Mellowsound vs Decent Sampler
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mellowsound
Experience the iconic sounds of a 1960s keyboard sampler with this app. It offers professional audio quality, allowing you to play vintage orchestra sounds on your device. Customize your sound with various effects and recording options.
- Authentic Mellotron emulation
- Professional 16-bit/44.1Khz audio
- Photo-realistic user interface
- Blend mode for two instruments
- MIDI and Audio Unit support
- In-app purchases for more instruments and FX
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Play the iconic Mellotron keyboard sampler heard on The Beatles, Radiohead and King Crimson records — now on your iPhone, iPad & Mac. Mellowsound is built from real recordings of our own Mellotron M400, sampled note by note across all instrument tapes. Every sound is authentic, every detail is preserved. Professional audio quality — 16bit / 44.1kHz Photo-realistic vintage interface AUv3 Audio Unit — plug into any DAW or AUM FREE VERSION includes: • 3 instruments: Flute, Clarinet & Sax • Blend mode: play two instruments simultaneously • Full Mixer, Metronome • MIDI & MIDI Mapping • AudioBus & Inter-App Audio (iOS) FULL VERSION (IAP) includes: • 18 Mellotron instruments: Strings, Piano, Flute, Guitar, Vibraphone and more • User Presets • ADSR Envelope • 6 FX: Tube Amp, Tremolo, Chorus, Pitch-shifter, Delay & Reverb • Live Recording CHAMBERLIN PACK (IAP) includes: • 18 additional instruments: Brass, Pizzicato Violins, Cello, Harpsichord and more Questions or feedback? We'd love to hear from you: contact@fingerlab.net Stay tuned! The Fingerlab Team
Decent Sampler
This music app lets you use professional-quality sample libraries on your mobile device. It supports Decent Samples libraries and SFZs, and can be used within other music production apps as an AUv3 plugin.
- Use professional sample libraries
- Supports Decent Samples libraries
- Supports SFZ files
- AUv3 plugin compatibility
- Standalone app functionality
- New libraries added weekly
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Did you ever wish you could use professional quality sample libraries on your mobile device? Now you can! The Decent Samples plugin is a sample player that allows you to use your favorite Decent Samples sample libraries on the go (as well as SF2s, SFZs, and EXS files). Many of the most popular Decent Samples releases are available through the app with more being added every week. Because it's also an AUv3 plugin, you can use it from within GarageBand or with AUM.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Decent Sampler at weekly against Mellowsound's every 4 weeks. Decent Sampler also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.3) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). Mellowsound's advantage is review sentiment (60% vs 52%) and ratings volume (237 vs 53). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Mellowsound sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Decent Sampler sells 60 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Decent Sampler holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 237 and 53 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 60% of Mellowsound's written reviews are positive against 52% of Decent Sampler's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Mellowsound ships an update every 4 weeks, Decent Sampler weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mellowsound | Decent Sampler |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (237 ratings) | 4.6 (53 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.5% of reviews — better | 52.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 237 — better | 53 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 899 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Fingerlab | Decidedly, LLC |
Customer experience
Mellowsound
Decent Sampler
User reviews
Mellowsound
From 237 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎹 Authentic Mellotron sounds
- 🔊 Great sound quality
- 🎨 Nice visual design
- 💸 Good value for money
- 🔌 Integrates well with other apps
Room to improve
- 🔇 Limited free version
- 🔒 Paywall for full functionality
- 🎹 Keyboard range limited to 3 octaves
- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
- 🔋 High battery drain
Decent Sampler
From 53 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎶 Great sounds and libraries
- 🎹 Powerful sampler for iOS
- 💡 Free sample packs available
- ✨ High-quality instruments
- 🔄 Actively developed with updates
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and instability
- 💾 High RAM and storage usage
- 🔌 Issues with Logic Pro on iOS
- 🐌 Slow download manager
- 🤷♂️ Not working with older iPads
Bugs and requests
Mellowsound
Reported bugs
3 issues- Incompatibility with some iOS versions and devices
- Issues with Inter-App Audio and AUv3 functionality
- Keyboard not responsive or disappearing
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to blend/layer multiple instruments
- Expanded sound library with more Mellotron presets
- Sustain pedal support
- MIDI channel selection
- Improved performance in DAWs
Decent Sampler
Reported bugs
23 issues- Instant crash on load
- App stopped working after iOS update
- AUV3 crashes out of nowhere
- Unresponsive upon opening
- Server issues for login
Show 18 moreShow fewer
- Instrument remains stuck on a note
- Projects need to be reloaded to show app
- Crash when loading samples
- Failing to load presets when reloading host project
- Adding unwanted temp presets
- Crashing when selecting different samples
- Login prompt won't let paste text
- Can't paste password to login
- Login screen covered by keyboard
- Error 500 when downloading
- Restore Purchases button not working
- Forgotten Password button not working
- Invalid email address for registration
- No URL found when downloading sound packs
- Clicking sounds while using
- Glitching, clicking, and ghost sounds on held notes
- Instrument crashes after a few minutes
- Earthquake pad 02 glitching
Requested features
14 requests- Add user/pass fill from password keeper
- Implement a download manager for multiple instruments
- Allow running within IAA or Audiobus
- Add ability to clear cache
- Fix multi-track support in AUV3
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Add MIDI sequencing
- Add pitch bend functionality
- Add velocity response curve knob
- Add filter stage and more flexible envelope
- Allow disabling iOS auto-lock
- Configure receiving MIDI channel
- Improve preset selection
- Add dark mode
- Support VoiceOver
In-app purchases
Mellowsound
- Chamberlin Instruments Pack$8.99
- Full Version$9.99
Decent Sampler
- Box ViolinFree
- Dave ChoirFree
- Resonator GlockenspielFree
Show 57 moreShow fewer
- Banjo UkuleleFree
- KalimbaFree
- Ukelin$0.99
- Decent Sampler Store Item 3$2.99
- Decent Sampler Store Item 4$3.99
- Weber 1929 Baby Grand$4.99
- Ramshackle Zither$4.99
- Decent Sampler Store Item 5$4.99
- Music Major Sample Library$4.99
- Sawblade Kalimba Library$4.99
- Melodica$4.99
- Distance: Zero$4.99
- Little Church Organ$4.99
- Indie Guitar$5.99
- Decent Sampler Store Item 6$5.99
- Decent Sampler Store Item 7$6.99
- Paper Drums$6.99
- Relic Keyboard$7.99
- Decent Sampler Store Item 8$7.99
- HS-3715 Keyboard$7.99
- Malevolence by Venus Theory$8.99
- Viola Ensemble$9.99
- Indie Bass$9.99
- Metal Cups$9.99
- Phonoharp$9.99
- Violin Ensemble$9.99
- Ethereal Vocals$9.99
- Decent Sampler Store Item 10$9.99
- Kalimba by Darel$9.99
- Dangerous Undertones$9.99
- Chroma Vol. 1$9.99
- Luminate$9.99
- Horror Box$9.99
- Tape Violins Sample Library$10.99
- Decent Sampler Store Item 11$11.00
- Interlaced Sample Library$14.99
- Decent Sampler Store Item 15$15.00
- Decent Sampler Store Item 16$16.00
- Decent Sampler Store Item 19$19.00
- alt.strings$19.99
- Felt & Fog$19.99
- Organic Orchestra$19.99
- Indie Drums$19.99
- Bitscape 95$19.99
- Thyssia by Venus Theory$19.99
- Decent Samples Store Item 20$20.00
- Decent Samples Store Item 24$24.00
- The Void$24.99
- Processed Guitars$24.99
- Decent Samples Store Item 25$25.00
- String Flows$29.99
- 70s Summer Camp Sample Library$29.99
- Decent Samples Store Item 30$30.00
- LoFi VaporTones Ds$33.99
- Decent Samples Store Item 39$39.00
- Decent Samples Store Item 40$40.00
- Chamberlin M1 by Jamie Lidell$49.99
