Appmuse

But the developers have put in a really half-hearted effort.

This app gave me flashbacks to when I took music theory as an elective because I wanted to learn music theory but instead just got a bitter oboeist screaming “WRONG” at me every time I misidentified the note/chord she played. Show more

I love this program because it is similar to the ear training I did with the great jazz guru Charlie Bananas. Also, the developer Ariel is an ultra-cool nice person who actually responds to questions and requests. These apps are an essential part of any musician’s tool bag. John Schulman - Berklee College of Music - Class of 2009 / & long-time student of Charlie Banacos Show more

App is interesting but has issues. Developers do not respond to email or support requests

This app has gotten worse over time. The replay button now plays a cadence in a different key each time you press it, changing the answer. This means you can’t really listen to the scale degrees more than once, which makes it really hard to do exercises with 3 or more notes Show more

I rarely write app reviews, but this app really motivated me to. I've never had such a frustrating pedagogical experience in my life. My accuracy actually dropped as I practiced with this app, from 50% to 20%. It's almost as though the algorithm with supposedly picks the next pitch to test is deliberately programmed to choose the most confusing possible option. Now, perhaps much of this is to blame on my tin ear, but I'd hoped for help with that from a tool like this, not be driven to distraction. If a music teacher had done this test on me in grade school, I would have broke down crying and switched to pottery. Show more

I improved my relative pitch with this app. I almost bought every app and this app is one of the best. But there are few glitches I found and it should need to be fixed. And please update minor keys recognition ❤️❤️It’ll help more Show more

This is mostly a good app. It has great potential but feels like it’s a bit early-stage, especially for the price. One bug that is pretty annoying, is when I hit the repeat button to hear the notes again when random key is on, the I-IV-V-I plays in a different random key! Then the test notes play the same as before, but the relationship to the 1-4-5-1 is now changed. Another thing that would be nice is not to get the immediate feedback on what the correct guesses should have been. I’d like the option to have it only say which notes were correct that I guessed, and let me continue trying to figure out the others. Also I’d like to have the option to have the coach drill a specific note combination more often when it’s clear that I’ve missed that one before, and drill the ones I nail perfectly less and less. Thanks for your work on this app! I hope it continues to improve. I’ll gladly change my rating when the bugs disappear. Show more

Overall great app! One thing that would make it better would be to be able to choose specific chromatic intervals to work on or leave out. Would make progressing from one level to another much more complete. Show more

Crashes on launch for me. iPhone SE, iOS 12.1

The app does not change orientation at all when you rotate the display. It is upside down for the way I always hold and use the iPad (landscape w home button on left side, so I can use right hand to point and left to hit home). Annoying. Show more

However, the "wizard" needs some work, as it never remembers my progress. I essentially have to start over from the beginning each time. Well, not exactly the beginning, as the wizard does seem to keep re-starting me at the two pitches (diatonic) within one octave stage, even though I've progressed to the two pitches (chromatic) within one octave stage. Can we look forward to an update to fix this issue? I'm running iOS 10.3.3 on an iPhone 6+. Otherwise, great app! Show more

I was one of the winners of Berklee College Of Music’s “BIG EARS OLYMPICS” ear training competition. I cannot day enough about this app. Just get it and use it. DJ Green Arrow® Show more

I bought this app through the bundle, I don't think it's worth the money, wish I could get a refund. You can get a much better version of ear training for relative pitch and interval recognition with the Auralia interval recognition app for only $0.99. Show more

Ear training is such an important skill for any developing musician in any genre (jazz, rock, classical, country, etc.), yet so many musicians just want to "learn chords!!". Politonus is a great ear-training app and has tools that will sharpen your ear so that you will progressively be able to hear and identify more of the sounds that you are playing and/or hearing. If you play music professionally or for fun, having good ears is a must. Musicians aren't born with good ears and must develop them to sound good. Think of the power you'll have if you could in real-time identify the chords your guitarist may be strumming during a solo. Better ears meaning being more aware of what's missing or "wrong", so you can add, enhance the music. It will also improve your ability to transcribe your favorite songs more quickly (w/o having to buy sheet music!), and will improve your improvisation skills. When you can detect wrong notes more quickly, you will more often play more of the right ones and become a better comper behind soloists as well. I love Politonus and if you use it, it will help you to "play what you hear" and "hear what you play" rather than only being able to strum some jazz chord off of a music chart. Show more

It's amazing how anyone who studied with the great Charlie Banacos recognizes this ear training exercises immediately. Charlie was such an inspiration for generations of musicians around the world, and this app replicates one of his staple ear training exercises faithfully. Furthermore, it takes it to very sophisticated levels that are not possible to achieve without this technology. Thanks for using technology in such an intelligent and artistic way. This app should be used in every music school, college, university, etc. Show more

No sound. Tried restarting app, checked sound level. Bummer. iPhone 6.

I was a student of the great Charlie Banacos for many years. As soon as I started using this app it brought me back to his studio with him at the piano training my ear. These are the same exercises that we worked on all those years ago! Charlie was one of the greatest music educators of the 20th century. Charlie we miss and love you! Thanks so much for making this app and sharing a bit of Banacos with the world! Show more

When I can get it working, it is very helpful and I'm making progress. But it crashes every day at least twice. Most annoying, it only makes sound through my Bluetooth and not through the speakers. I have an iPhone 6s with the latest iOS and still having problems. I'm already off to multi tone exercises so it helps, but not everyone is as patient as I am. Show more

I've been hoping someone would create this app. I was a student of the great Charlie Banacos back in the 1970s. This is exactly the exercise he would have us do for ear training. I had a background in sight singing which I found to be a helpful prerequisite for this type of exercise. Thank you for creating this app! Show more