Comparison

ScaleCoach Pro vs ChordSmith

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

Head to head
About

ScaleCoach Pro

This app helps musicians master scales and arpeggios with instant pitch detection. It offers various scale modes, custom scale programming, and a polyphonic piano with adjustable tuning. Users can test their intonation and receive feedback on accuracy.

Highlights
  • Major and Melodic Minor scale modes
  • Custom scale and melody programming
  • Polyphonic piano with 7 octaves
  • Adjustable tuning (415-466 Hz)
  • Built-in metronome
  • Pitch detection and intonation feedback
  • S.W.Y.P. (See What You Play) feature
Features
Read full description

ScaleCoach is designed for instant pitch detection based scale/arpeggio training. ScaleCoach is a high-end app, that will help you master all the scales you need, in an easy and entertaining way.   ScaleCoach is an important tool in teaching music. Train alone or challenge each other. Who can hit it spot on!   ScaleCoach is your new musical best friend.   On our website scalecoach.com you will find out more about this outstanding app and see a demonstration. FEATURES - Major modes - a collection of diatonic scales from the Major mode - Melodic Minor modes - collection of the scales from Mel. Minor mode - Symmetric + collection of symmetric scales and Blues, Pentatonic etc. - Program your own scales or melodies and save them. - 7 octaves of grand piano - Polyphonic piano - Master tuning from 415 - 466 Hz  - Built-in metronome - Tempo conversion from 20-480 notes per minute - Note names on/off - Preplay note on/off - Play scales up or down // up-down or down-up - Move scales up - down - repeat - play once - S.W.Y.P. "See What You Play" either as single tone or multiple tones - S.W.Y.P. includes on screen Hz detector - Score 0-100 point - 7 languages ScaleCoach is the first and only app that lets you play all the scales and at the same time check your intonation.   When you have learnt your scale you can test yourself and see if your intonation is correct. You will get feedback whether you sing or play either a false note or in tune. DESCRIPTION Intonation forms part of the basis in music when you're playing by yourself or with others. It is therefore very valuable to be able to test your intonation and with ScaleCoach you can test it with any instrument.   That includes all fretless instruments as violin, chello, double-bass and all other instruments as trumpet, saxophone etc. The singers can learn how to sing in tune. ScaleCoach will support you regardless of your level and let you choose the tempo. In the S.W.Y.P (See What You Play), you will be able to see what you sing or play on the ScaleCoach piano. B or H? With ScaleCoach you can have them both. Play wirelessly from your device to your Apple TV and AirPlay-enabled speakers and share your masterpiece in coaching yourself and music buddies.

About

ChordSmith

Features
Read full description

ChordSmith is a chord finder, a chromatic tuner and a drum machine built for the same instrument — yours. Sixty of them, from six-string guitar and four-string bass through banjo, mandolin, ukulele, violin, cello and double bass, and on to the bouzouki, oud, guzheng, sitar, koto, nyckelharpa, balalaika, charango and kantele. CHORD FINDER Pick a chord and see how to play it on the instrument in your hands, in up to 100 voicings, ordered from the easiest shape upward. Change the tuning and the shapes change with it — every voicing is computed for the strings you actually have, not looked up in a table for standard tuning. DADGAD, drop D, open G and every other preset is one tap away. CHROMATIC TUNER Five displays to choose between: a sweep needle, a strobe for last-cent work, chromatic spokes, a continuous note strip, and one you will want to see for yourself. Every instrument carries its own tunings, drop and open included. Set your reference by ear as well as by number — play a note from a piano, a drone or another player's instrument and the app takes its pitch as the tonic, which is how you tune to an ensemble that is not at A=440. Haptic tuning lets you feel the tuning as a gentle tick: quick when you are far off, slowing as you close in, a steady pulse once you arrive. An optional soft cue marks the moment you lock on. Needle response sets how steady the reading is, from Responsive to Steady. Notes, cents and frequency read out in retro LED-style digits. METRONOME AND DRUM MACHINE Ten kits — standard, click, electric, 808, Latin, cajón, djembe, darbuka, tabla and taiko — and twenty-seven feels, from straight eighths and a swung shuffle through son and rumba clave, bossa nova, the reggae one-drop, bembé, tresillo, maqsum and malfuf. Tap tempo, a BPM counter, compound and odd meters, and an accent pattern you edit, so 7/8 sounds like the 7/8 you are counting. CHORD DETECTION Play a chord and the app names it, tracks the key as you go, and keeps a running transcript of what it heard. The spectrum analyser spans eight octaves, C0 to C8, and runs on the room rather than on a preset, so it works with no instrument selected at all. NINE TUNING SYSTEMS Equal temperament, and the ones that came before it: Werckmeister III, quarter-comma meantone, Vallotti, Young II, Kirnberger III and Pythagorean, with a temperament octave for tuning a piano, harpsichord or clavichord by ear. Quarter-tones as 24-TET for maqam, and Thai equidistant 7-TET for the krachappi, the phin and the saw. SIXTY INSTRUMENTS Guitar in six, seven and eight strings and the Russian seven; bass in four, five and six; ukulele in three sizes; mandolin, five-string and tenor banjo, violin, viola, cello, double bass and the Hardanger fiddle; cavaquinho, viola caipira, vihuela, guitarrón, bajo sexto, cuatro, charango, bandurria and laúd; Greek bouzouki in tetrachordo and trichordo, the Irish bouzouki, Turkish and Arabic oud, bağlama, gambus; erhu, pipa, guqin, guzheng, koto, gayageum, shamisen, sanshin; sitar, tanpura, veena and the Carnatic violin; balalaika, domra, dombra, morin khuur, nyckelharpa, kantele; krachappi, phin, saw duang, saw u and the đàn ghi-ta phím lõm; piano, harpsichord and clavichord. BOUGHT ONCE Fourteen days to try everything, then one purchase, yours for good. No subscription, no account, no advertising. The tuner and the detector run entirely on your device — nothing you play is recorded, uploaded, or sent anywhere. The app works with no network connection at all, which matters more in a rehearsal room than it does in a shop.

Screenshots

ScaleCoach Pro4 screens
ChordSmith4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: ChordSmith at Free against ScaleCoach Pro's $3.99. ChordSmith also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 36 months). ScaleCoach Pro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On ads, device support 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

ChordSmith is free to download; ScaleCoach Pro costs $3.99 up front. ChordSmith sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ScaleCoach Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ScaleCoach Pro ships an update every 36 months, ChordSmith fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
ScaleCoach Pro versus ChordSmith: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScaleCoach ProChordSmith
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating2.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 36 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB49 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHans Toft-OlsenRemnant Workshop, Inc.

In-app purchases

None

ScaleCoach Pro

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

ChordSmith

One-time1
  • Lifetime$0.99

Questions

Is ScaleCoach Pro free?
ScaleCoach Pro costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ChordSmith free?
ChordSmith is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ScaleCoach Pro or ChordSmith have ads?
Neither ScaleCoach Pro nor ChordSmith shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ScaleCoach Pro or ChordSmith?
ScaleCoach Pro ships an update every 36 months, and ChordSmith fortnightly. Most recently, ScaleCoach Pro was updated on October 13, 2026 and ChordSmith on October 23, 2026.

Other comparisons