WorldScales
Discover a world beyond standard tuning.
Not all scales are created equal. WorldScales lets you explore the rich diversity of musical tuning systems from around the globe, freeing you from the limitations of modern equal temperament.
Most modern instruments are tuned using the equal-tempered system, which divides the octave into twelve equally spaced notes. While this tuning has dominated Western music for centuries, many cultures and historical traditions use alternative systems that create unique colors, moods, and expressions. From Byzantine chant and Middle Eastern maqamat to ancient European tunings and custom microtonal scales, WorldScales opens the door to a broader musical universe.
Whether you're a musician, composer, educator, researcher, church musician, or simply curious about alternative tuning systems, WorldScales gives you the tools to experiment, learn, and create.
Features
• Tune every note of the octave individually with precision up to ±100 cents.
• Over 35 high-quality sampled instruments, including piano, violin, organ, oud, kanun, choir voices, and more.
• MIDI input support. Connect an external MIDI keyboard and perform microtonal music using custom tunings.
• Extensive collection of Western, Byzantine, Oriental, and world music scale presets.
• Diatonic Mode: Play using only the white keys while automatically disabling the black keys, making it easier to perform scales without accidental chromatic notes. Perfect for educational use, Byzantine music, traditional melodies, and musicians who prefer a simplified playing experience.
• Create, save, and recall your own custom scales and tuning systems.
• Enter tunings using cents, frequency ratios, or exact frequencies.
• Visual keyboard display showing scale notes and root positions.
• Instantly transpose scales by changing the root note while preserving all interval relationships.
• Built-in audio effects including reverb and compression.
• Polyphonic instruments with multiple velocity layers for enhanced realism.
• Designed for musicians, composers, educators, and students interested in microtonal music and world musical traditions.
Explore New Musical Possibilities
WorldScales combines powerful tuning tools with a diverse collection of instruments, making sophisticated microtonal performance accessible to everyone. Whether you want to explore ancient traditions, recreate historical tunings, discover world music scales, experiment with microtonality, or simply play in Diatonic Mode using only the white keys, WorldScales provides an intuitive and flexible environment for learning, performing, and creating music.
Expand your musical horizons. Tune beyond the ordinary.
Kelfar Technologies has raised the bar to the highest level with this app. As a Master-Chanter (“Protopsaltis”) of Byzantine Music and instructor of the psaltic art, this tool has become invaluable to me in various aspects of my field. First and foremost, it is an excellent aid in teaching the various scales and modes of Eastern Orthodox hymnology. The app is able to faithfully replicate the intricate microtonal intervals of the Byzantine scales, allowing the student to hear how tetrachords are “built” within the octal diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic scales. In this respect, as a teaching tool, it is second to none. Second, this app produces a true accompaniment of the ison drone that is characteristic of Byzantine chant. Developed and digitized with recordings of human voices, World Scales faithfully produces a more authentic audio result than other similar tools available. I stress that HUMAN VOICES were used as the basis of making the sound output, and not by some other artificial “electronic” means. When properly transmitted through a high-quality speaker, the audio output of this app is the closest sound to a group of human “drone-holders” (i.e. “isokrates”) that one will hear in an actual Byzantine Choir. And third, although I am very hesitant yet selectively cautious in using this app in an actual church setting (the tradition of Orthodox hymnology allows only ONE instrument to be used in worship, and that instrument is the human voice), I do support its use in audio recordings and concert settings to help actual assistants and choir members in faithfully rendering the ison notes, which are the “decoration” to the melodic executions of the hymns. I applaud Kelfar Technologies in the development of this tool, and in its constant efforts to modify, improve, and further develop this app to make it the best of its kind. Thank you, Karim! Much continued success!
Learning Chants
MagellanTheRed
While starting to learn chanting with a Greek Orthodox church, I found out about the WorldScales app. With it, I can set the correct pitches for the various scales, something that thousands of other musical apps cannot do.I was delighted to see that not only can the user set pitch adjustments on each key, but it has the soft chromatic scale and Byzantine Mode 2 available directly from a menu. That was exactly what was needed for the music I was practicing.I was a little bummed because running on a MacBook the user interface is not as convenient as it would be for a touch screen on an iPad. But then I was completely delighted to discover the WorldScales' MIDI feature in the settings, connect my keyboard via USB cable, and it just worked. That's an even better UI than a touch screen.
Incredible app for practicing microtonal scales
ethios4
This latest update is excellent. The app now remembers the last used scale, transposition, and sound. The new “Diatonic mode” is very helpful when using the app for icon.If you are a Byzantine chanter wanting to improve your intervals, this app is incredibly helpful. It has all the scales including zygos, kliton, and spathe. You can adjust the intervals for each note as well. I like to set up the unused keys for attractions and pfthora modulations. The app also has a large number of other scales including Ancient Greek scales, and many Middle Eastern scales.I use this app literally every day as part of my practice, both for interval practice and for holding ison while I chant at home. I am so grateful this app exists. Highly recommended.
Excellent App - Best in it’s Class
Ma83707
This app is packed with features and is loaded with many helpful options and amazing settings. I am very pleased with this and it has come in handy for my purposes ever since I downloaded it. Many thanks to Kelfar Technologies for all of the hard work, diligence, and expertise that goes into creating such a useful tool.
Fixed MIDI not playing while WorldScales is in the background.
Version 1.1.5
The developer, Kelfar Technologies, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
Karim El-Far
Size
201.5 MB
Category
Music
Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later.
iPod touch Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.