Comparison

Year One vs VAPolyQuad

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Spatial album listening
  • Augmented reality soundscapes
  • Interactive music exploration
  • Build melodies and chords
  • Dynamic audio effects
  • Create unique listening experiences
Read full description

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.

About

VAPolyQuad

Create rich, analog-style music with this powerful polyphonic synthesizer. Explore a vast array of sound-shaping tools, including multiple oscillators, filters, and effects. Program intricate melodies and rhythms with the built-in sequencer, and seamlessly share projects across your Apple devices.

Highlights
  • Virtual analog polyphonic synthesizer
  • Up to 8 voice polyphony
  • Four oscillators per voice
  • Multiple resonant filters
  • Built-in effects suite
  • 16-bar sequencer with piano roll
  • Audio Unit Extension (AUv3) support
Features
Read full description

VAPolyQuad is a virtual analog polyphonic synthesizer for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It features 8 voice synthesizer, effects, sequencer and audio visualization tools. It operates as a stand alone or as an AudioUnit Extension (AUv3). Stand Alone supports Ableton Link, MIDI and audio file export. Single voice of the synthesizer features four oscillators, two mixers, two resonant high pass filters, two resonant low pass filters, two amplifiers, four ADSR envelopes and four LFOs. The oscillators features continuously variable wave shape and wide variety of modulation. The filters are modeled on the Sallen-Key filter circuit and cascaded OTA filter circuit for classic analog sound. The Effects include delay, chorus, flanger, reverb, eq and compressor. The sequencer features piano roll and parameter automation editor to program 16 bar pattern per clip. Project files can be saved in iCloud Drive, so that the project can be accessed from iPhone, iPad or Mac. - Main Features - Virtual analog polyphonic synthesizer. Maximum 8 voice polyphony. it depends on performance of the device it is running. Four oscillators per voice. Flexible audio signal and control signal routing. Keyboard Control Routing Two type of Lowpass filter, cascaded OTA model and Sallen-key model. Support MIDI 2.0 New User Interface built by SwiftUI for improved performance. Built-in Sequencer. 16 bar patterns per clip. Total 8 clips. Piano Roll and Parameter automation. Support Audio Unit Extension (AUv3) Works on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Support iCloud Drive to share project files between the platforms. Audio Export. Linear PCM format (AIFF, WAV and CAF) and compressed format (AAC) Support Ableton Link, Bluetooth MIDI, MIDI In / Out. 370 Factory Presets - System Requirements - A13 Fusion or above is recommended. AudioUnit Extension (AUv3) requires host application which support AudioUnit Extension. AudioUnit Extension is supported by Apple Logic and Apple Garage Band on iOS and macOS. For any other DAW, it depends on the application and some of them don’t support AudioUnit Extension. Sound may be distorted if CPU of the device doesn't have enough power. If it happens reduce number of voices.

Screenshots

Year One4 screens
VAPolyQuad4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Year One at Free against VAPolyQuad's $14.99. Year One also leads on rating (4.3 vs 4.0) and update cadence (every 7 months vs every 22 months). On review sentiment, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Year One is free to download; VAPolyQuad costs $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Year One holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 5 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 0% and 0% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Year One ships an update every 7 months, VAPolyQuad every 22 months. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Year One versus VAPolyQuad: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterYear OneVAPolyQuad
PriceFree — better$14.99
Rating4.3 (3 ratings) — better4.0 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings35 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 months — betterEvery 22 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.016.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size407 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTCWRyo Togawa

Customer experience

Year One

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%

VAPolyQuad

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

None

Year One

No in-app purchases

None

VAPolyQuad

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Year One free?
Year One is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is VAPolyQuad free?
VAPolyQuad costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Year One or VAPolyQuad?
Year One is rated higher. Year One averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while VAPolyQuad averages 4.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Year One or VAPolyQuad have ads?
Neither Year One nor VAPolyQuad shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Year One or VAPolyQuad?
Year One ships an update every 7 months, and VAPolyQuad every 22 months. Most recently, Year One was updated on October 5, 2026 and VAPolyQuad on September 25, 2026.

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