iBeams HD Music Visualizer vs subflow
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iBeams HD Music Visualizer
Create and manipulate hypnotic visual effects like plasma, lightning, and lasers that respond to your touch and music. This interactive system allows for deep customization of psychedelic shapes and patterns, offering a unique sensory experience.
- Interactive procedural special effects
- Manipulate plasma, lightning, lasers, and more
- Touchscreen controls for manipulation
- Responds to microphone input for music visualization
- VGA out support for VJs
- Customizable parameters and presets
- Use own images as backgrounds
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***** Wow! This is a spectacular visualizer! The images and movement this generates are incredibly trippy and draw you in like nothing else I've seen to date. Makes me even more overjoyed to have an Ipad!! - Jordan Rudess creator of MorphWiz ***** -Wow! I have never seen a better visualizer to date, "idevice" or otherwise. ***** “This is probably the best "interactive effects" app for ipod touch/iphone. It draws me in. I can participate rather then just watch.”- markymarktoo Time for a trip? iBeams is a interactive procedural special effects system, pending FDA approval as a mind altering substance. Create and manipulate hypnotic beams of plasma, lightning bolts, squiggles, lasers, swirly swarms, flames of light, geometric shapes, sine waves, color spray, and other psychedelic shapes. Touch the screen and watch the beams follow your fingers. Pinch, zoom and tilt to control motion echos traveling off into infinity. Turn on your music! iBeams can respond to anything your microphone hears. Sound intensity appears as gray, red and green circles. Build your own music visualizer by connecting different controls to the microphone. Video of music interactivity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_XJqTi_gSQ [NEWS] Wondering what all the buttons do? take a look at our feature walk though video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAaqhgUjUjA Want a quick 30 second demo of everything you can make: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN8L8hi6BXc Join our facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/iBeams Features: *VGA out support for all you VJ's out there *15 different core effects that will follow your fingers. *A ton of presets that look awesome! *Over a dozen editable parameters: adjustable width, speed, density, noise, texture map. *use your own images as backgrounds and then warp them. *Control Motion blur strength, spin, zoom, scale, and warping parameters to distort the imagery over time. *Kaleidoscope action to create beautiful images with symmetry *A unique controller framework, all the various parameter can be controlled procedurally. (just tap the name of the parameter button). The parameter value can then be based on the microphone input, sine wave or various types of noise. *Save your setting. made something cool save it for later to show your friends. *Integrated Music Playback Controls ----------------- Please rate and review IBeams! Your ***** ratings mean more features and functionality. Your one star rating means I walk around looking mopey. ------------------ Recommended for fans of Spawn Illuminati, Plasma Ball, Artisan, iLava, 3D Fireworks, iBurn, and iSmoke, volt 3d, audiogasm
subflow
Create dynamic music visualizations for any setting. Control modes, speed, and beat patterns with intuitive screen gestures. Advanced users can leverage UDP and OS2L for complex control with DJ software.
- Gesture-based control for modes, speed, and beats
- Beat pattern customization
- UDP command sequencing
- OS2L integration with DJ software
- Color customization via long press
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Crisp visualizations for your music stage or living room. Tap left or right edge of screen to change modes. Vertical swipes change speed. Tap the upper half of the screen several times to set a beat pattern. Tap the lower half to cancel or to add single beats. Horizontal swipes fine-tune the beat alignment. Long press will change color. You can also send more complex command sequences over UDP, and you can control via OS2L using most DJ software. See http://subflow.org/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: subflow at Free against iBeams HD Music Visualizer's $0.99. subflow also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 weeks). iBeams HD Music Visualizer's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.6). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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
subflow is free to download; iBeams HD Music Visualizer costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for iBeams HD Music Visualizer against 4.3 for subflow. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 30 and 17 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 71% of iBeams HD Music Visualizer's written reviews are positive against 67% of subflow's.
iBeams HD Music Visualizer ships an update every 3 weeks, subflow every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on August 25, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iBeams HD Music Visualizer | subflow |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (30 ratings) — better | 4.3 (17 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 71.4% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 30 — better | 17 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple TV |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | gedalia.net | Ello Skelling Productions |
Customer experience
iBeams HD Music Visualizer
subflow
Bugs and requests
iBeams HD Music Visualizer
Reported bugs
15 issues- Screen misalignment/scaling issues on newer iPads
- Black screen with minimal effects on some iPads
- Switches music from car Bluetooth to iPad speaker
- Crashes on launch after iPad update
- Does not start up
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- Does not mirror from iPad anymore
- Will not start up external VGA projector display
- Shows a start up screen for about 2 seconds
- Random setting changes pattern too fast
- Bubbling sound comes up over music and cannot be turned off
- Disables Bluetooth audio when app starts
- Streaming Bluetooth music not disabled automatically when the app starts
- UI is a little tweaky, buttons don't respond
- Scroll menu isn't very smooth
- Crashing 2 out of 3 times on launch when playing iPod
Requested features
33 requests- Add ability to use with headphones
- Add Bluetooth functionality
- Add AirPlay support
- Add screen recording feature
- Add ability to select podcasts
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- Remove green spin circle
- Add more multi-touch features
- Add option to remove static on screen polygon
- Add a way to start screen recordings
- Show current song playing
- Add button to skip backwards on music task bar
- Add mini player type bar for music
- Add dark mode option
- Add advanced analytics dashboard
- Add strobes
- Add more reactive kaleidoscopic finger cursor with trails
- Add bookmarks for favorite settings
- Add new particles
- Improve UI for live performance
- Add programmable slider bank
- Add user preset bank of buttons
- Add ability to share programmed visuals
- Add new 3D camera view mode
- Add mirror mode with video out
- Fix issues with VGA adapter
- Add new visualizer presets
- Improve documentation and help
- Fix crashing on launch
- Allow use without microphone for headphones
- Improve video out quality and sequence
- Add ability to respond to beat, tone, audible voice etc.
- Show examples for certain music
- Allow users to share their work and suggested songs
subflow
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
iBeams HD Music Visualizer
No in-app purchases
subflow
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is iBeams HD Music Visualizer free?
Is subflow free?
Which has better reviews, iBeams HD Music Visualizer or subflow?
Do iBeams HD Music Visualizer or subflow have ads?
Which is updated more often, iBeams HD Music Visualizer or subflow?
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