EarBeater is a new, very extensive ear training app for the iPad that goes far beyond the capabilities of most apps in the category, especially in terms of depth of instruction and evaluation. What makes it so useful? Read on to find out!

Of all the different ear training apps I have reviewed over the years EarBeater's interface wins hands down. It's very easy to navigate between the different training modes and finding the exercise you need from one of the five major categories is a fairly simple. Scrolling down through the list of exercises reveals dozens of different options for each testing mode, from basic intervals and chord identification to complex harmonic recognition and inversions. Scales are included too, including many that I honestly had forgotten even existed since my days in college.

Each set of exercises has a very customizable set of aural training rules. For example, if you know you tend to have problems identifying a specific interval and/or in a specific way (played in unison or one tone after the other) you can have the app give you a set of questions that focus only on that problem interval. The sheer number of variations on the different exercises is impressive and would probably serve the needs of almost any musician or music education student. For those who need even more specific practice or if there is an area that there is not already a built in exercise for you can create your own user specified exercises encompassing almost any facet of aural training that you want to include. Overall a powerful and useful app for any musician in training.  Grab it from the iTunes App Store for $7.99.