SoundBow vs VAPolyMk4
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SoundBow
Create music by drawing curves and gestural movements on a clean interface. Record your own sounds, build melodies, and export compositions as audio files. This app offers a unique, interactive approach to music production.
- Drawing-based music creation
- Gesture-based sound manipulation
- Record and use own sounds
- Export compositions as audio
- Rescale instrument elements
Read full descriptionHide full description
SoundBow is a drawing based music instrument with a clean and simple visual interface. You can create music by drawing curves over the screen with lines and gestural movements. Apart from drawing, you can rescale your instrument by moving graphical elements around. Record your own sounds through the microphone and start creating melodies, soundscapes with your own voice. If you wish, you can also export your composition as an audio file. "Touch-based mobile devices allowed interactive, gesture-based music production to hit the masses. So far, this type of musical creation hasn't exactly taken the world by storm. But SoundBow, a drawing-based musical instrument app, should shake things up a little bit with its clean, minimal visual interface and mesmerizing potential for complex, loop-based music production." - The Creators Project "Binaura bring their beautiful SoundBow app to iOS at last. It is a gorgeous instrument with huge possibilities for expression and creativity. I think that in many ways these are the kinds of apps that iOS was made for." - Palm Sounds SoundBow is made with free and open source tools. The interface is built with OpenFrameworks. The sound engine is made with SodaLib, a free Data Sonification Library built on top of libPd (Pure Data).
VAPolyMk4
This app is a powerful bi-timbral polyphonic synthesizer with advanced features like output morphing and a ring modulator. It offers extensive sound design capabilities with multiple oscillators, filters, and envelopes, and can be used standalone or as an AudioUnit Extension.
- Bi-timbral polyphonic synthesis
- Output morphing and ring modulator
- Multiple oscillators, filters, and envelopes
- Standalone and AudioUnit Extension (AUv3) support
- Built-in effects and piano roll sequencer
- MIDI 2.0 and Ableton Link support
- iCloud Drive for project sharing
Read full descriptionHide full description
VAPolyMk4 is bi-timbral polyphonic synthesizer, which features output morphing, classic ring modulator and global offset parameter control. Each synthesizer consists of three oscillators, resonant low pass and hight pass filter, amplifier, three envelope generators and two LFO. Two synthesizers can be configured as layer or split. VAPolyMk4 operates as a stand alone or as an AudioUnit Extension (AUv3) for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Stand Alone supports Ableton Link, MIDI and audio file export. Built-in Effects include delay, chorus, flanger, reverb, eq and compressor. Project files can be saved in iCloud Drive, so that the project can be accessed from iPhone, iPad or Mac. Main Features Bi-timbral Polyphonic Synthesizer. Output morphing. Classic Ring Modulator. Global Offset Parameter Control. Three oscillators featuring hard sync and through zero FM. Maximum 8 voice polyphony. it depends on performance of the device it is running. Built-in effects and piano roll sequencer. Audio Export. Linear PCM format (AIFF, WAV and CAF) and compressed format (AAC) Support Audio Unit Extension (AUv3). Support MIDI 2.0. Support Foot Pedal and Per Note Control. Support Ableton Link, Bluetooth MIDI, MIDI In / Out. Works on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Support iCloud Drive to share project files between the platforms. Full Factory Preset: 230, Synth CH: 160, Effect: 40 Improvements Support MIDI Foot Pedal (CC#11, CC#64) Support MIDI2.0 Per Note Control Messages MIDI CC Settings are saved. It will be recovered when the app launched in the next time. UI Color can be selected from black, navy or gray. System Requirements iOS 17.0 or later Devices with Apple Silicon are recommended. A13 Fusion or above is highly recommended. if sound is distorted when using a device with less CPU power, reduce number of voices. AudioUnit Extension (AUv3) requires host application which support AudioUnit Extension. AudioUnit Extension is supported by Apple Logic and Apple Garage Band on iOS and macOS. For any other DAW, it depends on the application and some of them don’t support AudioUnit Extension.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: SoundBow at $1.99 against VAPolyMk4's $14.99. SoundBow also leads on ratings volume (13 vs 2) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.6). VAPolyMk4's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 63%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
SoundBow costs $1.99 and VAPolyMk4 $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
VAPolyMk4 holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SoundBow has 13 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of SoundBow's written reviews are positive against 100% of VAPolyMk4's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SoundBow | VAPolyMk4 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 — better | $14.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (13 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 63.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 13 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Agoston Nagy | Ryo Togawa |
Customer experience
SoundBow
VAPolyMk4
In-app purchases
SoundBow
No in-app purchases
VAPolyMk4
No in-app purchases









