ScaleMate - Visualize Harmony3.5.13 - App Store

ScaleMate is a modern, interactive reference to jazz harmony.

ScaleMate lets you...

HEAR SCALES
conventionally or as random melodies.

VISUALIZE SCALES
in ways that help you understand them deeper.

READ & LEARN
through built-in, expert scale write-ups & use tips.

MANIPULATE SCALES
while you listen. Hear the effects instantly to understand how scales differ.

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ScaleMate is a reference that shows you & plays for you any scale you wish.... But that's just the beginning. ScaleMate helps you hear & understand scales and harmony more deeply... by teaching you to visualize scales in ways that match what they sound like.

Imagine... Wouldn't it be nice to have a single image to understand all the modes of the major scale?
Ever wonder why the modes are ordered so oddly, hopping between major & minor & dominant?
Or notice that the Altered Scale is the "darkest", most minor sounding of all possible dominant scales?
Or that its tritone-substitution, the Lydian Dominant Scale, is the "brightest" of them all?
Ever notice that the minor pentatonic scale is a mode of the major pentatonic scale and wonder whether there were any other useful pentatonic modes?
Ever notice that the major pentatonic scale (and its modes) are the only 5-note scale that doesn't contain any half steps or tritones?

ScaleMate shows you scales in a way that makes these observations natural and immediate... and plays you the results too.

Or ever just wonder what the definition of a dominant chord is and which common scales can be used for them? ScaleMate's got you covered.

------- FEATURES -------

USE IT RIGHT AWAY
Use ScaleMate right now! Built-in help is there for you whenever you want it.

LISTEN
ScaleMate lets you hear what scales sound like, by playing them up & down, or by playing random melodies that use them.

VISUALIZE WHAT YOU HEAR
ScaleMate shows every scale both linearly (for melodic understanding) and on the circle of fifths (for harmonic understanding).

FULL LIBRARY OF SCALES
ScaleMate knows all the scales you're ever likely to encounter.

A WELLSPRING OF KNOWLEDGE
Extensive info pages on 60+ of the most common & important scales, including practical advice and usage tips. (Over 15,000 words of content.)

USE IT TO TEACH
ScaleMate is perfect for projecting on a screen or sharing over zoom while you teach. Its animations let you show how one scale transforms into another, and it has special features (pointing, hiding/revealing) for educators.

AUTOMATIC SCALE RECOGNITION
Build your own scales and ask yourself "what if I make this change..." Whenever you produce a conventional scale, ScaleMate will automatically identify it for you by name and tell you about it.

ANIMATED IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES
Change between one scale and another and see the differences between them, visually animated before you.

SMART SPELLING
ScaleMate notates perfectly, for every scale in every key.

NOTE ROLES
Next to each note, ScaleMate displays its function-in numbers (3, 5, b7) or in solfege (Mi, Sol, Te) or not at all, according to your preference.

SIMPLE OR ADVANCED NOTATION
ScaleMate shows you double flats and double sharps whenever they're called for... unless you'd rather see simpler note names. Prefer never to see notes like Cb and E#? You can have ScaleMate show them as B and F.

DIMINISHED HARMONY
Choose the option to color the notes in three colors so you can see which diminished seventh chord every note belongs to. Great for understanding diminished scales & chords and seeing how they relate to other scales too.

JAZZ CRED
ScaleMate is created by Anton Schwartz. An award-winning saxophonist & composer as well as an expert educator, he is also the creator of the highly rated RANDOM ROOTS app.
Terms and conditions: https://scalemate.app/terms-conditions
Privacy policy: https://scalemate.app/privacy

Version History • NEW: Staff Notation. Scale Info page now shows the scale's notes on a musical staff, with scale degrees indicated under the noteheads.
• NEW: Clef Setting. Choose treble or bass clef for staff notation (in Settings).
• NEW: Acknowledgements page on the About screen.
• IMPROVED: New Version alerts are now sensitive to version iOS requirements. They may also be disabled.
• FIXED: Transposition animations could occasionally skip steps.
• FIXED: Minor audio timing issues. 3.5.13 Oct 4 - NEW: Share as QR Code. Everywhere you can share a link, you can now show it as a scannable QR code! Great for teachers to display to students during class/lessons.
- NEW: Update Notifications. ScaleMate tells you whenever there's a new version available. Tap a button to download it from the App Store.
- IMPROVED: Sheets like scale & info pages now blur the screen behind them, and their Back/Share/Done buttons stay fixed in place instead of scrolling away.
- IMPROVED: Clearer share messages and QR code captions.
- FIXED: Several uncommon bugs. 3.5.12 Sep 22 - IMPROVED: Link sharing. UI is now more streamlined and link descriptions are more detailed.
- FIXED: Several minor bugs. 3.5.11 Sep 19 • NEW: Universal Links. Tapping a custom URL opens the app and immediately shows you a particular scale, or plays it for you, or teaches you about it…
• NEW: Share Button. Lets you grab a link of your choice (see above) and share it using the familar iOS UI.
• FIXED: Scale audio no longer competes with the music that auto-plays on the About Anton page.
• FIXED: Scale or melody audio now stops when app enters background.
• FIXED: A couple of infrequent timing-related bugs. 3.5.10 Sep 18 • Added alternate names for several existing scales.
• Added more info buttons to clarify settings.
• Added links on About page to ScaleMate Videos & Social Media.
• Standardized hyphenation in scale names.
• Squashed several minor bugs. 3.5.9 Sep 11 • IMPROVED: Upgrades to scale title menu for functionality & aesthetics.
• IMPROVED: Better iOS 17 back-compatibility.
• FIXED: Audio routing error on Mac could substitute generic tone for piano sound.
• FIXED: Error in spelling of flat 13 scale degrees. 3.5.8 May 19 • FIXED: Consistency of rotation & translation when moving to a scale mode a tritone away.
• FIXED: Longstanding bug when device audio routing is changed. 3.5.7 May 3 • FIXED: Gestures were misfiring in iOS/iPadOS 17.x. 3.5.6 Apr 20 • IMPROVED: Numerous user interface refinements.
• IMPROVED: Added Spanish Phrygian scale (8-note version)
• IMPROVED: Expanded discussion of bebop scales. 3.5.5 Apr 2 • NEW: Added Japanese "In" and "Yo" scales & descriptions.
• IMPROVED: Expanded descriptions of several pentatonic scales, highlighting more interrelations.
• IMPROVED: Added several alternate names for scales.
• FIXED: Several typos. 3.5.4 Mar 30 • NEW: COMMON SCALES category added at top of quick-access menu, making it easy to pull up the most popular scales.
• NEW: Expanded discussions of PALINDROMIC SCALES. Added filtering option for them in the scales library.
• NEW: Expanded discussions of SYMMETRICAL SCALES. Added filtering option for them in the scales library.
• NEW: SCALE COVERAGE now includes writeups for Major Flat 6 Pentatonic & its modes, plus Messiaen Mode 3, Tcherepnin & others.
• IMPROVED: Reorganized the SCALES QUICK-ACCESS menu, demoting some of the less important categories. 3.5.3 Mar 16 • NEW: Progress Arrows during Circle Rotation Gesture make for a clearer, user-friendly experience.
• IMPROVED: Top 10 / 20 / 30 badges** added to scale lists, indicating the most commonly encountered scales.
• FIXED: Bug prevented making certain scale changes while playing scale.
• FIXED: Corrected scale links links in Augmented Scale discussion. 3.5.2 Feb 25 • IMPROVED: Expanded the "About" pages for greater clarity & content.
• IMPROVED: Added discussion of the Double Harmonic Major scale.
• FIXED: A few typos. 3.5.1 Feb 5 • NEW: Drag any note on the Note Line to sharpen/flatten it in a scale
• NEW: Rotate all notes on the Circle of Fifths by dragging any of them. This changes the mode of the scale without changing the key. (Rotating G major gives G Mixolydian, G Dorian, etc.)
• NEW: Keyboard Shortcuts for common actions and settings.
• NEW: Menu Bar offers "Actions" & "Options" & "Navigation" menus (on iPad & Mac)
• NEW: Alternate names for Scales are shown in the Scales screen and in search results (for scales with multiple names).
• NEW: Intuitive Animations whenever notes are added/removed from a scale.
• IMPROVED: List of Actions is now placed in a popover, available by tapping the new [I] button.
• IMPROVED: Spiffy new Darker/Brighter indicator around the circle of fifths. :)
• IMPROVED: Better Animations when notes are respelled.
• IMPROVED: App UI & Icon updated for iOS 26 "Liquid Glass"
• IMPROVED: Better switching between portrait & landscape orientation (iPad)
• FIXED: Squashed several bugs. 3.5 Jan 3 • NEW: Optional "narration" when you transform a scale: ScaleMate describes its actions (transpositions, changes of mode, add/remove notes…) on the screen. Particularly useful for undo and redo commands.
• NEW: Help buttons next to the complex settings. Tap one to explain what the setting does.
• IMPROVED: Reduced memory footprint of the app.
• IMPROVED: Adjusted layout for smaller devices.
• FIXED: Squashed several bugs. 3.0.3 02/17/2025 • NEW: Additional scale filtering options
- Top 10 & Top 20 scales
- Scales containing a given note (such as minor 3rd or perfect 4th)
• NEW: Launch Screen
• FIXED: Squashed several bugs. 3.0.2 02/12/2025 • NEW: New App Icon
• NEW: New Scale filtering options:
• specify more / less common scales.
• specify rootless or conventional scales.
• IMPROVED: Message sending handles more cases, reports on success.
• IMPROVED: Version History available from the About tab.
• FIXED: Reference information for Major Blues Scale was inaccessible.
• FIXED: Important fixes to animations of scale manipulations.
• FIXED: Several minor bugs. 3.0.1 02/05/2025 • NEW: App UI now features Tabbed Navigation. You'll find it easier to get around the app and find things you want.
• NEW: Scale Information Reference section gives more direct & flexible access to the dozens of built-in, cross-referenced articles about scales & harmony.
• NEW: Filter Scales by a number of criteria to find just what you're looking for.
• NEW: Search for scales by name.
• NEW: The Scale Reference shows the notes of the scale in any example key you like (properly spelled, in addition to scale degrees).
• NEW: Added backward & forward buttons for user to move through history of scale manipulations they have performed.
• NEW: Added setting to disable device auto-lock so display can continue indefinitely.
• IMPROVED: Preview tempo instantly, while you change playback tempo in Settings.
• IMPROVED: IMPROVED: internal efficiency, for reduced battery usage.
• IMPROVED: External links are now marked with "↗" to distinguished them from internal links between scales.
• IMPROVED: Badge on suggestions tab tells you how many features you have left to explore.
• IMPROVED: Miscellaneous additions & refinements to the content of the scale reference content.
• IMPROVED: IMPROVED: layout of scale reference section.
• FIXED: Removed some possible duplicate indicators on settings page.
• … and many more small improvements and fixes. 3.0 01/30/2025 • NEW: Animations for when note added/removed from scale. Especially useful for teaching.
• IMPROVED: Many additions to the scale descriptions & reference.
• FIXED: Scale titles were sometimes needlessly truncated. 2.1 08/20/2021 • NEW: Built-in reference for 40+ of the most important scales—offers definitions & explanations, chord compatibility, scale comparisons, theory, usage tips, more.
• NEW: "Tap to Play" mode. Play any note you see on the screen by tapping it. Features:
- play multiple notes simultaneously
- play while app is playing scales/melodies
• NEW: Icons added to all options in Settings and Help screens
• NEW: App announces new version & new features when updated.
- Improved: Icon row at bottom now includes C-at-Top / Root-at-Top setting and Tap-to-Play toggle.
- Improved: Custom-implemented the tap & press gestures to make them more responsive.
- Improved: Option now available to hide the on-screen list of available actions.
- Improved: Help screen now indicates which introduction pages you've seen.
- Fixed: Audio interruptions such as phone calls could cause crashes. 2.0 06/02/2021 • NEW: Added "hide scale name" setting. When set, scale name is not automatically displayed. In its place is a button that can be pressed to reveal the name. Useful for students quizzing themselves and for teachers presenting to classes.
• NEW: In "Show screen touches" mode, an icon now appears (lower left) to let you toggle "pointing only." This lets you use your finger as a pointer without any unwanted effects. Useful for teachers.
• Improved: For Diminished 7 Chord (4-note "scale"), added automatic diminished coloring and dim7 spelling.
• Fixed: app did not launch into presentation mode when it should have. 1.0.4 03/15/2021 • New: Audio output now transposable to match Bb & Eb instruments (sax, trumpet…)
• Fixed: Updated note-spelling rules so that tritone is now considered b5 instead of #11 for certain dark, non-minor scales (e.g. altered dominant)
• Improved: UI of menus modified a bit for clarity 1.0.3 02/16/2021 • New: Lightbulb icon offers suggestions of features you haven't tried.
• Improved: Diminished coloring now has "auto" setting (in addition to "always" and "never") so that coloring applies only to diminished scales.
• Improved: All user settings are now persistent between sessions.
• Improved: Minor layout improvements. 1.0.2 12/22/2020 Layout improvements for certain device sizes and orientations. 1.0.1 12/09/2020 1.0 12/04/2020