Comparison

Visual Harmony vs Tonic Synths

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

Head to head
About

Visual Harmony

Experience a hypnotic blend of sight and sound where musical notes transform into colorful, rotating shapes. Interact with intricate visual patterns and melodies by customizing note properties, instruments, and scales. Save your creations and explore a unique digital music box experience.

Highlights
  • Interactive visual note patterns
  • Customizable shape, speed, and color
  • Six synthesized instrument choices
  • Adjustable volume and room ambience
  • Multiple musical scales and custom sequences
  • Save and manage personal compositions
  • Portrait and landscape orientation
Features
Read full description

Immerse yourself in the stunning and hypnotic effects of Visual Harmony! In Visual Harmony, each note takes the form of a colorful shape rotating about the center of the screen. When the shape crosses the line, its note is played. Shapes closer to the center move faster than those farther out. These simple rules produce intricate visual patterns and hypnotic melodies. Watch as the shapes form spinning galaxies and winding spirals. See the patterns merge back into a line, only to unfold again into complex geometric shapes. Listen as melodies emerge from the motion. Choose a slow speed and settle into the gentle repetition, or speed things up for a lively swirl of sight and sound! Visual Harmony is an interactive musical/visual experience inspired by Jim Bumgardner’s invention of the digital Whitney Music Box. Explore the original at https://whitneymusicbox.org. At Excelltech Inc., we found Jim’s web app so engaging that we created our own version for iPhone and iPad. While staying true to the original idea, Visual Harmony gives you additional control and customization of the musical experience. Now rebuilt for today’s devices, it lets you reach into the patterns and make them your own. • Change the size, shape, speed, and color palette of the spinning notes. Reverse their direction, add light trails, and experiment with 4 to 88 notes. • Choose from six synthesized instruments: music box, piano, guitar, strings, brass, and organ. Adjust the volume and room ambience to suit your mood. • Explore pentatonic, major, minor, Dorian, whole-tone, and chromatic scales, or create your own sequence of notes and rests. • Move the line that plays the notes. Drag its handle across the shapes to sound them, even while playback is paused. • Explore the music forward or backward with the circular progress control. Grab its thumb and move your finger outward for finer control, or cross the top to move smoothly between the end and beginning. • Start with one of six included compositions, customize it, and save your favorites in your personal library. • Enjoy the visualization in portrait or landscape on iPhone and iPad. Open the floating controls to make changes as the music plays, then dismiss them to enjoy the view. If you are already a fan of the original music box, Visual Harmony gives you more ways to explore its patterns, sounds, and possibilities. If this is your first encounter, open Visual Harmony and let the music take shape! All sounds are generated on your device. No account, internet connection, microphone access, ads, subscriptions, or in-app purchases are needed. Requires iOS or iPadOS 26 or later.

About

Tonic Synths

This app offers a portable music studio with 14 unique synthesizers for creating and sculpting audio. Users can draw sounds, program melodies, and apply effects like reverb and compression. Recordings can be exported as WAV files for use in other projects.

Highlights
  • 14 unique synthesizers
  • XY pad sound sculpting
  • 8-step melody programming
  • Resonant filter sculpting
  • Reverb and compressor effects
  • 60-second audio recording
  • WAV file export
Features
Read full description

Tonic Synth puts a studio full of synthesizers in your pocket. 14 unique synths. All live. All real. Draw sound with your finger on the XY pad. Twist an FM drone into alien textures. Program an 8-step melody. Sculpt noise through resonant filters. Drown everything in reverb. Every control changes the sound instantly — no presets, no menus, just your hands on the instrument. Hear something you love? Hit record. You get 60 seconds. Export it as a WAV file and take it anywhere — into your DAW, your sample library, or share it straight from the app. SYNTHS INCLUDE - FM Drone - XY Speed Pad - Delay Sequencer - Step Sequencer - Filtered Noise - Reverb - Compressor - Bandlimited Oscillator - Sine Sum - Stereo Delay - and more! Free. No ads. No in-app purchases. Just sound.

Screenshots

Visual Harmony4 screens
Tonic Synths4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Tonic Synths at every 11 days against Visual Harmony's every 97 months. Tonic Synths also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Visual Harmony against 5.0 for Tonic Synths. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Visual Harmony ships an update every 97 months, Tonic Synths every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Visual Harmony versus Tonic Synths: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisual HarmonyTonic Synths
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 97 monthsEvery 11 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB20 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperExcelltech Inc.UpTech Works, LLC

In-app purchases

None

Visual Harmony

No in-app purchases

None

Tonic Synths

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Visual Harmony free?
Visual Harmony is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tonic Synths free?
Tonic Synths is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Visual Harmony or Tonic Synths?
Visual Harmony and Tonic Synths are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do Visual Harmony or Tonic Synths have ads?
Neither Visual Harmony nor Tonic Synths shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Visual Harmony or Tonic Synths?
Visual Harmony ships an update every 97 months, and Tonic Synths every 11 days. Most recently, Visual Harmony was updated on November 6, 2026 and Tonic Synths on October 31, 2026.

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