Year One vs KAiKU Control
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Year One
Experience music in a new dimension with augmented reality. Move around your space to uncover hidden sounds, build melodies, and create unique listening experiences by interacting with spatial audio arrangements.
- Spatial album listening
- Augmented reality soundscapes
- Interactive music exploration
- Build melodies and chords
- Dynamic audio effects
- Create unique listening experiences
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Hear different lyrics in the corners of your room; build melodies as you walk around your couch; hear hidden parts and build your own chords just by walking through the space around you. Year One is the first spatial album, utilizing the possibilities of augmented reality technology, by D.C. group and label TCW. Upon launching the Year One app, the different sounds and instruments of the songs will populate and begin moving through the space around you. Your movement, tracked by your smartphone, will affect which sounds you hear and change how individual effects are applied to them, making for a different listening experience each time. This final release of the album contains all eight spatial arrangements from TCW, Wall of Trophies, and N.E. Hertzberg. TCW has released a how-to guide for any musician to build their own similar app independently. Alongside the guide, TCW has begun cataloging spatial composition techniques for other musicians to use and contribute to. This guide and techniques can all be found on tcwav.com. TCW released their first spatial album, Inauguration, in early 2017 using smartphone GPS positional tracking, and released a similar guide for building spatial applications. Contact the group at tcw@tcwav.com Headphones required for proper audio spatialization.
KAiKU Control
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With Lou-Hi Control you can edit the settings of your Lou-Hi devices (Glove, Mat, Cuff, Sense Board): - Change sensor note mapping. - Change sensor types between note, cc, bend, action and gyroscope control. - Change touch and gyroscope sensitivity calibrations. - Play and create sounds with internal sampler and it's editor. - Save and load user mappings. - Set default initial settings to the device.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: KAiKU Control at 14.0 against Year One's 17.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Year One ships an update every 7 months, KAiKU Control every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Year One | KAiKU Control |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (3 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 5 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 407 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | TCW | Care Us Oy |
In-app purchases
Year One
No in-app purchases
KAiKU Control
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Year One free?
Is KAiKU Control free?
Do Year One or KAiKU Control have ads?
Which is updated more often, Year One or KAiKU Control?
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