SoundPrism vs Polywave
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Intuitive music composition
- Unique pitch visualization
- Create ringtones
- Record and email compositions
- Background audio playback
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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
Polywave
Create unique, evolving sonic experiences with a novel wavetable sequencer inspired by vintage synths. Draw your own waveforms, explore a vast library, and connect to external keyboards or DAWs. Record your creations directly within the app.
- Wavetable sequencer
- Custom waveform drawing
- Expansive waveform library
- 100+ factory presets
- MIDI and Audio Unit support
- Live recording module
- 8-voice polyphony
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From Fingerlab (multiple-time winner of Music App of the Week, 2012 Apple Design Award) and Jordan Rudess (keyboardist of Dream Theater), comes Polywave — a revolutionary wavetable sequencer synthesizer for iPhone, iPad & Mac. Inspired by the legendary Korg Wavestation, Polywave lets you draw your own waveforms with your finger and create unique, ever-evolving sounds that are truly yours. Draw your own waveforms directly on screen 100+ factory presets: leads, pads, loops & FX Connect any MIDI keyboard or load as AUv3 in your DAW Live recording built-in Free version includes 12 factory presets and a selection of core features. Get the Full Version IAP to unlock everything. Features: • 8-voice polyphony & 6 octaves • Wavetable & waveform sequencer • VCO & FM Oscillators • FM Modulation & Detune • ADSR Envelope editor • Moog Ladder filter with ADSR • 2 LFOs with custom modulation waveform • LFO Sync & Loop mode • Waveform drawing editor & library (100 waveforms) • Preset Randomizer & export/import • 5 FX: Tube Amp, Vibrato, Chorus, Delay & Reverb • Live recording & export • Full MIDI & MIDI Mapping support • AudioBus & Inter-App Audio (iOS) • Full AudioUnit AUv3 support • iCloud Family Sharing Questions or feedback? We'd love to hear from you: contact@fingerlab.net Stay tuned! The Fingerlab Team
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Polywave at 4.7 against SoundPrism's 4.2. SoundPrism's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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
Both are free to download. SoundPrism sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Polywave sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Polywave holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 74 and 34 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 85% of SoundPrism's written reviews are positive against 80% of Polywave's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SoundPrism | Polywave |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (74 ratings) | 4.7 (34 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.6% of reviews — better | 80.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 74 — better | 34 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 136 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Grace Cloud GmbH | Fingerlab |
Customer experience
SoundPrism
Polywave
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
Polywave
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
SoundPrism
- Guitar Sounds$0.99
- Trance Soundpack SoundPrism$0.99
- Choir Soundpack$0.99
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- 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
Polywave
- Full Version$7.99
