Comparison

Étudy vs Scale Syllabus

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

Head to head
About

Étudy

Features
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Étudy is the practice app for jazz musicians — built to help you truly internalize the language of jazz. BROWSE & DISCOVER Explore a growing library of jazz licks shared by the community. Filter by category, key, instrument, and artist. Save your favorites and build your personal vocabulary. CURATED COLLECTIONS (PRO) Essential licks from Bird, Coltrane, Miles, Rollins, and more — organized by artist and concept. Each collection is a focused study guide to internalize the language of the masters. TRANSPOSE INSTANTLY Set your instrument once — every lick appears in your key. Alto Sax, Tenor, Trumpet, Trombone, Piano, Guitar, and more. Concert pitch is always one tap away. PRACTICE PLANS Build your own practice routine. Organize licks into focused sessions, set goals, and track your progress over time. Whether you're working on ii-V-I lines or rhythm changes — structure your practice and stay consistent. PRACTICE TOOLS - All 12 Keys Trainer — work through the circle of fifths - Theory Mode — tap any note to see intervals and chord tones - A-B Loop — isolate and repeat difficult passages - Metronome — with progressive tempo, subdivisions, and polyrhythmic patterns - Rhythm Reading — practice reading and clapping rhythmic patterns - Ear Training — develop your ear for intervals, chords, and melodic dictation SHARE & CONNECT Create and share your own transcriptions with the community. Like and save licks from other musicians. Grow together. MORE THAN A LICK LIBRARY Étudy is a full practice suite. Use the metronome to work on time feel, polyrhythms, and odd meters. Build practice plans that combine licks, exercises, and warm-ups. Track your sessions and see how you improve week over week. Étudy Pro unlocks curated collections, theory analysis, all keys trainer, progressive tempo training, and unlimited practice plans. Subscribe in the app for full access. Étudy Pro is an auto-renewable subscription at €4.99/month. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account. The subscription automatically renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions. Terms of Use: https://etudy.app/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://etudy.app/privacy.html

About

Scale Syllabus

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Scale Syllabus puts the 253 scales of Complete Scale Syllabus by Gianluca Barbaro in your pocket, and lets you see, hear and transpose every one of them. The scales are not a stored list. The app rebuilds them with the algorithm the book itself was made with: every seventh chord, every combination of available tensions, folded together by rotation. That is why the numbering matches the printed page exactly — scale 145 here is scale 145 in the book. WHAT YOU CAN DO • See any scale in standard notation, on a piano keyboard, or on a guitar or bass fretboard • Transpose to any of the twelve keys, with each note spelled the way a musician would write it • Start from any degree: pick a mode and the scale is shown from that note, in the key you chose • Hear a scale or any of its chords, ascending or arpeggiated, with the notes lighting up as they sound • See the triads and four-note chords every degree carries, inversions included, and view any of them the same three ways • Read the fretboard as a whole map, or touch a fret for the run one hand can play from there • Ask for a chord and the neck answers with shapes a hand can really hold — tap again for the next one • Walk through the sixteen ways a four-note chord can be laid out inside two octaves of keyboard • Choose your instrument once, and clef, written octave and transposition follow • Find a scale from the notes themselves: play a phrase into the microphone, or type the note names, and the app lists the scales that contain them and says what chord they make • Follow the relationships: which scales contain this one, which ones it contains, and which are a note away • Print a scale as a sheet of engraved music, export it as PDF, or share it • Read six short chapters of music theory, with figures the app draws itself • Mark favourites and keep your own written notes on any scale A guided tour goes through all of it the first time you open the app, and it can be replayed whenever you like. The app speaks English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese and Chinese, and you can look for a scale in your own language. The names of the scales themselves stay as the book prints them. WHAT MAKES IT ACCURATE The book's own derivation quietly loses four chord types, and with them five scales. This app generates them too — appended at the end, so that not a single number from the printed book moves. Note spelling follows musical function rather than whatever is cheapest to compute: a minor seventh chord is written C Eb G Bb, never C D# G A#. FREE AND COMPLETE Three scales are always open: major, harmonic minor and melodic minor — and with the major come all its modes, natural minor included. You can open two more of your choice, and the ones you open stay yours. A single purchase opens all 258 scales and unlocks printing, PDF export and sharing — no subscription, no account. Nothing you write leaves your device. The app has no accounts, no advertising and no tracking of any kind, and what you play into the microphone is analysed as it arrives and never recorded, stored or sent anywhere. Reports of wrong or missing scale names are welcome: me@barbaro.it

Screenshots

Étudy3 screens
Scale Syllabus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Étudy at none against Scale Syllabus's 1. Scale Syllabus's advantage is device support (4 vs 2). On price, ads and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Scale Syllabus sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Étudy asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 3 level
Étudy versus Scale Syllabus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterÉtudyScale Syllabus
PriceFreeFree
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBenedikt KochBarbaro Gianluca

In-app purchases

None

Étudy

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Scale Syllabus

One-time1
  • Scale Syllabus Complete$8.99

Questions

Is Étudy free?
Étudy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Scale Syllabus free?
Scale Syllabus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Étudy or Scale Syllabus have ads?
Neither Étudy nor Scale Syllabus shows ads.

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