Interactive Music Theory Lab vs note-noodle

Interactive Music Theory Lab is a free web app for learning and applying music theory. Chord Lab offers an interactive chord builder, chord library, piano keyboard, staff notation, voicings, and inversions. Scale Explorer covers more than 100 scales and maps their patterns on piano and fretboard. Theory Academy provides interactive lessons, guided tutorials, exercises, and subjects ranging from intervals to voice leading. Composition Studio lets users arrange progressions and song sections by drag and drop, receive theory-based suggestions, and export MIDI or PDF. The interface also lists MIDI and MusicXML import and export, along with PDF and audio export. Users can upload MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A, or FLAC files for chord-progression detection; clear recordings work better than complex mixes. The service requires no account and includes progress tracking. It offers guidance rather than writing songs for users, and the maker notes that bugs exist.

note-noodle provides interactive music theory practice for fretboard work, staff notation, ear training, rhythm, and play-along, alongside a guided curriculum. Play Along grades pitch and timing while a user plays through a microphone, MIDI keyboard, or screen. It accepts MIDI and Guitar Pro files up to 5 MB; free accounts can upload three per month. The curriculum has 35 lessons, quizzes, unit exams, spaced repetition, and seven learning paths. Ear training spans eight categories and four difficulty tiers, with answers by ear, MIDI, or microphone. Four digital instruments send per-note bend, slide, and pressure across up to 15 member channels; hearing per-note bend requires an MPE host such as Live 11. A MIDI Bridge connects those instruments to a desktop DAW over the local network. Free access includes 10 ear-training sessions per day and the first four lessons without an account. Premium costs €7 a month. The service runs on Android, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows.