Phosphor 3 vs VAPoly16
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Phosphor 3
This app recreates a vintage digital synthesizer, offering a faithful emulation of a classic sound engine. It includes modern features like MPE, extensive modulation, and a new UI for sonic exploration.
- Vintage digital synthesizer emulation
- Additive synthesis engine
- MPE support
- Extensive modulation routing
- Preset manager
- Tuning tables
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Glow in the dark synthesis. Phosphor 3 is a dual-oscillator additive synthesizer that puts the raw building blocks of sound at your fingertips. Draw, randomize, or select up to 64 harmonics per oscillator, then shape them with envelopes, LFOs, cross-modulation, and a flexible mod matrix. Originally inspired by the alphaSyntauri, a rare digital additive synth from the early 1980s, Phosphor 3 takes that concept far beyond its origins with modern MPE expression, polyphonic modulation, and a full effects engine. --- Additive Oscillators Two identical additive oscillators, each with up to 64 individually editable harmonics. Start from classic shapes: sawtooth, triangle, square, or draw your own harmonic spectrum directly in the partial editor. The intelligent randomizer generates musically useful timbres with variable rolloff, density, and formant peaks, so every click produces something worth exploring. Choose 16, 32, or 64 partials per oscillator to balance complexity against CPU. Each oscillator has independent level, pan, transpose, fine tune, a noise generator with lo-fi downsampling, and cross-modulation (FM) for pushing timbres into harsher, more complex territory. Modulation Two ADSR envelopes with adjustable attack, decay, and release curves. Two LFOs with four waveforms (pulse, sine, saw, random), tempo sync, and the option to run polyphonically, a separate LFO per voice, or globally. An 8-source modulation matrix routes velocity, pressure, pitch bend, mod wheel, CC 74, triggered random, and both LFOs to destinations across the oscillators and effects. Effects Stereo delay with independent left/right time, feedback, and cross-channel feedback for ping-pong and rhythmic patterns. Tempo sync locks delay times to your DAW. Dual band-pass filters after the delay let you carve the wet signal into resonant, frequency-specific textures. Expression Full MPE support with per-note pitch bend, pressure, and slide across 16 polyphonic voices. Mono legato and mono retrigger modes with adjustable portamento. Unison mode for thick, detuned stacks. A scrollable 128-key on-screen keyboard with velocity from touch position, pitch bend from horizontal drag, and channel pressure from vertical drag, no hardware controller required. Tuning MTS-ESP client support for real-time microtuning from any MTS-ESP master. TUN file import for custom scales. Standard 12-TET with adjustable A4 reference. Supports AUv3 for use in GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis, and other AUv3-compatible hosts.
VAPoly16
This app is a virtual analog polyphonic synthesizer for iOS and Mac. It offers 16 voices, a sequencer, and various audio effects. It can be used as a standalone application or as an AudioUnit Extension.
- 16 voice virtual analog synthesizer
- Bitimbral sound design
- Sequencer with piano roll and automation
- Multiple audio effects (delay, reverb, chorus, etc.)
- Standalone and AUv3 extension support
- Ableton Link and MIDI connectivity
- Audio file export
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VAPoly16 is a virtual analog bitimbral polyphonic synthesizer for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It features 16 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. The synthesizer consists of two 8 voice synthesizer, which features two oscillators, two ADSR envelopes, resonant high pass and low pass filter and an amplifier per voice. The oscillators features continuously variable wave shape and wide variety of modulation. The filters are modeled on the Sallen-Key filter circuit for classic analog sound. The Effects include delay, chorus, flanger, reverb, eq and compressor. The sequencer features piano roll and 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 16 voice bitimbral polyphonic synthesizer Sequencer 16 bar patterns per clip. Total 16 clips. Parameter automation. Audio Export Linear PCM format (AIFF, WAV and CAF) and compressed format (AAC) Support Audio Unit Extension (AUv3) Works on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Support iCloud Drive. Support Ableton Link, Bluetooth MIDI, MIDI In / Out. System Requirements For iOS Devices, A10 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.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Phosphor 3 at $5.99 against VAPoly16's $14.99. Phosphor 3 also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.4). VAPoly16's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 11 months) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On ratings volume, 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
Phosphor 3 costs $5.99 and VAPoly16 $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
VAPoly16 holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 13 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Phosphor 3's written reviews are positive against 100% of VAPoly16's.
Phosphor 3 ships an update every 11 months, VAPoly16 every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on July 6, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Phosphor 3 | VAPoly16 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.99 — better | $14.99 |
| Rating | 4.7 (9 ratings) | 5.0 (13 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 9 | 13 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 11 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Audio Damage, Inc. | Ryo Togawa |
Customer experience
Phosphor 3
VAPoly16
In-app purchases
Phosphor 3
No in-app purchases
VAPoly16
No in-app purchases









