ab vortEx X vs TETSUO
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ab vortEx X
This app is a stereo-only abstract spacetime designer for creating unique reverberations. It functions as an AUv3 plugin for compatible iOS hosts or as a standalone application, offering control over sound reflection spread.
- Stereo-only spatial audio algorithms
- AUv3 plugin compatibility
- Standalone application mode
- Touch screen interface
- Control over sound reflection spread
- Space, Time, Viscosity, Volumes controls
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'ab vortEx X' for iOS is a 'Light', stereo-only version of 'ab vortEx', an abstract spacetime designer for creating infinite variations of reverberations using our Spatial Audio algorithms under the hood. 'ab vortEx' for iOS comes as an AUv3 Plugin and is compatible with any iOS host that supports AUv3 (e.g. Garageband). The plugin contains a minimalist interface, compatible with Touch Screens - as you move through the screen, you can control how the algorithm works and how the reflections of the sound spread through time and space. 'ab Vortex X' also works as a stand-alone application (make sure you wear headphones or use a soundcard). 'ab vortEx X' supports Stereo signals and contains the most critical controls of 'ab Vortex' (Space, Time, Viscosity and Volumes) for providing quick ways to manipulate your sound.ab vortEx' for iOS works with Mono and Stereo signals.
TETSUO
This app offers a unique, generative percussion experience with no pre-loaded samples. It features a complex sound engine and a dynamic sequencer that can be unpredictable, allowing for negotiation rather than direct programming. Create and save evolving soundscapes with its section-based recording system.
- Chaotic percussion engine
- No samples or library
- Resonant filter and bitcrusher
- Dynamic 16-slot sequencer
- Randomized hit skipping
- Section-based sound recording
- AUv3 and standalone support
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TETSUO is a chaotic percussion machine. No samples, no library. One voice built out of a pitched body with noise dragged through it, a resonant filter that saturates the harder you lean on it, a bitcrusher, and a waveshaper that runs from a bit of weight to total structural failure. The sequencer is sixteen unseen slots and STEPS knob decides how many of them fire, adding and taking away hits one at a time in a fixed order, so you can strip a pattern to the bone and build it back and the same beats come home. The SKIP control works against you on purpose, stealing hits at random while it plays, so it never quite settles. MUTATE modulates the pitch at random, setting fire to voices on every turn. You do not program TETSUO so much as negotiate with it. The strip along the top is how you attempt to hold onto anything. Sixty four steps, four turns of pattern, carved into as many as eight sections. Select a section. Find a sound. Hit RECORD, and that section keeps every knob position. Change it, record the next, then hit PLAY and it walks left to right dropping each snapshot in as it reaches it, looping. Drag the dividers to give a section longer or cut it short. It keeps settings, not audio, so the engine is playing live the entire way through. Sections save with your presets and your session. AUv3 and standalone.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: TETSUO at 5.0 against ab vortEx X's 4.6. TETSUO also leads on price ($9.99 vs $12.99) and review sentiment (100% vs 88%). ab vortEx X's advantage is ratings volume (8 vs 1) and iOS requirement (11 vs 15.6). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
ab vortEx X costs $12.99 and TETSUO $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
TETSUO holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ab vortEx X has 8 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of ab vortEx X's written reviews are positive against 100% of TETSUO's.
| Parameter | ab vortEx X | TETSUO |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $12.99 | $9.99 — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (8 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 87.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 29 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alejandro Cabrera Zuniga | Anthony Moran |
Customer experience
ab vortEx X
TETSUO
In-app purchases
ab vortEx X
No in-app purchases
TETSUO
No in-app purchases








