Features & Capabilities

Scales are central to music. Intervals are central to scales. Tuning intervals is a complex process that must constantly be refined by the musician.

Scale Master was designed by professional musicians and educators and developed by experienced software consultants and is a tool providing transparency to intonation deficiencies so that tuning is faster and more accurate.

Through the use of "droning" sounds across various intervals, Scale Master provides a means of practicing intonation.

Who can use Scale-Master?

  • Musicians (Professional and Amateur) striving to further perfect their tuning ability
  • Student Musicians just starting to come to grips with the challenges of Just Intonation within the ensemble
  • Band, Orchestra and Choral Directors looking for a way to help their ensembles "HEAR" what "In Tune" is
  • Music Theory, Music Appreciation and General Music teachers wanting to demonstrate scales, intervals, patterns and intonation

How it works:

Using Equal Tempered tuning, select a root pitch and octave, then select the scale interval above the root pitch and select "Play". The generated droning sound will be a real-time interval based on Just Intonation producing the greatest resonance.

There are a total of 780 droning renderings available for the first release.

Beyond simple drones, you can also select a scale mode to display. The corresponding intervals will be high-lighted allowing easy, visual recognition of scale patterns. Scales included are:

  • Chromatic
  • Major
  • Natural Minor
  • Harmonic Minor
  • Blues
  • Whole Tone
  • Major Pentatonic
  • Minor Pentatonic

There is also a scale "Auto-Play" function that will play the droning root and the corresponding scale interval in half notes at quarter=60bpm allowing the musician to work with tuning and harmonizing in real-time.

There are a total of 420 scale configurations available for the first release.

What Others are Saying:

"I think your app will be widely useful, better and more convenient than the typical tuner. It also will be a good companion tool for users of my 'Breakfast' Intonation practice booklet." David Schwartz

"This new app looks wonderful to me, Gil!! A great teaching tool not only for trombonists but also for music theory and many more applications for musicians. Great idea!!" Tom Senff - Trombone Professor and Trombonist with Stan Kenton Orchestra

"WOW! I like this a great deal. I teach AP Music theory. I think this would be tremendously helpful with drilling intervals." Rob Optiz - High School Band Director

"When my students use this, they seem to adjust automatically in the correct direction." Private Trombone Instructor

User Growth & Download Statistics

App
By:
Gil Estes
Rating:
4.40
(21)
4.40
Version:
1.81 Last updated: 2016-09-20
Version code:
841405708
Creation date:
2012-02-20
Compatible devices:
Size:
12.90MB
Price:
1.99
URLs:
Website
Full description:
See detailed description
Source:
Apple Apps Store
Data ingested on:
2026-06-05
Compare stats and ranking:

Contact the developer

Chrome-Stats does not own this Apple app. Please use these information below to contact the Apple app developer.
Developed by:
Gil Estes
Apple Apps Store
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scale-master/id496736994
Website:
http://www.cal30.biz

User Reviews

Users widely praise Scale-Master for its drone-driven ear training, easy, on-screen interface, and usefulness as a portable pitch pipe for both students and professionals. The main drawbacks mentioned are a lack of multi-octave scales (only one octave is currently supported, with frequent requests for two or more octaves) and occasional visual timing issues between the scale display and notes. Overall, it’s a powerful, free practice tool that many rely on, with a clear demand for feature improvements.
Pros
  • Effective drone-based tool for ear training and improving intonation.
  • Easy to use with a simple, one-screen interface.
  • Versatile for practice as a pitch pipe and useful for teachers and performers.
  • Free to use and provides robust drone functionality.
Cons
  • Lacks multi-octave scales; current support is limited to one octave, with repeated requests for two-octave/multi-octave scales.
  • Occasional visual timing issues between the scale display and notes.
Recent reviews
I’ve been using this app for years to practice intonation using slow scales. I only wish they could go even slower than half notes at 60.
by Bi*****, 2025-08-21

As is it’s pretty useless. Plays only one octave. Good idea, but the developer evidently has pretty much abandoned the app anyway.
by gk*****, 2022-06-13

I’m very happy with this program because it does what I need it to do: figure out what key a song is in!
by ke*****, 2021-10-31
View all user reviews ›

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