AudioTheory Guitars vs LevLr2
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AudioTheory Guitars
This app serves as a comprehensive reference for guitarists, offering interactive chord and fretboard diagrams. It simplifies music theory by allowing seamless transcription between piano and guitar, with customizable tuning and note exclusion features.
- Interactive chord and fretboard diagrams
- Piano to guitar transcription
- Customizable tuning and capo settings
- Chord sheet playback
- Note exclusion for playing in key
- Left-handed mode
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AudioTheory Guitars is the ultimate reference tool for guitar notes and chords. Featuring a built-in keyboard, each note reacts to your input across the customisable chord and fretboard diagrams. For anyone who's ever wished music theory was that little bit more straightforward – this is the software you need. Features: –Seamlessly transcribe between piano and guitar using a straight-forward colour coding system and notation highlighting. Play a note on the keyboard, or directly from the chord and fretboard diagrams to see where it is across all formats. –Set your tuning and capo. Everything else adjusts accordingly – no need for a chord transposition chart. –Choose your chords with open, power, barre, sus2 and dim7 chord sheets with fullscreen diagrams and playback options. –Exclude notes and never play out of key again. Your fretboard diagram now only shows the notes you need and your keyboard doesn't play the ones you don't. –Full customisation. Select the chords you want. Left-handed mode for left-handed players. Set your fretboard size, number of strings, start fret and per-string tuning.
LevLr2
This audio effect plugin offers dual-stage compression, limiting, and optional clipping for music production. It provides granular control over dynamics, is CPU-light, and has virtually zero latency, making it suitable for both studio and live use.
- Dual-stage compression and limiting
- Optional clipping stage (soft/hard)
- Parallel compression
- Low CPU usage
- Virtually zero latency
- Gradual A/B fading
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LevLr2 Dynamics Processor Plugin (AUv3) LevLr2 is an audio effect plugin that can run standalone, or in any AU compatible host application such as Logic Pro or GarageBand. To configure audio settings in standalone mode, tap the Settings button. Please note that the input will be muted by default to avoid nasty feedback! Overview The LevLr2 "leveller" is a dual stage compression and limiting processor with optional clipping stage. I created LevLr2 after receiving messages from people who really liked the simplicity of LevLr, but wanted a bit more control over its internal workings. LevLr2 combines two dynamics processors and has options to select ratios for both compression and limiting, and adds "parallel compression" plus hard and soft clipping functions. While LevLr2 isn't intended to replace your favourite mastering signal chain, it's relatively much lighter on CPU and adds virtually zero latency, so is also suitable for live use. The super fast attack times under the hood also makes LevLr2 great on drums, especially when using parallel compression. For a super-simple lightweight "mastering suite" you could partner LevLr2 with SimplEQ. LOOK AFTER YOUR EARS / SPEAKERS! LevLr2 can make things VERY LOUD, so please be careful with extreme / high values or when using the Randomize function! Controls Active - Toggles the effect On or Off. You can use this control to A/B your settings with the original signal and this will fade gradually between the two with no distracting pops or clicks! Comp - Activates the compressor stage by selecting a compression ratio. Typically lower values are more subtle. In - Determines how hard you drive the compressor. You can also think of this as the compressor threshold, so for example, at 6dB on the In slider, the threshold of the compressor will be -6dB. The compressor also applies makeup gain automatically based on restoring a 0dB level signal after it has been compressed. Mix - Sets the balance between the incoming and compressed audio. At zero, this will be the same as if the compressor was bypassed, and at 100% is the compressed signal only. A good parallel compression effect can be achieved by setting the Comp ratio and In high and the Mix to around 50%. Limit - Activates the limiter stage by selecting a limiter ratio. Typically lower values are more subtle and the highest value is close to "brick wall" limiting. In - Determines how hard you drive the limiter. You can also think of this as the limiter threshold, so for example, at 3dB on the In slider, the threshold of the limiter will be -3dB. The limiter also applies makeup gain automatically based on restoring a 0dB level signal after it has been limited. Clip - Adds an optional Soft or Hard clipper after compression and limiting. The clipping will be more noticeable once you've applied some compression and limiting and depending on the settings, can add subtle warmth to aggressive crunch! Out - Applies a final stage gain trim to the output at the very end of the internal signal chain. In theory, the LevLr2 output should never exceed 0dB, but if you're driving levels really hard, you may want to back this off to around -0.2dB to avoid inter-sample peaks (ISPs) further downstream when recording or mixing-down for example. For more info and support please visit: www.waverley-instruments.com/robjackson
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: LevLr2 at $1.99 against AudioTheory Guitars's $6.99. LevLr2 also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On update cadence, 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
AudioTheory Guitars costs $6.99 and LevLr2 $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
AudioTheory Guitars ships an update every 3 months, LevLr2 every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AudioTheory Guitars | LevLr2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $6.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 412 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Fraser Mackenzie | Rob Jackson |
Customer experience
AudioTheory Guitars
LevLr2
In-app purchases
AudioTheory Guitars
No in-app purchases
LevLr2
No in-app purchases









