App Profile: Tone - Learn Perfect Pitch!

DPDX10

Rating: 5/5

Studies have suggested that we’re all born with at least the possibility of developing perfect pitch, and that it’s also an inheritable trait. Some of us have it right out of the box, while others have to work at it. Maybe, like foreign languages, if you start too late, you may never be completely perfect. And yet: What a great app! Before this, the only way to practice like this would have been to pay someone (or coerce a talented friend) to sit at a piano and play intervals and chords for you. Any pianist would suffer boredom doing it for 30 minutes straight, and they’d also start making mistakes. This app, instead, can help you keep your focus until YOU start to tire, and it has sometimes held my attention for an hour or more at a time. While I have yet to actually develop true perfect pitch, my overall sense is definitely improved. Fully perfect pitch still seems just out of reach, but maybe eventually I’ll get there. In the meantime, my relative pitch has improved tremendously, along with my general musicianship. This is an amazing tool for any musician. The younger you are to start this the better. But this writer is 62 years old and still finding it to be a great benefit.

Cassiofm

Rating: 4/5

I love music apps and this was instant love at first sight. It is so cute and so customisable. I just feel like using it all the time. Feels effortless and fun and elegant. I love the themes customisation and the sounds (cello made all the difference for me as cello player). Some minor flickering here and there but maybe cuz I’m on iOS beta. But I already stopped using it because I hate goodbyes (and we will be parting ways after my free trial ends). My biggest gripe (probably only too) is the price. Is the reason I wouldn’t give it 5 stars. I know subscription is here to stay and it helps developers to keep providing a good service. But at $99 a year for something that is a feature on many other music apps is not worth it for me. Granted this is the best looking pitch practice app I’ve ever seen in here, but I can’t justify to myself paying for a subscription for just one feature that I already have in two or three apps I paid a one-off fee. And these apps offer me a lot more features. Again, nowhere near as good looking as this, but no subscription either. I guess if there was a lifetime purchase option it would worth buying it, but again it would have to be a bit more competitive price. But it is undeniable the fact this app is gorgeous and would definitely help anyone aiming to practice pitch perfect!

PortalPuzzle

Rating: 4/5

As someone who has grown up around music but never had the focus to learn an instrument or sheet music, I’ve gotten by with more or less the guessing of notes and tone. However as I have an interest in learning and playing piano, being able to pick out and identify specific notes as opposed to an ambiguous melody is a challenge without learning to identify the sounds and their placement by sheet. I saw tone recommended recently and figured there was nothing to lose and more to gain, so I downloaded it and was extremely pleased with the simple yet fun way the app helps you memorize notes and tone. It’s a super simple game, and it’s a little repetitive, but personally I don’t find that a dealbreaker (heck, I can always take a break if it’s getting boring!) My only complaint is that I wish the settings were easier for my inexperienced self to understand. When I checked the settings to see how I could configure the lesson/game, my eyes started to glaze over trying to understand what it meant. I would so, so love a little mini tutorial of how to work the settings and other things like that little table of notes (idk what that does?? I’ve messed around with it and saw no change, so I’m not sure if I’m getting what that does...) That way I could use this app even more to its potential! I would really recommend this for those learning music!