ROTOR vs Alien Box
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ROTOR
Transform your device into a comprehensive music performance suite. Experience tangible music control with optional physical controllers, bringing a unique interactive element to your sound creation. Seamlessly sync and harmonize audio, and integrate with other music apps for a powerful live performance setup.
- Tangible music control with physical pucks
- Modular synth with instruments, effects, and controllers
- Automatic real-time key detection and time stretching
- Audiobus and Ableton Link integration
- MIDI control input
- Live recording capabilities
- Multi-touch control panels
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ROTOR is the new app that turns your device into a complete music performance suite. Using the optional ROTOR controllers, which can be purchased separately, it also brings the reactable tangible music experience that has captivated musicians such as Björk, Coldplay or Gui Boratto, for the first time into the iPad. **PLEASE NOTE: This App is officially supported on the following devices: iPhone 4S and newer, iPad Air/Air2, iPad Mini 2/3/4, and iPad Pro.** NOT A CONVENTIONAL SYNTHESIZER, NEITHER A SEQUENCER OR DAW… … although it includes components from all of them. ROTOR incorporates dozens of modules, among instruments, audio effects, modulators and controllers, all interconnectable between them, which can be used for creating the most expressive and intricate patches in a unique way. It is an unprecedented multitouch/tangible instrument specially designed for live interaction and performance. TANGIBLE CONTROL With our exclusive physical control objects especially conceived for the iPad, and which can be purchased separately, ROTOR brings the unique tangible experience of the reactable for the first time to the iPad! This means that while all standard multi-touch capabilities are preserved, the ability to control any parameter by moving and twisting our tangible pucks over the iPad’s surface, brings 3 additional degrees of freedom to each hand! The controllers are available in our website, but this app can also be perfectly used without them. ALWAYS IN SYNC AND IN KEY ROTOR comes with automatic real-time key detection and time stretching algorithms that allow for samples, loops and sequences to stay not only in sync but also in harmony with each other. All wavefiles can be configured either as masters, thus determining at any instant the tonality of the whole session, or as slaves, thus adapting automatically to this computed tonality. WORKFLOW INTEGRATION AND COLLABORATION ROTOR MIC/LINE IN module and its panoply of effects and modulators allows to process voice, guitars, or any other instrument, in unheard ways. With Audiobus, ROTOR can be used as an input/output device in combination with any other compatible music apps. Any ROTOR module can also receive external MIDI control from any user-selectable MIDI port/channel. Moreover, its integration of Ableton Link allows ROTOR to play in perfect sync with Ableton Live and other Ableton Link compatible iOS apps running in other devices. FROM COMPLETE CONTROL TO INSPIRING SERENDIPITY ROTOR includes dozens of multi-touch control panels such as virtual keyboards, polyphonic and monophonic step-sequencers, envelope generators, or 2D panels, which empower to control in real-time, every detail or nuance of the performance. On the other hand, interconnecting less linear and less predictable modules, such as the accelerometer input, the beat slicer or the feedback delay, opens a whole universe of generative and serendipitous creations. This, combined with ROTOR’s live recording capabilities, which simplifies the capturing of loops on-the-fly and always in sync, turns ROTOR into the ULTIMATE LOOP CREATOR MACHINE. SONIC VERSATILITY ROTOR also comes with 100+ high quality loops and sessions created by professional music producers. Along with these loops, users can import their own ones and combine them with ROTOR’s advanced synthesis and processing capabilities. From House or EDM to the most experimental generative soundscapes, ROTOR sonic versatility is unparalleled.
Alien Box
This audio effect plugin creates a unique sound with increased sustain and gentle, LFO-modulated vibes. It functions as an AUv3 effect for hosts like GarageBand or as a standalone app for real-time audio input processing.
- Unique sound enrichment
- LFO modulated vibes
- Complex resonator system
- AUv3 plugin for hosts
- Standalone app mode
- Gain, Vibe, Depth, Reverb controls
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Alien Box is a completely new kind of audio effect that you have never heard before. It makes the sound big and slightly increases the sustain while adding gentle vibes to it. The vibes are LFO modulated and the effect is using very complex resonator system inside. It is modulation effect and you can compare it to flanger, phaser or chorus but it is not like any of them… The app is an Audio Unit Effect AUV3 and can be used inside GarageBand or other AU host apps as an effect plug-in. Alien Box can also run as a stand alone app adding effect to the audio input so you can play your guitar, bass or synth directly three the app if you have the connector to do so. Alien Box controls: - Gain - you can use it increase the gain and sustain - Vibe - main tone and background vibes balance - Depth - controls the modulations depth - Reverb - adds reverb to the background vibes
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: ROTOR at 43% against Alien Box's 0%. ROTOR also leads on rating (3.2 vs 1.3) and update cadence (monthly vs every 38 months). Alien Box's advantage is price ($2.99 vs $7.99). 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
ROTOR costs $7.99 and Alien Box $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
ROTOR holds the better App Store score, 3.2 against 1.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ROTOR has 31 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 43% of ROTOR's written reviews are positive against 0% of Alien Box's.
ROTOR ships an update monthly, Alien Box every 38 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ROTOR | Alien Box |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 | $2.99 — better |
| Rating | 3.2 (31 ratings) — better | 1.3 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 42.9% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 31 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 38 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 10.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 61 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Reactable Systems SL | Aleksandar Mlazev |
Customer experience
ROTOR
Alien Box
In-app purchases
ROTOR
No in-app purchases
Alien Box
No in-app purchases









