Swung vs Melodics
Melodics is a practice app that trains your hands on a MIDI keyboard, a pad controller or drums, with real-time feedback on your timing. Swung teaches how tracks are made from named patterns, in the browser, with no instrument. If you own a controller or a kit and want to play it better, Melodics is the closer fit; if you want to make beats and tracks and don’t play anything yet, start with Swung.
Facts as of October 2026
One beat, two ways to learn it
In Melodics you would play a beat like this on pads or drums, in time, and get a score. Here you build it on the grid, learn that it is called boom bap, and hear what the swing does to it.
Take the swing down to 50% and every second hat snaps back into line: the beat goes stiff. The boom bap page has its variations, and swung 16th hats explains the swing.
No instrument? Start here, free
Unit 1 of Swung is free with a Google sign-in: 14 short parts on the beat, in your browser, on a laptop or a phone.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1; your next lesson is ready.
Side by side
| Swung | Melodics | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A course, a pattern library and a beat maker, in the browser | A practice app for playing instruments, with lessons and real-time feedback |
| You need | A browser on a phone or a laptop. No instrument. | A MIDI keyboard, a pad controller or an electronic drum kit; acoustic drums work through a microphone |
| Runs on | Any current browser; nothing to install | An app for Windows, Mac, iPad and iPhone (drums only on iPhone) |
| You learn | How music is built: beat, groove, bass, chords, melody, song form, sound and style | To play: timing, accuracy and finger skills on keys, pads and drums, with songs to play along to |
| Feedback | Each lesson step checks what you built; you pick patterns out by ear; projects have a checklist | Real-time feedback on every note: hit, missed, early or late |
| Free | Unit 1 (14 parts) with a Google sign-in. Every pattern page, genre loop and the beat maker, with no account. | Desktop: a 7-day free trial (payment details needed up front), then a limited free plan. iPad: 20 free lessons per instrument, 5 minutes of play a day. iPhone: 14 free drum lessons. |
| Paid | $59 a year after a 3-day free trial, or $12.99 a month. Units 2 to 9 arrive chapter by chapter. | Standard and Premium plans, monthly or yearly, with regional prices |
| Size | 9 chapters, 44 lessons and 85 pattern cards | 1,200+ lessons and 170+ courses, by Melodics’ count |
We couldn’t confirm Melodics’ current prices on its plans page, so none are listed here; see its plans for your region. Melodics facts are from its own site; see the sources below.
The real difference: playing or making
Melodics teaches you to play. You plug in a keyboard, a pad controller or a drum kit, follow a lesson, and the app tells you which notes you hit, missed, rushed or dragged. It is built for short daily practice, with streaks, daily goals and trophies, and covers keys, pads and drums in one subscription. Its song lessons let you play along to music by real artists.
Swung teaches you to make. You learn what a beat, a bass line or a hook is made of, by name, on a grid you tap or click: four-on-the-floor, off-beat bass, call and response. Pattern lessons have you build each pattern and pick it out by ear, and each chapter ends with a project. Nothing needs to be in time with your hands, so you need no instrument and no practice routine to start.
The two overlap less than they seem. Someone who finger-drums for an audience needs hands that Swung won’t train; someone who wants to produce a track needs to know what goes where and why, and Melodics sums up its own approach as “practice, not theory”.
Who should pick which
Pick Melodics if
- you own a MIDI keyboard, a pad controller or a drum kit, or plan to buy one;
- you want to play in time and build finger skills, not program on a grid;
- you like short daily practice with streaks and scores;
- you want to learn real artists’ songs on your instrument;
- you finger-drum, or want to perform beats live.
Pick Swung if
- you don’t play an instrument and don’t want to buy one yet;
- you want to make beats and tracks rather than perform them;
- you want to know what a pattern is called and which genres use it;
- you use AI music tools and want the words to steer them;
- you want something that runs in a browser, on whatever you have.
Producers who finger-drum may want both: Swung for what to play and why it works, Melodics for getting it into your hands.
Looking for Melodics alternatives?
If you want the same kind of app, look for one built around the instrument you own, and check that it listens to your playing and tells you what to fix; that feedback is the point of a practice app.
Swung is a different kind of alternative: it leaves the playing out and teaches the making. If you have been using a practice app mainly to understand beats, try Swung’s free Unit 1, or play with the beat maker first; neither needs an instrument.
Sources
Facts about other products were checked on their own websites in October 2026. Prices and features change; check the product’s site before you decide.
- Melodics: official information page · platforms, hardware, free trial and free lessons, plans, lesson counts
- Melodics plans · 7-day free trial, monthly and yearly plans