FormKey vs Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FormKey
This app is an intuitive MIDI controller that helps musicians improve by using shapes for notes and colors for octaves. Its unique isomorphic keys aid in pattern recognition and chord discovery, making music creation more accessible.
- Shape-based note input
- Color-coded octaves
- Isomorphic key layout
- Pattern recognition aid
- Chord discovery assistance
- Future update commitment
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Unlock your music potential. FormKey is the first music suite that helps you become the musician you've always imagined being, just by using it. INTRODUCING FORM Form is a new way to read and create music. Notes become shapes. Octaves become colors. Duration becomes a simple to read fraction. You can learn to read and play music in minutes. FormKey is the first release of the Form notation language, an open licensed music language designed to create instant music literacy. With the goal being to become a standard you'll see everywhere. THREE MODES: CREATE, LEARN, AND CONTROL • Create mode gives you a 16-track sequencer built on the classic drum machine workflow, modernized for today. Use your own AUv3 plugins or the three we built in to create full tracks from the ground up. • Learn lets you play and read your way through classical pieces while Form teaches you exactly what the music is doing, note by note. • Control turns FormKey into a MIDI controller for your external workflows, so it fits right into the setup you already have. THREE BRAND NEW AUv3 PLUGINS • Tone is a fully interactive subtractive synth that makes synthesis make sense. Every knob and connection is something you can hear and understand, so the architecture of a sound stops being a mystery. • Wave is a file-based sampler that lets you chop audio samples from your device, designed to make Slicing, and rearranging samples feel effortless instead of technical. • Patt3rn is a suite of modeled instruments curated to provide users with high quality options when looking for go to sounds every sequencer needs. • All 3 work in any host, so the instruments you learn in FormKey come with you wherever you go. SCALE MODE Reshape the keyboard to any of 26 scales, so every note you play stays in key. Choose from: • Major and minor: Major, Natural Minor, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor • Modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian • Pentatonic and blues: Major Pentatonic, Minor Pentatonic, Blues • Symmetric: Whole Tone, Whole-Half Diminished, Half-Whole Diminished, Augmented Hexatonic • World and exotic: Hungarian Minor, Neapolitan Minor, Byzantine, Enigmatic, Hirajoshi, In Sen, Kumoi, Iwato We've refined the interface across the app, making FormKey easier and more enjoyable to use. Every feature in FormKey is free to try. In celebration of our launch, $14.99 unlocks everything for the life of the app. We hope you love it as much as we do.
Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM
This app provides a virtual guitar pedalboard with boutique effects for iPhone and iPad. Users can build custom pedalboards and use them standalone or as Audio Unit effects within DAWs like GarageBand and Logic Pro. Individual pedals or the entire collection can be purchased.
- Virtual boutique guitar pedalboard
- Standalone app functionality
- Audio Unit (AUv3) integration
- Customizable pedalboard layouts
- Low-latency processing
- Individual pedal purchases
- Unlockable full pedalboard
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Elementi is a classic guitar pedalboard for iPhone and iPad, with a real amp at the end of the chain. Play it on its own, no DAW needed, or load any pedal as an AUv3 effect in GarageBand, Logic Pro, AUM and other hosts. WE BELIEVE OURS SIMPLY SOUND BETTER Any effect gets you from A to B; what separates them is the ride. Every pedal on this board is voiced by ear, not cloned from a preset, and we only release what we'd want to play ourselves. NO DAW NEEDED Plug in your audio interface, drop pedals on the board and play. Put on a backing track in Apple Music or YouTube Premium and play along; the board keeps running behind it. The board: • Spinta - Overdrive (free) • Bruto - Fuzz • Vortice - Phaser • Marea - Flanger • Velo - Chorus • Palpito - Tremolo • Eco - Delay • Aura - Reverb • Impronta - Amp captures A REAL AMP: IMPRONTA Impronta plays Neural Amp Modeler (NAM) and AIDA-X captures with cabinet IRs, wired like a real amp: the drives push its input and every other pedal runs in its effects loop. It is the full Impronta: two rigs, or a second guitarist who plays your part with you, a little behind and a little loose. Search TONE3000 inside the app, or import your own captures. A TUNER IN THE INPUT JACK Tap the IN jack and tune, then play. Three knobs each, a big readable face, and low-latency processing that answers your picking dynamics. A written manual for the whole board, free at caesura-effects.com/support. START FREE Spinta, our overdrive, is included at no cost. Add the pedals you want one at a time, or unlock the whole board in a single purchase. One-time purchases, no subscription. Buy a pedal once and it unlocks in the app and in your AUv3 hosts. Restore Purchases is built in. No account needed: purchases live with your Apple ID. No tracking. Want to go further? Our Caesura Guitar Effects Pedals app adds the full Caesura line and a live stage with MIDI footswitches. Elementi is made by Caesura Effects, an audio effects company.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM at 5.0 against FormKey's 4.5. Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs fortnightly) and monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs paid). FormKey's advantage is ratings volume (8 vs 2). On price, 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
Both are free to download. FormKey sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM sells 9 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 2 respectively.
FormKey ships an update fortnightly, Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FormKey | Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (8 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 88 MB | 84 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Polyhedra | Guy Nollez |
Customer experience
FormKey
Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM
In-app purchases
FormKey
- FormKey Full Unlock$14.99
Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM
- Bruto Fuzz$1.99
- Vortice Phaser$1.99
- Marea Flanger$1.99
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- Velo Chorus$1.99
- Palpito Tremolo$1.99
- Eco Delay$1.99
- Aura Reverb$1.99
- Impronta: NAM Amp Player$4.99
- Whole Board$9.99
Questions
Is FormKey free?
Is Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM free?
Which has better reviews, FormKey or Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM?
Do FormKey or Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM have ads?
Which is updated more often, FormKey or Elementi Guitar Effects & NAM?
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