Shruti Laya vs JAX Squasher
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shruti Laya
This app provides a drone sound and rhythm counter for practicing Indian Classical Music. It offers a traditional Tambura sound with adjustable tempo and rhythm counts, allowing musicians to practice anywhere.
- Shruti (Tuning) reference
- Laya (Rhythm) counter
- Tambura drone sound
- Adjustable tempo
- Practice anywhere
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Shruti-Laya is a Carnatic music practice companion. Three independent, perfectly phase-locked voices — tanpura, mrudangam, and manjira — play together against the tala grid you choose, for steady, musical accompaniment any time. TANPURA DRONE • Choose your tonic (Sa) across a wide range and the supporting string — pancham (Pa), madhyama (Ma), nishada (Ni), or upper Sa. • Adjust pluck rate and volume. MRUDANGAM • Tala-driven stroke playback with adjustable tempo (40–150 BPM). • Optional pattern variations for a more lifelike accompaniment. MANJIRA • Cymbal strokes on every beat, on claps, on sam, or off. PICK YOUR TALA • All seven Suladi Sapta Talas — Dhruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Triputa, Ata, Eka. • Set jaati and gati/nadai — Tisra, Chatusra, Khanda, Misra, Sankeerna — plus a kalai multiplier. (Adi tala = Triputa with Chatusra jaati.) BUILT-IN TUNER (new) • Tune your voice or instrument to your selected tonic. • Live swara name and a sharp/flat cents bar, right in the display. Practice-friendly: pause and resume from the lock screen and Control Center, and the drone keeps playing when the screen sleeps. Works on iPhone and iPad. NOTE: The Tuner feature uses the microphone to detect the pitch of the user's voice or instrument and show how it compares to the selected tonic. Tap "Tuner" above the on-screen display to try it; the app requests microphone permission on first use. No audio is recorded, stored, or transmitted.
JAX Squasher
This audio processing tool maximizes loudness and compresses audio with simple controls. It offers transparent limiting and can be used across various Apple devices and compatible music production software.
- Self-adjusting loudness maximization
- Simple input gain and threshold adjustment
- Transparent limiting and loudness compression
- MIDI automation for parameters
- Universal app for Apple Silicon devices
- Scalable to any screen size
- Inbuilt preset management
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The JAX Squasher is a self adjusting loudness maximizing limiter with super easy adjustment. Just increase the input gain or tweak the threshold parameter up to the desired level. Very short attack and release times can produce harmonic distortion but the effect is intended to be used for transparent limiting / loudness compression results. Online manual: https://audio.digitster.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/JAX-Essential-Series-Squasher.pdf Demonstration video: https://youtu.be/snVg-0QrZJc Use the same AudioUnits (AUv3) across all Apple Silicon devices, including the iPhone, the Apple Vision Pro and the Mac (M1/2/3/4). Native MacOS apps like GarageBand, MainStage 3 and Logic Pro are supported. Any 3rd-party AUv3 supporting host should be able to host the plugin too. The hosts must support Apples standards for MIDI enabled effect processors. MIDI automation is inbuilt. Just select the MIDI Controller for the desired automation parameter. Multiple assignments are possible. All audio unit parameters are exposed for direct AU automation. JAX Essential Series have the following key features : - ultra efficient with low memory footprint, made for stacking up - fully scalable to any screen size, based on vector drawing - freely MIDI assignable parameters and control - all effects can be mixed to the audio with any amount - inbuilt preset management and factory sets - upwards compatible with older devices and iOS versions - available on all Apple Silicon platforms, iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS with one release and price More infos can be found on our support website https://audio.digitster.net For advanced usage (i.e. mastering and exciting), we recommend to select the chorus from our SELECTIVE RANGE SERIES, which allows to limit the frequency range for audio processing. This build is truly 'universal', meaning, the audio unit is available for: - MacOS (Apple Silicon) - iOS (all actual iPhones) - iPadOS (all actual iPads) - visionOS (Apple Vision Pro) ( AudioUnits (AUv3) are app extensions, requiring an audio host application to perform. ) OS requirements: MacOS 10.15++ iOS 14.0++
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: JAX Squasher at 100% against Shruti Laya's 17%. Shruti Laya's advantage is price (Free vs $5.99) and rating (5.0 vs 4.0). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases 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
Shruti Laya is free to download; JAX Squasher costs $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Shruti Laya holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 4 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 17% of Shruti Laya's written reviews are positive against 100% of JAX Squasher's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
| Parameter | Shruti Laya | JAX Squasher |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $5.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 16.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ramachandra Mallappa | Jens Guell |
Customer experience
Shruti Laya
JAX Squasher
In-app purchases
Shruti Laya
No in-app purchases
JAX Squasher
No in-app purchases









