Comparison

SoundPrism vs Viking Synth

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

Head to head
About

SoundPrism

Create beautiful music immediately with intuitive controls and unique pitch visualization. Compose melodies, tone, and chord patterns effortlessly, even without prior knowledge. Easily make ringtones, record, and email your creations, or play along to other music apps.

Highlights
  • Intuitive music composition
  • Unique pitch visualization
  • Create ringtones
  • Record and email compositions
  • Background audio playback
Features
Read full description

Check out SoundPrism Pro if you're interested in controlling your professional audio hard- and software! Music like you've never seen before! SoundPrism enables you to create beautiful music immediately without any previous knowledge. With its unique visualization of pitches and intuitive controls composing sophisticated melodies, tone and chord patterns becomes child's play. New Features: * Easily made ringtones for your iPhone * Record and email your compositions right from your iPhone, iPod or iPad * Background Audio: Play along to your favorite tracks and other music apps What our users are saying: "This is very VERY cool! Beautifully done." - Jordan Rudess "SoundPrism is a glimpse of a more graphical future for music software design." - createdigitalmusic.com "SoundPrism for iPad looks incredible" - Jason Fried, founder 37signals "SoundPrism for iPad Will Blow Your Mind" - Federico Viticci Nominated for the Visual Music Award 2010 - www.visual-music-award.de/en

About

Viking Synth

This app emulates a classic monophonic analog synthesizer with advanced DSP technology. It features three variable wave oscillators, dual ladder filters, an LFO, and two modulation busses for versatile sound design. An intuitive interface and extensive preset library make it ideal for creating thick bass and rich lead sounds.

Highlights
  • Three continuously variable wave oscillators
  • Dual ladder filters (Lowpass/Highpass)
  • Multi-wave LFO
  • Two modulation busses
  • Intuitive user interface with expandable controls
  • 228 presets including Bass, Lead, and Synthwave
  • State-of-the-art DSP for authentic sound
Read full description

Viking Synth is an authentic emulation of a classic monophonic analog synthesizer. It has three continuously variable wave oscillators, two ladder filters with a Dual Lowpass or Highpass/Lowpass configuration, a multi-wave LFO, and two modulation busses. Viking Synth uses state of the art DSP technology to accurately reproduce the sound of the hardware. You get a desktop quality plug-in at an iOS friendly price. Viking Synth is an Audio Unit Extension Instrument (AUv3) that works as a plug-in inside host apps. Just open up your favorite host that supports Audio Unit Instruments and select it from the list of available Audio Units. Compatible with GarageBand, Cubasis, Auria, BeatMaker, AudioBus, AUM, Modstep, and more. The user interface of Viking Synth is designed for quick and intuitive control. Knobs and sliders expand during tweaking and are designed so the current value isn't hidden below your finger. The six pages divide the synth into logical sections that can be accessed quickly. The filter display acts as an XY pad for controlling cutoff and resonance. Simply double tap a knob or slider to reset it to its default value. Presets Viking Synth comes with 228 presets in the categories Bass, Bright Lead, Electro Bass, FX, Percussive Lead, Soft Lead, and Synthwave. The synth excels at thick bass and rich lead sounds. The 50 Electro Bass and 50 Synthwave presets were designed by renowned sound designer eXode. Presets work perfectly with GarageBand, Cubasis, and AUM. Oscillators At the heart of Viking are three adjustable wave oscillators. The continuously variable waveform knob gives the oscillators a unique sound that can’t be achieved with the fixed waveforms found in most synths. A noise oscillator provides three types of noise, one specifically modeled after the hardware. Modulation Two modulation busses and an LFO provide flexible modulation capabilities. All of the options hidden deep in menus on the hardware are immediately accessible with one tap. Filters The filters are classic transistor ladder filters modeled meticulously. Two DSP varieties are available allowing for either reduced CPU load or soft clipping plus three additional overdriven modes. The number of poles is adjustable for a wider range of filter sounds. Compare Viking to other synths: – Viking’s oscillators are free running, not sampled, wavetable based, or generated from a zero point – Viking’s oscillators use advanced techniques to avoid aliasing – Viking’s oscillators have instability, which is controllable through the tuning drift control – Viking’s nonlinear filter uses circuit modeling and provides soft clipping

Screenshots

SoundPrism3 screens
Viking Synth4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: SoundPrism at Free against Viking Synth's $3.99. SoundPrism also leads on review sentiment (85% vs 71%) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 12.0). Viking Synth's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and rating (4.7 vs 4.2). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

SoundPrism is free to download; Viking Synth costs $3.99 up front. SoundPrism sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Viking Synth asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Viking Synth holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 74 and 41 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 85% of SoundPrism's written reviews are positive against 71% of Viking Synth's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SoundPrism ships an update every 3 months, Viking Synth every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SoundPrism versus Viking Synth: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSoundPrismViking Synth
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.2 (74 ratings)4.7 (41 ratings) — better
Positive reviews84.6% of reviews — better71.2% of reviews
Number of ratings74 — better41
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size136 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGrace Cloud GmbHBlamsoft, Inc.

Customer experience

SoundPrism

All ratings74 ratings
Positive82.4%
Neutral2.7%
Negative14.9%
Written reviews501 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral4.0%
Negative11.4%

Viking Synth

All ratings42 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews66 reviews
Positive71.2%
Neutral10.6%
Negative18.2%

User reviews

SoundPrism

From 74 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 🎨 Visually appealing interface
  • 🎶 Produces great-sounding music
  • 🧠 Helpful for learning music theory
  • 🤩 Fun and creative experience

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
  • 🔊 Limited sound selection
  • 💰 Expensive in-app purchases
  • 🔇 No background playback or looping
  • 🔍 Confusing menu navigation

Viking Synth

From 41 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎶 Great sound quality
  • 💡 Versatile sound options
  • 💰 Excellent value (free)
  • 💻 Lightweight and efficient
  • 🎹 Good for learning synthesis

Room to improve

  • ❓ Preset issues
  • 🔌 Not a standalone app
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes
  • 💾 Settings not saving
  • 🤷‍♂️ Difficult to find/use

Bugs and requests

SoundPrism

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes on newer iOS devices
  • Multitouch issues causing app to freeze
  • Playback problems and audio glitches
  • Inconsistent performance across different devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more sound packs and instruments
  • Implement recording and editing capabilities
  • Allow for more customization and control over sounds
  • Improve MIDI integration and compatibility
  • Provide an upgrade path from free to pro version

Viking Synth

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Presets not showing up
  • Presets disappear
  • App not showing in AUv3 menu
  • Settings not saving after iOS 14 update
  • Crashes when opening presets browser
Show 1 more
  • Saved presets not loading

Requested features

5 requests
  • More subtle drive mode
  • Categorized preset browser
  • Polyphony option
  • Dark mode
  • More apps from developer

In-app purchases

10 purchases

SoundPrism

One-time10
  • Guitar Sounds$0.99
  • Trance Soundpack SoundPrism$0.99
  • Choir Soundpack$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Organ SoundPack$0.99
  • Airy Pad Sound Pack$0.99
  • Euro Synth Sound Pack$0.99
  • Lead Synth Sound Pack$0.99
  • Snow Skin$1.99
  • Midnight Skin$1.99
  • Sound Bundle 1$1.99
None

Viking Synth

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SoundPrism free?
SoundPrism is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Viking Synth free?
Viking Synth costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SoundPrism or Viking Synth?
Viking Synth is rated higher. SoundPrism averages 4.2 out of 5 from 74 ratings, while Viking Synth averages 4.7 from 41 ratings.
Do SoundPrism or Viking Synth have ads?
Neither SoundPrism nor Viking Synth shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SoundPrism or Viking Synth?
SoundPrism ships an update every 3 months, and Viking Synth every 4 months. Most recently, SoundPrism was updated on October 14, 2026 and Viking Synth on October 20, 2026.

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