kineticSynth vs SmashCut Visual Synth
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
kineticSynth
Transform your phone into a virtual musical instrument that responds to your movements. Explore unique ways to create music with high-fidelity sound and intuitive controls. Perfect for aspiring musicians and sound enthusiasts.
- Motion-controlled instrument playback
- Virtual 37-key synthesizer
- Drum pad simulation
- Bass drone control
- Hi-fidelity 44kHz sound
- Instrument tutorial videos
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Use the phone as a virtual musical instrument, producing sounds depending on how you move it in the air. Every instrument has a help video demonstrating how the instrument is “played”. Hitting and sustaining the keys of a 37-keys keyboard synthesizer, or hitting drums as if with a drumstick, or controlling the buzz of a bass drone, it’s a completely new musical experience that feels natural like a real musical instrument! All in 44kHz hi-fidelity sound. Everyone can now sweep that filter like a pro electronic producer!
SmashCut Visual Synth
Control video playback and transformations using MIDI messages, similar to how musicians control audio samplers. Set cue points, trigger playback, and manipulate video in real-time for presentations, live streaming, or creative video art.
- Load and cue video from camera roll
- Control playback with MIDI notes
- Transform video with MIDI CC messages
- Built-in MIDI controller for second device
- Wi-Fi based device connection
- Universal app for iOS and Mac
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Musicians have used audio samplers for decades, triggering drum sounds, pianos, and hundreds of other instruments using MIDI keyboards and sequencers. SmashCut brings the same sort of functionality to video content. Load in any video from your camera roll, easily set cue points in the video, and you're ready to play with video in a new way. The app responds to MIDI note messages to seek to cue points, and start or stop playback. With MIDI CC messages, you can scale, rotate, and transform the video in a live and interactive way. And if you don't have a MIDI keyboard, you can still use all of the features of the app -- there's a built-in MIDI controller that you can use on a second iOS device. What can you do with SmashCut? If you're making a presentation using video, you can trigger play and stop using the remote, and move to different cue points easily. If you stream video or podcast, you can use SmashCut to cue to a video clip with no hassle or headache. The iPad version of the app runs on a Silicon Mac, and works well with streaming software such as OBS. If you have a band, and are putting on a show, you can sequence video to keep in time with the music. SmashCut is a great way to put together a music video, or to just cut, splice, and glitch video for fun. Instead of trimming video clips in a conventional editor, you can play with video like you would a musical instrument. There's full support of MIDI, and also an easy Wi-Fi based connection system; if you have two devices on the same Wi-Fi network, they'll connect in seconds. You can use the iOS built in screen recorder to capture video and audio from the app. The app is universal, running on iPad, iPhone, and Silicon Macs. There's a watermark on-screen that can be removed with an in-app purchase.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: kineticSynth at none against SmashCut Visual Synth's 1. kineticSynth also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 40 months). SmashCut Visual Synth's advantage is ratings volume (14 vs 2). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. SmashCut Visual Synth sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. kineticSynth asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for kineticSynth against 4.9 for SmashCut Visual Synth. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SmashCut Visual Synth has 14 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
kineticSynth ships an update every 3 weeks, SmashCut Visual Synth every 40 months. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | kineticSynth | SmashCut Visual Synth |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.9 (14 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 14 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 40 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 121 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Stefan Nikolov | Secret Base Design |
Customer experience
kineticSynth
SmashCut Visual Synth
In-app purchases
kineticSynth
No in-app purchases
SmashCut Visual Synth
- Watermark RemovalFree
Questions
Is kineticSynth free?
Is SmashCut Visual Synth free?
Which has better reviews, kineticSynth or SmashCut Visual Synth?
Do kineticSynth or SmashCut Visual Synth have ads?
Which is updated more often, kineticSynth or SmashCut Visual Synth?
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