Comparison

SoundBow vs Synesthesia Synth

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Drawing-based music creation
  • Gesture-based sound manipulation
  • Record and use own sounds
  • Export compositions as audio
  • Rescale instrument elements
Features
Read 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).

About

Synesthesia Synth

An experimental audio-visual instrument that allows users to sculpt evolving spatial audio by manipulating floating capsules. Position, rotation, and pulse changes affect tone, texture, and synchronized particle generation. It's a visual synthesizer, not a game.

Highlights
  • Experimental audio-visual instrument
  • Sculpt evolving spatial audio
  • Manipulate floating capsules
  • Control tone, texture, and particles
  • Visual synthesizer
Read full description

Synthaestesia is a free experimental audio-visual instrument. Three capsules float in space. Every contraction produces sound. Move them, rotate them, reshape their pulse — and sculpt evolving spatial audio. Position changes tone. Rotation alters texture. Delay generates synchronized particles. This is not a game. It’s a spatial synth you can see.

Screenshots

SoundBow2 screens
Synesthesia Synth2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Synesthesia Synth at Free against SoundBow's $1.99. Synesthesia Synth also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). SoundBow's advantage is ratings volume (13 vs 2) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.0). On ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Synesthesia Synth is free to download; SoundBow costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Synesthesia Synth 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SoundBow ships an update every 2 months, Synesthesia Synth every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SoundBow versus Synesthesia Synth: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSoundBowSynesthesia Synth
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (13 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews65.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings13 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS11.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB141 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAgoston NagyMICHELE ZACCAGNINI

In-app purchases

None

SoundBow

No in-app purchases

None

Synesthesia Synth

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SoundBow free?
SoundBow costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Synesthesia Synth free?
Synesthesia Synth is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SoundBow or Synesthesia Synth?
Synesthesia Synth is rated higher. SoundBow averages 4.7 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while Synesthesia Synth averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do SoundBow or Synesthesia Synth have ads?
Neither SoundBow nor Synesthesia Synth shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SoundBow or Synesthesia Synth?
SoundBow ships an update every 2 months, and Synesthesia Synth every 10 days. Most recently, SoundBow was updated on September 27, 2026 and Synesthesia Synth on September 19, 2026.

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