Speedy Note vs Carnatic Keys
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Speedy Note
Learn to read the Alto Clef with an interactive and competitive music game. Master six levels at your own pace, choosing difficulty and notation style. MIDI compatible with CD quality piano sounds.
- Interactive Alto Clef learning
- Competitive game environment
- Adjustable difficulty levels
- MIDI compatibility
- Alphabetic and Solfege notation
- CD quality piano sounds
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Speedy Note: Alto Clef teaches you to read the Alto Clef (C Clef) in an interactive, fun and competitive game environment. Great for beginners to advanced, children or adults. Master the six levels and you have mastered the Alto Clef! Compete with yourself or with your friends. Speedy Note tracks your scores and lets you know how you are doing. Speedy Note also allows you to learn at your own pace – you decide the level of difficulty and when to advance to more difficult levels. Speedy Note: Alto Clef is very intuitive. It only takes a few moments to learn how to use (even for young children). FEATURES: Speedy Note is MIDI compatible. You can use your midi instrument to play the game and learn the notes. (Requires a MIDI interface connected through the lightening port or a Bluetooth LE MIDI device.) CD quality piano sounds. Can be used silently allowing you to practice learning notes anywhere, any time. (No need to turn down or off your device’s volume.) You can learn both alphabetic notation (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) and/or Solfege notation (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si). Created by Bienelle Music
Carnatic Keys
This app transforms a piano-style interface into an instrument for playing Indian Classical Music. It helps users learn and express themselves with Carnatic Swaras and Ragas, acting as a Raga guide and supporting ornamentation.
- Carnatic Swara and Raga playback
- Raga guide functionality
- Western and Carnatic notation bridge
- Gamaka (ornamentation) support
- Multiple instrument sounds
- Demo songs included
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Carnatic Keys is a musical instrument catering to Indian Classical Music. It takes the familiar piano/keyboard interface and transforms it to play Carnatic Swaras and Ragas. Carnatic Keys helps enthusiasts of Indian Classical Music have fun playing and expressing themselves using Carnatic Swaras and notations. Additionally it acts as a Raga guide. It helps to bridge the divide between Carnatic and Western notations and concepts. Users now have a tool that lets them express themselves using Carnatic vocabulary. Hindustani Music lovers can also benefit from this app because there is a lot of commonality between the two systems! In Carnatic Music, an octave is divided into 7 notes or Swaras - Shadjam (Sa), Rishabam (Ri), Gāndāram (Ga), Madhyamam (Ma), Panchamam (Pa), Daivatam (Da) and Nishādam (Ni) . Sa and Pa are fixed in the scale, while the other Swaras can each have different variations or types for a total of 16 Swaras - Ri (3), Ga (3), Ma (2), Da (3) and Ni (3) - with overlaps to fit within the 12 notes of an octave. The songs we learn in Carnatic music are taught using Carnatic Swaras. Carnatic Keys, therefore, makes it easy for you to play these songs and musical exercises. If you know your Swaras, you can now play them easily! But Carnatic Keys takes it a step further by acting as a Raga guide as well! A Raga is a melodic framework unique to Indian Classical Music that evokes different moods and feelings. Each Raga consists of a set of Swaras of selected types or variations. For example, the Raga Hamsadvani has “Sa, Ri2, Ga3, Pa, Ni3, Sa” as its ārohanam (ascending scale) and “Sa, Ni3, Pa, Ga3, Ri2, Sa” as its avarohanam (descending scale). Using the Swara Selector, you can select Swara variations of the Raga you would like to play. The Keyboard Display selector toggles between various display modes - showing all Swaras, the selected Raga Swaras, or Western notes. This will help you focus on the Raga at hand by removing other Swaras from your focus. You can further disable all non-Raga keys by toggling the Raga Mode button. You can now avoid hitting the wrong keys and stay in tune! Carnatic Keys also supports the concept of Gamaka or ornamentation. Gamakas involve graceful and smooth variations in the pitch of a note, using oscillations or glides between notes to add emphasis and character to each Raga’s individuality. A smooth pitch wheel allows for seamless Gamakas, up or down 5 semitones or more! Getting good Gamaka takes a lot of practice, so feel free to skip Gamakas and any pitch-bending as you start out, and slowly start to experiment with them! Carnatic Keys come with 6 different instrument choices - 2 types of Piano, Harp, Guitar, Flute and Sitar. It also comes with 3 different Demo pieces of familiar Carnatic songs. You can enjoy listening to these while you are taking a break or just want some inspiration! Here are some more features of Carnatic Keys: ◆ Multi-touch keyboard ◆ Supported in both portrait and landscape mode. Landscape mode takes advantage of the increased width to show more keys. The keyboard is thoughtfully laid out to show about a half-octave below and above the main octave you can hit lower and higher notes with ease. ◆ Optimized separately for iPad and iPhone to take advantage of different screen sizes and formats ◆ Choose between Light and Dark Modes Practice (or play!) basic lessons like Swarali Varisaigal, Jantai Varisaigal, Dhattu Varisaigal, etc. or venture into Geethams, Swarajathis, Varnams, Keertanams and more! Have fun playing and experimenting, all the while thinking in Carnatic Swaras and Ragas!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Speedy Note at 2.8 against Carnatic Keys's 1.0. Speedy Note also leads on ratings volume (8 vs 1) and iOS requirement (14.5 vs 16.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Speedy Note costs $1.99 and Carnatic Keys $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Speedy Note holds the better App Store score, 2.8 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Speedy Note has 8 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | Speedy Note | Carnatic Keys |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | $1.99 |
| Rating | 2.8 (8 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 37.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 15 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.5 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Brian Hughes | Upbeat Labs |
Customer experience
Speedy Note
Carnatic Keys
In-app purchases
Speedy Note
No in-app purchases
Carnatic Keys
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Speedy Note free?
Is Carnatic Keys free?
Which has better reviews, Speedy Note or Carnatic Keys?
Do Speedy Note or Carnatic Keys have ads?
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