Band Session Note vs TempoScope
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Band Session Note
This app allows musicians to handwrite musical scores and charts digitally using an Apple Pencil. It offers tools for sketching chords, rhythms, and annotating imported scores, with features for creating custom sections and setlists for band rehearsals and performances.
- Handwritten score sketching with Apple Pencil
- Drum notation with standard lines
- Annotate imported scores (PDF/photo)
- Solfège stickers for kids
- Create and manage setlists
- Customizable song sections
- Export as PNG, JPG, or PDF
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Create, edit, organize and perform, all in one place. Band Session Note is a sheet music app made by a working saxophonist for band musicians. Write a chart in minutes, fix only the parts you need, and take it straight to rehearsal and the stage. CREATE & EDIT YOUR MUSIC - Write scores with Apple Pencil, your finger or any stylus - Start from a song form or one of 13 ensemble setups - Add chords in seconds with Quick Chords above each bar - Open PDF and photo scores, then mark up and edit them - Select any area and erase, copy or move only that part - Transpose for C, Bb and Eb instruments - Chord voicings and piano chord charts - Play your score back, or write with a MIDI keyboard READY FOR THE STAGE - Performance mode with half-page turns and auto-scroll - Setlists to line up every song of the night - Built-in metronome, tuner and countdown MORE TOOLS FOR MUSICIANS - Rhythm Tap: tap a groove and it becomes drum notation - Lyrics mode and lyric sheets - Export to PDF or image and share with your band OPTIONAL PACKS (in-app purchase) - Pro Pack: play the on-screen keyboard into notation, with auto dynamics and articulations - Drum Pack: drum kit with recording and overdub - String Pack: technique marks for guitar, bass and ukulele - Kids Music Play Pack: solfege stickers and praise stamps Works on iPad and iPhone. Your scores stay on your device unless you share them. One-time purchase, no subscription.
TempoScope
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Hold your phone up to the music and it finds the tempo and key in real time. Drop in an audio file and it pulls tempo, key, and the chord progression in one pass. ■ Free · Live detection — tempo (BPM) and key from the microphone, as it plays · Delay and reverb times — milliseconds worked out from the detected BPM. Straight, dotted, triplet · The whole metronome — 30-300 BPM, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 12/8 · Bar maps — lay out a song that changes tempo or meter partway through and play it straight through. Section looping included · Six sounds — electronic beep, tick-tock, wood block, cowbell, claves, rimshot · Subdivisions — eighths, triplets, sixteenths, swing eighths, dotted eighth + sixteenth, sextuplets, 3:2 polyrhythm · 59 drum style presets with a pattern grid · Haptic beats (iPhone) · Background playback — keeps clicking while you read a score or with the screen locked · Record to MIDI — record your playing to the click and it writes the notes down as a piano roll (iPhone and iPad, reference only) ■ Pro (one-time lifetime purchase, not a subscription) · Full-song analysis — free covers the first 60 seconds · Save and revisit your analyses · Setlist — put your songs in show order and on stage you only press Next. Tempo, meter, and drum pattern all switch together. Practice mode lets you save the tempo you settle on straight back to the song. · Playback detection — leave it listening and it finds where songs change, splitting them into a list. Saving the song playing right now by hand is free for the first three · Export MIDI — save a Record to MIDI result as a MIDI file, ready to drop into your DAW ■ About accuracy Measured against 13 tracks with known answers: tempo was right on 13, key on 12. That is a small sample, so treat it as a guide. Chord detection is well below that and is a reference aid only — it goes wrong most often on ballads with dense harmony. Check it yourself with the free 60 seconds before you decide. Record to MIDI is a reference aid too. In one test — 14 bars of a straight 8-beat drum groove, recorded at a live venue with an iPhone on the music stand — it got the kick and snare right in 13 of 14 bars and caught 43 of 56 hi-hat hits. Recording and viewing the result are free, so try it on your own playing first. ■ No internet needed All analysis runs on your device. No account, no server, no ads. Audio from the microphone never leaves your device. The only recording kept is the last one you make yourself in Record to MIDI, and it stays on your device too. ■ Made for · Sound engineers who need a song's tempo fast, on site · Mixing engineers who need delay and reverb times that match the BPM · Performers who change tempo song by song through a set · Drummers practising triplets and polyrhythms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: TempoScope at Free against Band Session Note's $9.99. Band Session Note's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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
TempoScope is free to download; Band Session Note costs $9.99 up front. Band Session Note sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and TempoScope sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Band Session Note ships an update every 6 days, TempoScope weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Band Session Note | TempoScope |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | sung ju KIM | HYO SEOP LEE |
In-app purchases
Band Session Note
- 드럼팩$0.99
- 음악놀이$0.99
- String Pack (Guitar·Bass·Uke)$0.99
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- Pro Pack$4.99
- All-in-One Bundle$7.99
TempoScope
- TempoScope Pro$2.99
Questions
Is Band Session Note free?
Is TempoScope free?
Do Band Session Note or TempoScope have ads?
Which is updated more often, Band Session Note or TempoScope?
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