The Modality vs Cantus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
The Modality
Explore the emotional depth of music through scales, moods, and microtones. This app teaches music theory by ear, focusing on Turkish makams and modal jazz, and how they intersect. Discover iconic recordings, learn through guided lessons, and meet the composers behind the music.
- Turkish makam exploration
- Modal jazz scales
- Cross-tradition comparisons
- Composer biographies
- Iconic recordings and improvisations
- Guided lessons and quizzes
- Glossary of musical terms
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You've heard music from across the world and felt something move in you — without knowing why. The Modality is how you find out. Most apps teach music theory as rules to memorize. The Modality teaches it as something to hear — because every musical tradition is really a different way to turn sound into feeling. We start with two of the most beautiful, and we're adding more. TURKISH MAKAM 29 makams, from Rast to Ferahfeza — each drawn degree by degree, with its microtonal commas marked, its seyir, its mood, the hour it belongs to, and the ney to play it. MODAL JAZZ 14 modes across two scales: the seven modes of the major scale, and the seven of melodic minor — the language of tension and release, from Lydian dominant to the altered sound. WHERE THEY MEET The Crossroads is where the two traditions touch. Hicaz and the Phrygian dominant share one ancient interval — hear them side by side, ney against Rhodes piano. Saba and Locrian reach the same depth of feeling by the same turn. Two musical worlds, one tap apart. THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE MUSIC 64 composers and performers, from Itri and Dede Efendi to Miles Davis and Bill Evans — with portraits, lives, and every place in the app you can hear them. Tap any name on any recording and meet the person. HEAR IT EVERYWHERE - Iconic recordings and taksim improvisations for every major makam - Canonical tunes for every mode — So What, Maiden Voyage, Spain - Songs you already know, mapped to the makam they live in — classical, arabesk, Anatolian rock - Play any scale on the ney or Rhodes, from any root LEARN IT PROPERLY - A guided lesson path in each tradition, from "What is a makam?" up - Quizzes that unlock level by level - A glossary of both traditions' vocabulary — taksim, seyir, voicing, vamp - Usul rhythm patterns with audio For curious listeners, for Western musicians meeting microtones for the first time, and for Turkish speakers rediscovering their own tradition. Two ways of hearing, each one whole. More on the way.
Cantus
This interactive tool helps musicians explore harmony and chord voicings on a virtual piano. It allows users to visualize how notes move within chords, understand modal relationships, and develop a feel for harmony through focused practice.
- Interactive chord and voicing exploration
- Piano keyboard visualization
- Modal and scale-based harmony practice
- Voice-leading movement analysis
- Tone.js audio playback
- Account-free operation
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Cantus - Voicing Lab is an interactive harmony and chord-voicing tool by Nathaniel School of Music for pianists, composers, producers, and music theory students. Explore how notes move inside chords, hear voicings in context, and study color, tension, and modal relationships from the keyboard. Cantus is designed as a focused practice lab: pick a sound, inspect the voice leading, and build intuition for how harmony feels under your hands. FEATURES * Interactive chord and voicing explorer * Piano keyboard visualization * Modal and scale-based harmony practice * Voice-leading movement and pinboard-style comparison * Tone.js audio playback * Self-hosted fonts and bundled web assets * Works without an account BY NATHANIEL SCHOOL OF MUSIC Built for practical harmony learning, composition practice, and deeper chord fluency.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: The Modality at 3 against Cantus's 1. On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for The Modality against 5.0 for Cantus. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.
The Modality ships an update every 8 days, Cantus every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Modality | Cantus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 119 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mehmet Aydin | Jason Zachariah |
In-app purchases
The Modality
No in-app purchases
Cantus
No in-app purchases








