Guitar Machine vs VAPolyQuad
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Guitar Machine
This app provides essential guitar utilities with a unique steampunk theme. It offers highly accurate tuning, a comprehensive chord dictionary, and a versatile metronome to assist guitarists.
- Accurate chromatic tuner
- Auto-tuner with string-based tuning
- Reverse chord name lookup
- Full-featured chord dictionary
- Metronome with 30-300 BPM
- Steampunk themed graphics
Read full descriptionHide full description
Essential guitar utilities, with a steam-punk themed twist! Guitar machine is the ultimate assistant for tuning, timing, and chords, for the steam-punkishly minded guitarist. ****** Special Introductory Sale ****** We love Guitar Machine so much, we want to share it with everyone. For a limited time, we are offering Guitar Machine for a special introductory sale price. Get it while it's hot! ************************************** Do you want to tune your guitar and lookup chords? Do you pine for a bygone era in an alternate reality in which technology and victorian style are merged to form the ultimate in form and functionality? Well look no further! Guitar Machine is *the* app for you! Product Highlights: - Simply *THE* most accurate chromatic tuner in the entire app store! No other tuning app is as accurate as this tuner, guaranteed! Beats the competition with accuracy in the sub-cent range (the human ear can almost never hear differences beyond this range, so it's perfect!). - Auto-tuner is highly intuitive -- The UI is geared towards both chromatic tuning and string-based tuning simultaneously with a beautiful intuitive interface. The top dial allows you to tune with sub-cent precision, while the bottom 'string track-light' lets you know where you are relative to a real string (just in case your plucked string is way off). If you decide to use the string-based approach, over 40 alternate tunings are supported! Or, you can tune to ANY pitch with the chromatic tuner, with extreme accuracy. - REVERSE chord name lookup! Now you can find out what that funky chord you just discovered is called! - Beautiful steam-punk themed graphics - Gorgeous sound -- professionally recorded strings and metronome instruments - Full-featured chord dictionary - Metronome with temp range from 30-300 BPM, and over 12 time signatures and many instruments to choose from. COMING SOON (in Version 2.0): - More instruments - Even more chord variations - More secret awesome features Stunning graphics and top-shelf features make for a winning combination!
VAPolyQuad
Create rich, analog-style music with this powerful polyphonic synthesizer. Explore a vast array of sound-shaping tools, including multiple oscillators, filters, and effects. Program intricate melodies and rhythms with the built-in sequencer, and seamlessly share projects across your Apple devices.
- Virtual analog polyphonic synthesizer
- Up to 8 voice polyphony
- Four oscillators per voice
- Multiple resonant filters
- Built-in effects suite
- 16-bar sequencer with piano roll
- Audio Unit Extension (AUv3) support
Read full descriptionHide full description
VAPolyQuad is a virtual analog polyphonic synthesizer for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It features 8 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. Single voice of the synthesizer features four oscillators, two mixers, two resonant high pass filters, two resonant low pass filters, two amplifiers, four ADSR envelopes and four LFOs. The oscillators features continuously variable wave shape and wide variety of modulation. The filters are modeled on the Sallen-Key filter circuit and cascaded OTA filter circuit for classic analog sound. The Effects include delay, chorus, flanger, reverb, eq and compressor. The sequencer features piano roll and parameter 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 polyphonic synthesizer. Maximum 8 voice polyphony. it depends on performance of the device it is running. Four oscillators per voice. Flexible audio signal and control signal routing. Keyboard Control Routing Two type of Lowpass filter, cascaded OTA model and Sallen-key model. Support MIDI 2.0 New User Interface built by SwiftUI for improved performance. Built-in Sequencer. 16 bar patterns per clip. Total 8 clips. Piano Roll and Parameter automation. Support Audio Unit Extension (AUv3) Works on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Support iCloud Drive to share project files between the platforms. Audio Export. Linear PCM format (AIFF, WAV and CAF) and compressed format (AAC) Support Ableton Link, Bluetooth MIDI, MIDI In / Out. 370 Factory Presets - System Requirements - A13 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. Sound may be distorted if CPU of the device doesn't have enough power. If it happens reduce number of voices.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Guitar Machine at 89% against VAPolyQuad's 0%. Guitar Machine also leads on price ($0.99 vs $14.99) and rating (4.6 vs 4.0). 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
Guitar Machine costs $0.99 and VAPolyQuad $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Guitar Machine holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 5 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 89% of Guitar Machine's written reviews are positive against 0% of VAPolyQuad's.
Guitar Machine ships an update every 4 months, VAPolyQuad every 22 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Guitar Machine | VAPolyQuad |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $14.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (9 ratings) — better | 4.0 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 88.7% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 9 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 22 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | C3 Software | Ryo Togawa |
Customer experience
Guitar Machine
VAPolyQuad
Bugs and requests
Guitar Machine
Reported bugs
9 issues- App crashes immediately after opening
- Tuner needle jumps erratically on iPhone 4 and iPhone 6
- Help function causes iPhone crashes
- Metronome won't turn off even after restart
- No sound output for chord features
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Chord fingerings don't update with tuning changes
- Incompatibility with iOS 4.0 and newer versions
- Not optimized for iPhone 5 screen size
- App doesn't work on iPhone 6 Plus
Requested features
13 requests- Update chord finder to work with alternative tunings
- Add more chord voicing variations
- Implement tap tempo for metronome
- Add scale charts and harmonics
- Support for more instruments (bass, mandolin)
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- iPad app version
- Ability to change concert pitch (A=432 option)
- Metronome on/off button and volume control
- Stop button for chord playback
- Customizable theme options
- Acoustic and classical guitar sound options
- Music playback to check song tempos
- Scales feature parity with Guitar Toolkit
VAPolyQuad
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Guitar Machine
No in-app purchases
VAPolyQuad
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Guitar Machine free?
Is VAPolyQuad free?
Which has better reviews, Guitar Machine or VAPolyQuad?
Do Guitar Machine or VAPolyQuad have ads?
Which is updated more often, Guitar Machine or VAPolyQuad?
Other comparisons















