Русский • Română
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.
- Automatic member placement
- Manual touch adjustments
- Customizable stage types
- Member data import (CSV)
- PDF and image export
- Cross-device sync (iPad/iPhone)
- Offline functionality
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Ensemble Stage at weekly against SixStrings's every 3 months. SixStrings's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17). On price, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
SixStrings ships an update every 3 months, Ensemble Stage weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SixStrings | Ensemble Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 72 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alexandr Degteari | Kohei Ishikawa |
In-app purchases
SixStrings
No in-app purchases
Ensemble Stage
No in-app purchases









