Echochops vs StepBud
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Echochops
This app creates a feedback delay effect on sounds from your device's microphone, mimicking an echo. It allows for creative musical patterns and ambient sound experiences through adjustable delay times and filters. Experiment with various audio effects for both musical and experimental purposes.
- Adjustable delay time up to 60 seconds
- Feedback rate control
- Four audio filter types
- Parameter control via tilt and rotation
- Glitch and Funny delay modes
- Background audio playback
Read full descriptionHide full description
The extreme delay machine that you've never heard before. In short: This is a Karaoke echo machine. Words spoken in the iPhone's microphone will come back a few seconds later. It's like the echo effect you can hear at a mountain. You can get various kinds of effects by changing the delay time and the feedback rate. To make music: Tap on the table - it sounds like "tock"......"tock"....."tock"..... Clap your hands - you'll hear "tock", "clap", "tock", "clap", "tock", "clap"... You can produce simple musical patterns this way. Daily life use: Leave it as it is. It's fun to hear repeating sounds of ordinary life. You can use the stereo headset with the mic. Take a walk with the iPhone in your pocket and enjoy the repeating sounds around you. In detail: "Echochops" produces a feedback delay effect (an echo effect) on the sounds from the iPhone's microphone. The feedback delay is widely used to produce rich vocal and guitar sounds. It is also used as a special kind of musical performance. You can use "Echochops" not only as a "musical" application but also as a "noisy" experiment. Features: - Input and output level meter - Input and output level setting - Delay time setting, within 60 seconds. - Feedback rate setting, from 0% to 100% - Direct and Delay balance setting - Four types of audio filters (Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass, Notch) - Audio filter frequency setting - Audio filer Q setting - Parameter control by audio input/output levels - Parameter control by tilting - Parameter control by rotating (a compass-equipped device only) - Mode setting to change delay time, "Glitch" or "Funny". - Output route setting, headphone/receiver or speaker. - Tilt angle setting for controlling - Upside-down portrait mode for efficient use of microphone and speaker - Delayed sound can be erased - Works with iPod audio simultaneously - Background audio playback (iOS 4.0 and later) [[ ATTENTIONS ]] Due to a latency of an audio input and output, the actual delaying time will be slightly longer than the setting. A natural feedback through the air may happen because the microphone and speaker are placed closely on the iPhone. Distorted sounds or harsh grating noises will be produced depending of the setting of parameters. It would be better NOT to use this application if you cannot stand noisy sounds. [[ Address of Gratitude ]] Thanks to Mr. Kaoru Sato (EP-4)
StepBud
This app is a versatile MIDI sequencer that allows for unlimited steps and detailed control over each step's parameters. It integrates with other music apps and supports various sequencing modes for creative performances.
- Unlimited steps
- Step parameter control (note, velocity, rate, etc.)
- Custom MIDI CC messages
- Step locking and skipping
- Master fader with copy/shift modes
- Step Editor for detailed note editing
- Arpeggio modes (up, down, random)
Read full descriptionHide full description
StepBud is a MIDI Sequencer with Audio Unit AUv3 plugin, Audiobus and Ableton Link. Add an unlimited number of steps to your sequencer. Your steps appear with a LED and a fader on top of your screen. You can change the active mode that your step faders displaying/controlling. - Set the current note or chord in range of the scale and key you selected with respect the range of the octave you want to focus, - Set the velocity, rate, gate time, modulation, pitch bend, portamento, probability and swing for each step, - Try increasing the rate and repeat count your steps if you want to add more flavor. - Send unlimited custom MIDI CC messages if you want to control your hardware or software synth parameters. - Lock steps if you don't want them to change their value. - Skip steps for creating interesting live performances. Below the step faders, you have a master fader where you can control your entire sequencer. It has two modes which you can change from the settings strip on the bottom of the app. - In copy mode, it assigns its value to each step. - In shift mode, it shifts up or down each step. If you want to go off-scale or try some crazy chords on some of your steps, or maybe on all of them, you can go to the Step Editor by double tapping the LED of the step you want to edit. In StepBud's powerful Step Editor, you can set your step's notes either from the virtual keyboard or your connected MIDI keyboard. Don't forget to enable MIDI in port of your MIDI keyboard or the you want to receive MIDI from the settings menu. You may also preview the selected notes by pressing the preview button in Step Editor for making sure you created the perfect sound for your particular step. You can also toggle the steps you want to disable by tapping its LED. If you long-press the LED, you can access a menu where you may copy/paste the steps around, remove them or edit them. If you enable the lock mode from the settings strip on the bottom of the app, you may adjust each visible step fader on the screen by a single swipe gesture without having to lift your finger up. Try to change your arppegio mode from the settings strip. You can sequence your steps up, down, up-down or random order. StepBud is a MIDI sequencer app and it does not generate sounds itself. You need to route its MIDI out port in the settings menu to the audio app you want to sequence. Please note that you need to have an iOS 11+ device and an Audio Unit host application such as AUM, apeMatrix, Cubasis, BeatMaker or Audiobus in order to use the StepBud as an Audio Unit plugin. And don't forget to route StepBud's MIDI out to the app or audio unit you want to sequence. StepBud's MIDI layer powered by free and open-source project AudioKit https://github.com/AudioKit/AudioKit Also, StepBud offers its core components for free on GitHub. Feel free to star, fork or contribute. https://github.com/cemolcay/MusicTheory https://github.com/cemolcay/LiveFader https://github.com/cemolcay/MIDIEventKit
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: StepBud at 4.4 against Echochops's 3.6. StepBud also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 15 months) and ratings volume (38 vs 5). Echochops's advantage is price ($0.99 vs $4.99). On 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
Echochops costs $0.99 and StepBud $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
StepBud holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: StepBud has 38 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of Echochops's written reviews are positive against 71% of StepBud's.
Echochops ships an update every 15 months, StepBud fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Echochops | StepBud |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 3.6 (5 ratings) | 4.4 (38 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.5% of reviews | 70.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 38 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 15 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Masayuki Akamatsu | Cem Olcay |
Customer experience
Echochops
StepBud
In-app purchases
Echochops
No in-app purchases
StepBud
No in-app purchases









