Comparison

Viking Synth vs PaulXStretch

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

Head to head
About

Viking Synth

This app emulates a classic monophonic analog synthesizer with advanced DSP technology. It features three variable wave oscillators, dual ladder filters, an LFO, and two modulation busses for versatile sound design. An intuitive interface and extensive preset library make it ideal for creating thick bass and rich lead sounds.

Highlights
  • Three continuously variable wave oscillators
  • Dual ladder filters (Lowpass/Highpass)
  • Multi-wave LFO
  • Two modulation busses
  • Intuitive user interface with expandable controls
  • 228 presets including Bass, Lead, and Synthwave
  • State-of-the-art DSP for authentic sound
Read full description

Viking Synth is an authentic emulation of a classic monophonic analog synthesizer. It has three continuously variable wave oscillators, two ladder filters with a Dual Lowpass or Highpass/Lowpass configuration, a multi-wave LFO, and two modulation busses. Viking Synth uses state of the art DSP technology to accurately reproduce the sound of the hardware. You get a desktop quality plug-in at an iOS friendly price. Viking Synth is an Audio Unit Extension Instrument (AUv3) that works as a plug-in inside host apps. Just open up your favorite host that supports Audio Unit Instruments and select it from the list of available Audio Units. Compatible with GarageBand, Cubasis, Auria, BeatMaker, AudioBus, AUM, Modstep, and more. The user interface of Viking Synth is designed for quick and intuitive control. Knobs and sliders expand during tweaking and are designed so the current value isn't hidden below your finger. The six pages divide the synth into logical sections that can be accessed quickly. The filter display acts as an XY pad for controlling cutoff and resonance. Simply double tap a knob or slider to reset it to its default value. Presets Viking Synth comes with 228 presets in the categories Bass, Bright Lead, Electro Bass, FX, Percussive Lead, Soft Lead, and Synthwave. The synth excels at thick bass and rich lead sounds. The 50 Electro Bass and 50 Synthwave presets were designed by renowned sound designer eXode. Presets work perfectly with GarageBand, Cubasis, and AUM. Oscillators At the heart of Viking are three adjustable wave oscillators. The continuously variable waveform knob gives the oscillators a unique sound that can’t be achieved with the fixed waveforms found in most synths. A noise oscillator provides three types of noise, one specifically modeled after the hardware. Modulation Two modulation busses and an LFO provide flexible modulation capabilities. All of the options hidden deep in menus on the hardware are immediately accessible with one tap. Filters The filters are classic transistor ladder filters modeled meticulously. Two DSP varieties are available allowing for either reduced CPU load or soft clipping plus three additional overdriven modes. The number of poles is adjustable for a wider range of filter sounds. Compare Viking to other synths: – Viking’s oscillators are free running, not sampled, wavetable based, or generated from a zero point – Viking’s oscillators use advanced techniques to avoid aliasing – Viking’s oscillators have instability, which is controllable through the tuning drift control – Viking’s nonlinear filter uses circuit modeling and provides soft clipping

About

PaulXStretch

Transform audio into extended ambient soundscapes with this powerful time-stretching tool. Ideal for sound design and ambient music creation, it can stretch short clips into hours of audio. Capture sounds or load files, then manipulate parameters for radical sonic transformations.

Highlights
  • Extreme time stretching algorithm
  • AUv3 plugin support
  • Radical sound transformation
  • Ambient music and sound design focus
  • Capture audio or load files
  • Offline rendering and live recording
  • Adjustable looping and parameters
Features
Read full description

This application and AUv3 plugin is based on the PaulStretch algorithm, (Paul’s Extreme Time Stretch, originally developed by Nasca Octavian Paul), and specifically the PaulXStretch version from Xenakios. The UI has been updated and adapted for various platforms and screen sizes. The plugin/application is most suitable for radical transformation of sounds. It is *not* designed for subtle time or pitch corrections! Ambient music and sound design are probably the most suitable use cases. It can turn any short audio into an hours long ambient soundscape without batting an eye! You can get audio into it either by using the "Capture" feature, or by loading an existing audio file. Once you have something in there, then you can start tweaking all the parameters, choose the portion of the audio to use and loop over, etc. Be sure to press the play button inside to enable the processing. To get your audio out, you can do an offline render of the output to a file (where all parameters are fixed), or you can do a live recording of your session to capture the output as you hear it. Either way, you can then share or access the saved audio from the Files app or by sharing it. The AUv3 plugin version has the same capabilities, except you can feed it the live input of your choice (to capture internally for stretching). This software is free, please enjoy it!

Screenshots

Viking Synth4 screens
PaulXStretch4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PaulXStretch at Free against Viking Synth's $3.99. PaulXStretch also leads on review sentiment (94% vs 69%) and rating (4.9 vs 4.7). On ratings volume, 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

PaulXStretch is free to download; Viking Synth costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PaulXStretch holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 42 and 72 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Viking Synth's written reviews are positive against 94% of PaulXStretch's.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Viking Synth versus PaulXStretch: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterViking SynthPaulXStretch
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (42 ratings)4.9 (72 ratings) — better
Positive reviews69.4% of reviews94.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4272 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.09.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBlamsoft, Inc.Sonosaurus LLC

Customer experience

Viking Synth

All ratings42 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews62 reviews
Positive69.4%
Neutral11.3%
Negative19.4%

PaulXStretch

All ratings72 ratings
Positive98.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews34 reviews
Positive94.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.9%

Bugs and requests

Viking Synth

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Presets not showing up
  • Presets disappear
  • App not showing in AUv3 menu
  • Settings not saving after iOS 14 update
  • Crashes when opening presets browser
Show 1 more
  • Saved presets not loading

Requested features

5 requests
  • More subtle drive mode
  • Categorized preset browser
  • Polyphony option
  • Dark mode
  • More apps from developer

PaulXStretch

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Viking Synth

No in-app purchases

None

PaulXStretch

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Viking Synth free?
Viking Synth costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PaulXStretch free?
PaulXStretch is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Viking Synth or PaulXStretch?
PaulXStretch is rated higher. Viking Synth averages 4.7 out of 5 from 42 ratings, while PaulXStretch averages 4.9 from 72 ratings.
Do Viking Synth or PaulXStretch have ads?
Neither Viking Synth nor PaulXStretch shows ads.

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