Comparison

Black Distortion vs PaulXStretch

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Black Distortion

This audio plugin emulates a classic distortion pedal, offering versatile gain levels from mild overdrive to fuzzy tones. It features a unique filter control to shape high-end frequencies and a volume control for perfect integration with your existing sound. Use it as a primary distortion, a dirty channel for amplifiers, or a boost for solos.

Highlights
  • RAT2 distortion pedal emulation
  • Adjustable gain from overdrive to fuzz
  • Legendary filter control for treble shaping
  • Volume control for clean tone matching
  • Standalone, AudioUnit v3, and Inter-App Audio support
Features
Read full description

The Black Distortion plugin modeled on RAT2* distortion pedal will be your go-to distortion plugin for every recording, whether it’s rock, blues, punk, or jazz. The beauty of the Black Distortion plugin lies in its versatility. Used as a primary distortion, it excels at arena rock rhythm tones and soaring leads. Do you have an amplifier plugin with too much headroom? Let the Black Distortion plugin be your dirty channel. Maybe you already love your amplifier plugin distortion. Use the Black Distortion plugin as a boost for solos and get the extra kick you need. The Black Distortion plugin features the legendary filter control. Turn it to the right to roll off brittle high-end frequencies. Having trouble cutting through the mix? Turn it to the left and allow the natural brightness of your instrument to shine through. Black Distortion plugin dials in the perfect amount of gain, from mild overdrive to full out fuzzy assault, and the volume control lets you dial it in just perfectly against your bypassed clean tone. Legal Disclaimer: *All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Nembrini Audio SRL. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during Nembrini Audio’s sound design process. Works as a standalone app, AudioUnit v3 effect, or Inter-App Audio effect

About

PaulXStretch

Transform audio into extended ambient soundscapes with this powerful time-stretching tool. Ideal for sound design and ambient music creation, it can stretch short clips into hours of audio. Capture sounds or load files, then manipulate parameters for radical sonic transformations.

Highlights
  • Extreme time stretching algorithm
  • AUv3 plugin support
  • Radical sound transformation
  • Ambient music and sound design focus
  • Capture audio or load files
  • Offline rendering and live recording
  • Adjustable looping and parameters
Features
Read full description

This application and AUv3 plugin is based on the PaulStretch algorithm, (Paul’s Extreme Time Stretch, originally developed by Nasca Octavian Paul), and specifically the PaulXStretch version from Xenakios. The UI has been updated and adapted for various platforms and screen sizes. The plugin/application is most suitable for radical transformation of sounds. It is *not* designed for subtle time or pitch corrections! Ambient music and sound design are probably the most suitable use cases. It can turn any short audio into an hours long ambient soundscape without batting an eye! You can get audio into it either by using the "Capture" feature, or by loading an existing audio file. Once you have something in there, then you can start tweaking all the parameters, choose the portion of the audio to use and loop over, etc. Be sure to press the play button inside to enable the processing. To get your audio out, you can do an offline render of the output to a file (where all parameters are fixed), or you can do a live recording of your session to capture the output as you hear it. Either way, you can then share or access the saved audio from the Files app or by sharing it. The AUv3 plugin version has the same capabilities, except you can feed it the live input of your choice (to capture internally for stretching). This software is free, please enjoy it!

Screenshots

Black Distortion1 screens
PaulXStretch4 screens

Verdict

The call

Black Distortion and PaulXStretch both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 94% of PaulXStretch's written reviews are positive against 67% of Black Distortion's. PaulXStretch also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and ratings volume (75 vs 24). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Black Distortion against 4.9 for PaulXStretch. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 75 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of Black Distortion's written reviews are positive against 94% of PaulXStretch's.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Black Distortion versus PaulXStretch: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlack DistortionPaulXStretch
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (24 ratings) — better4.9 (75 ratings)
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews94.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2475 — better
Update frequencyEvery 61 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS159.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNembrini AudioSonosaurus LLC

Customer experience

Black Distortion

All ratings24 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%

PaulXStretch

All ratings72 ratings
Positive98.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews34 reviews
Positive94.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.9%

In-app purchases

None

Black Distortion

No in-app purchases

None

PaulXStretch

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Black Distortion free?
Black Distortion is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PaulXStretch free?
PaulXStretch is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Black Distortion or PaulXStretch?
Black Distortion is rated higher. Black Distortion averages 5.0 out of 5 from 24 ratings, while PaulXStretch averages 4.9 from 75 ratings.
Do Black Distortion or PaulXStretch have ads?
Neither Black Distortion nor PaulXStretch shows ads.

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