variant vs Ilumino
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
variant
Experience a unique audiovisual artwork that generates ever-changing music and imagery. Interact by tapping to trigger musical fragments and responsive visuals, or drag to steer the visuals. Build complex combinations of sound and visuals through interactive controls.
- Generative audiovisual artwork
- Interactive music generation
- Evolving visual imagery
- User input for control
- Screenshot functionality
- Indeterminate audio engine display
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variant:SONiC is an audiovisual artwork that creates beautiful, ever-changing music and imagery. The app combines user input and built-in randomness to create images and music that will continually change, grow and evolve, offering a new and different experience every time. For users of all ages, variant:SONiC is a chance to explore and experience a unique work of generative art. variant:SONiC was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra for the 2015 SONiC Festival. The musical composition is built entirely from individual notes played by different participants in the festival, including: Andy Akiho Alarm Will Sound (Miles Brown, Michael Clayville, Erin Lesser, Courtney Orlando, Jason Price) Clarice Assad Christopher Cerrone The Crossing Melody Eötvös Angelica Negron Nieuw Amsterdams Peil (Gerard Bouwhuis, Heleen Hulst) Nina C. Young To interact with variant:SONiC, tap the screen; each tap will trigger a randomly selected fragment of the musical composition, as well as a visual element that responds to it. You can steer the visuals by dragging after tapping, and you can trigger up to 10 sounds at one time. To repeat a sound, keep your finger held down and that sound will loop. By using some fingers to loop sounds and others to trigger individual elements, you can build up complex combinations of sound and visuals. You can view the indeterminate audio engine by tapping the dot in the lower right. The display shows the different elements of the musical composition as they are loaded by the engine through a combination of chance and user input. The center button opens a menu of settings for the app, and the button to the right allows you to take screenshots of the visuals, automatically saving them to your photo library. The Variant apps are a new series of generative audiovisual artworks from Interval Studios featuring visuals by Joshue Ott and music by Kenneth Kirschner. Each Variant features a unique visual composition by Ott based on his superDraw visual performance software, as well as a new indeterminate musical composition by Kirschner. Each Variant app also offers a different set of interactive controls for the user, ranging from the ability to subtly influence the development of the piece to total interactive control over both visuals and sound. All of the Variants are generative artworks: through a varying combination of built-in randomness and user input, each Variant will continually grow and evolve over time without ever directly repeating itself either visually or musically, offering the user an ever-changing, ever-evolving audiovisual experience.
Ilumino
This app transforms ambient sounds into a dynamic visual display of colors and shapes. Customize the experience by adjusting sensitivity and advanced parameters, or connect external devices for deeper experimentation. It offers a unique way to interact with your environment through sight and sound.
- Sound-to-visual conversion
- Customizable patterns
- Adjustable sensitivity
- Advanced parameter tuning
- External DAC support
- Audio generator testing
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Swipe left or right to select the pattern. App converts sounds captured by the device into visual spectacle of colours and shapes. Grant an access to the microphone to capture and convert surrounding sound into the visual experience. Check the audio generator and test the sensitivity of your equipment for the different frequencies. Adjust the sensitivity and advanced parameters to customise selected experience. Attach external DAC device to experiment with different sample rate and audio buffer size for incoming audio analysis. *** WARNING *** It is possible that not all combinations will work on your device.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: variant at 8.0 against Ilumino's 17.0. On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
variant ships an update monthly, Ilumino every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | variant | Ilumino |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (9 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 9 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 53 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Interval Studios | Narcyz Adamus |
Customer experience
variant
Ilumino
In-app purchases
variant
No in-app purchases
Ilumino
No in-app purchases






