Comparison

Gestrument Pro vs Relic Waves

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

Head to head
About

Gestrument Pro

Create music with complex systems and fingertip motion. This interactive instrument allows for deep personal expression in playing, improvising, and composing. Experiment with advanced musical concepts and real-time improvisation.

Highlights
  • Interactive gesture-based music creation
  • Real-time improvisation and composition
  • Modular musical generators
  • Advanced microtonal scale editor
  • MIDI output and Inter-App Audio/Audiobus support
  • Recordable automations
Features
Read full description

The Interactive Gesture Instrument Create music based on complex systems of musical rules and interactions. Using the motion of your fingertips, Gestrument Pro lets you play, improvise and compose with deeper levels of personal expression than ever before. Play your music your way Gestrument Pro lets you create something in-between a bespoke instrument and written piece of music. In other words, it’s an instrument made to play your own music in your own way. Widen your musical comfort zone Experiment with simple and advanced musical concepts such as microtonality, polyrhythms and much more using our modular system of highly tweakable musical generators. A next level Improvisational tool By building patches based on the musical rules and properties of your own music, Gestrument Pro lets you improvise to it in real-time. Our Pitch and Rhythm generators make sure you’re always on time and always on pitch, no matter how you play. Powered by the Gestrument Engine Gestrument Pro is completely powered by our revolutionary Gestrument Engine, a system for generating music based on user interactions in real-time. Based on the revolutionary Gestrument app from 2012, award-winning composer Jesper Nordin and leading iOS developer Jonatan Liljedahl (Kymatica) have completely re-invented their unique instrument and taken the concept to the next level. Gestrument PRO takes everything we loved about the original Gestrument app and improves on its unique functionality while introducing a host of new features such as multi-touch, recordable automations, advanced scale editing and a unique system of highly tweakable modular generators that define rhythms and pitches. Features: • Powered by the Gestrument Engine. • Up to 16 individual Instruments. • Each Instrument can be controlled by any of up to 8 Cursors. • Instruments can use internal high quality sounds or play other synthesizers or apps via MIDI. • Modular swappable Generators for producing the rhythms and pitches per Instrument, each with their own set of tweakable parameters and settings. • 8 performance sliders that each can control one or more parameters in the Instruments and their Generators. • A highly flexible modulation system allows assigning Sliders and Cursor position/pressure to any parameter in the Instruments. • Advanced microtonal Scale editor with several standard scales included. • 8 Scale Slots for fast switching between scales and tonalities during performance. • Sliders, Cursors and Scale Slots can be recorded into automated loops, or controlled via MIDI. They can also send MIDI. • Supports Inter-App Audio and Audiobus, including host sync for following the hosts transport and tempo. Terms of Use: http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula

About

Relic Waves

Generate unique Lo-Fi sounds, pads, and effects using advanced synthesis algorithms. Explore billions of sonic possibilities with intuitive controls and real-time recording. Perfect for musicians and sound designers seeking experimental audio.

Highlights
  • Billions of unique Lo-Fi sounds
  • Random sound generation with search
  • Multiple keyboard input options
  • Real-time audio recording to WAV
  • Export to WAV, SunVox, and clipboard
  • MIDI control and processing
  • iOS Audio Unit Extension (AUv3)
Features
Read full description

Relic Waves is a generator of Lo-Fi noises, pads and effects based on unique synthesis algorithms from NightRadio. More than 4 billion samples from the depths of the Mathematical Universe! Features: * search for new sounds with three buttons: next random set, edit code, previous set; each set of 12 sounds corresponds to a code of 8 characters; * three types of keyboards for live performing: on-screen buttons, PC keyboard, MIDI input; * several processing parameters + control via MIDI; * real-time audio recording to WAV (32-bit); * export to: WAV (one file or a set), SunVox (samples + effects in one file), text clipboard; * the LCK button freezes individual samples - they will not change during the search for new sets; * iOS Audio Unit Extension (AUv3). Double clicking on a parameter opens a window for setting the exact value. If you enable the Hold option, the notes will play endlessly, without reacting to key release (noteOff) events; turning the note on again works like turning it off; there are two ways to enable this option: 1) using the Hold parameter in the "MIDI Mapping" window; 2) by pressing the HOLD button, which appears in place of LCK while playing the musical keyboard: press HOLD, release the desired notes - then the released notes will continue to play.

Screenshots

Gestrument Pro4 screens
Relic Waves1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Gestrument Pro at Free against Relic Waves's $1.99. Relic Waves's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 57%) and rating (5.0 vs 3.8). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads 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

Gestrument Pro is free to download; Relic Waves costs $1.99 up front. Gestrument Pro sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Relic Waves asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Relic Waves holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 66 and 43 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Gestrument Pro's written reviews are positive against 100% of Relic Waves's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gestrument Pro ships an update every 7 months, Relic Waves every 11 months. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Gestrument Pro versus Relic Waves: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGestrument ProRelic Waves
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating3.8 (66 ratings)5.0 (43 ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings66 — better43
Update frequencyEvery 7 months — betterEvery 11 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.2 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size338 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGestrument ABAlexander Zolotov

Customer experience

Gestrument Pro

All ratings64 ratings
Positive68.8%
Neutral4.7%
Negative26.6%
Written reviews47 reviews
Positive57.4%
Neutral6.4%
Negative36.2%

Relic Waves

All ratings42 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Gestrument Pro

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • GestrumentPro not working in AUM as IAA
  • Interface not fixed when selecting CC or CHANNEL
  • App crashes when hitting MIDI controls in settings
  • Audio pops with multiple instruments and reverb
  • User Manual getting stuck open
Show 2 more
  • Pops mentioned by another reviewer
  • All instruments play the same note suddenly

Requested features

11 requests
  • Preset folders
  • Additional features
  • Improved AUv3 support
  • More training videos
  • Ability to display note length/rates divisions at the top of the screen
Show 6 more
  • Control more than one synth at a time (separate channels)
  • Hold function for holding down the loop
  • Ableton Link integration
  • Inbuilt facility to record music
  • Ability to record or share music
  • Redo the user interface for instruments

Relic Waves

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Gestrument Pro

Subscriptions1
  • Monthly subscription7 Days trial$1.491 Month
One-time1
  • One-time purchase$14.99
None

Relic Waves

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Gestrument Pro free?
Gestrument Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Relic Waves free?
Relic Waves costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Gestrument Pro or Relic Waves?
Relic Waves is rated higher. Gestrument Pro averages 3.8 out of 5 from 66 ratings, while Relic Waves averages 5.0 from 43 ratings.
Do Gestrument Pro or Relic Waves have ads?
Neither Gestrument Pro nor Relic Waves shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Gestrument Pro or Relic Waves?
Gestrument Pro ships an update every 7 months, and Relic Waves every 11 months. Most recently, Gestrument Pro was updated on October 22, 2026 and Relic Waves on October 24, 2026.

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