ScaleGen vs Pendoly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ScaleGen
Generate and edit musical scales with intricate detail. Explore traditional and experimental tunings, audition your creations, and export them as MIDI files or to other applications. Ideal for composers and students seeking to expand their musical horizons.
- Generate and manipulate musical scales
- Detailed scale definition and editing
- Audition scales within the app
- Export as MIDI or to Gestrument
- Predefined scales from various traditions
- Explore microtonal and experimental tunings
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ScaleGen - the ultimate scale generator and editor! Generate and manipulate musical scales in any way you can imagine. You think you know what a scale is - think again. In ScaleGen you can do all that you would traditionally imagine when it comes to scales and pitch organisation, and then much, much more. Define or change scales in the most detailed and intricate way. Audition the scales you make from within the app or export it as a MIDI file or to our app Gestrument - the revolutionary gesture-instrument. This is the tool for anyone who wants to go beyond the traditional tonalities in whichever genre. ScaleGen comes with predefined scales of all kinds - from the traditional western scales and early music (Baroque/Renaissance) scales to asian scales from India, Indonesia and elsewhere as well as more conceptual scales based in the classical contemporary music. This is the ultimate tool for experimental composers in any genre as well as for musicians who want to explore new ways of thinking about music. The educational aspects of how pitches can be organised makes ScaleGen a must have for serious music students. But the directness of the app makes the learning both fun and artistically developing. What is a scale? For most people it is a collection of pitches within one octave, with equal temperament (all half tone steps equally long) or with microtonal intonation. That kind of scales are of course possible to make and edit in ScaleGen which gives you a keyboard with complete control of up to 24 pitches within one octave. But the most interesting things with ScaleGen is when you start to think of a scale as something more open. Consider these questions: What if your scale was different in every octave? Why must a scale always go from down to up? What if you could use a variation of the overtone series as a scale? How does it sound if you divide the octave in five steps instead of twelve? In ScaleGen we define a scale as any list of MIDI pitches that you can manipulate in many ways. You can start with a keyboard to input pitches, you can use the concept of the overtone series with multiplication of frequencies, you can define the number and size of the steps in the scale or you can import MIDI files and use them as scales. Then you can fine-tune your scale in a matrix with a number of tools. You can then try and play your scale directly in the app, using built-in sounds or control your favorite external synthesizer/app through MIDI. If you want to try and play on your newly created scales in another way we recommend you open them in the app Gestrument - the revolutionary gesture-instrument. But you can also save the scales as text, Scala, or MIDI files and open them in another program.
Pendoly
This app transforms pendulum swings into musical compositions. Choose from various instrument sounds or create your own unique harmonies. Experience the blend of physics and music with high-quality, recorded instruments.
- Pendulum-driven music generation
- Customizable harmonies
- Multiple high-quality instrument sounds
- Physics-based composition
- Hand-recorded instruments
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Pendoly turns the gentle swing of pendulums into music. Pick a flavour, and let gravity do the composing — or dive in and craft your own harmonies. Oh, and the instruments? A Steinway grand, a vintage Rhodes, a Celesta, a Marimba and a Vibraphone, all hand-recorded.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Pendoly at every 2 months against ScaleGen's every 29 months. Pendoly also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 71%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). ScaleGen's advantage is ratings volume (12 vs 2) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 14.0). 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
ScaleGen costs $3.99 and Pendoly $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Pendoly holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ScaleGen has 12 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of ScaleGen's written reviews are positive against 100% of Pendoly's.
ScaleGen ships an update every 29 months, Pendoly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ScaleGen | Pendoly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | $3.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (12 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 29 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gestrument AB | Caroline Siegers |
Customer experience
ScaleGen
Pendoly
In-app purchases
ScaleGen
No in-app purchases
Pendoly
No in-app purchases









