Pixound vs Pixel Music
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pixound
Transform any image into a musical instrument and create unique songs. Explore a deep musical experience with extensive controls, over 127 instruments, and various scales. It's a fun and educational tool for all ages, allowing you to play live video and record your performances.
- Turn any picture into music
- Play live video as an instrument
- Record performances with touch playback
- Over 65 scales and modes
- 127+ instruments for four voices
- Save and share creations
- MIDI export
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"Pixound Turns Photos into Musical Instruments, and It’s Better Than You Think" — Gizmodo "Pixound is a trippy music app for iOS that allows users to turn any snap into a song." — MTV Hive Enjoyed by top musical artists including: Herbie Hancock, David Byrne (Talking Heads), Mark Mothersbaugh (DEVO), Michael Shrieve (Santana) and many more. Have you ever jammed on Saturn's Rings with a whammy bar? Have you ever played the rainbow? What about you're dog's nose? What does it sound like? How about creating your own music just by dancing? With Pixound you can do all this and much more! Pixound is a revolutionary form of musical entertainment! Pixound provides a deep musical experience that lets YOU instantly create music using any picture. It's pure fun to play (at any age) and deep because it can be used to play music like you've never heard before. It's so much fun that artist Peter Max bought an iPhone just to have Pixound! Since there is no limit to what pictures you can play from art and graphics to photos and they can be combined with thousands of different musical settings, there is no limit to the music you can create and enjoy. You owe it to yourself to try Pixound!!! By the way, you will learn a lot about music just playing with Pixound so it's also an educational tool, sometimes referred to as a Deep Toy. Features: • Play any picture from snaps to outer space to art masterpieces • Play Live Video (in-app purchase) so that reality becomes a musical instrument • Record audio or use effects processors via Audiobus 2.1 or Inter-app Audio • Record performances including where you touched in the photo that plays back for others to see. • Play in any key or scale (over 65 scales/modes) • Add Bass and Drums from lots of choices • Tons of musical controls to create a huge variety of great music • Select from many different autoplay styles including device tilt • Add harmony voices • Add Song Progressions from basic to classical and more • Select from over 127 instruments for four voices R, B, G and bass • Import samples using AudioShare™ • Save your own settings to Banks and share with others via community or email • Built-in Reverb • Save MIDI files and go direct out to MIDI synthesizers (in-app purchase) • Access and share your creations with the Pixound Community
Pixel Music
Transform your favorite images into unique musical compositions. This app uses pixel data to control pitch, duration, and velocity, allowing you to create melodies and rhythms by interacting with visuals. Explore various traversal methods and image data types for diverse sonic results.
- Pixels control pitch, velocity, and note duration
- Play multiple images simultaneously
- AUv3 support with MIDI
- Ableton Link compatible
- Customizable image traversal and data mapping
- Internal synth with effects
- Save and load app states
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Pixel Music is a music sequencer based on images. Take an image you love and start playing. Overview ◦ Pixels turn into pitch, velocity, and note durations ◦ Play multiple images at the same time, in sync ◦ Choose what parts of the image will be played and at what timing ◦ Tap on the image and record yourself playing alongside the sequencer Features ◦ AUv3 with preset and MIDI support ◦ Ableton Link compatible ◦ Control sequencer timing and configuration ◦ Program different step lengths in patterns and play these across your images with Verses ◦ Choose between RGB, Luminance, Hue, or Saturation data to control pitch, velocity, or note duration ◦ Choose how the image is traversed, between Left -> Right, Top -> Down, or Circular. Select randomness factor in image traversal ◦ Choose recorded loop length and quantization settings ◦ Internal Synth with delay and reverb effects ◦ Send MIDI to external synths when used as AUv3. Each image you add has a separate MIDI channel exposed in the AU host ◦ Save and Load app states and configurations ◦ Dark mode support AU Hosts Compatibility ◦ Pixel Music works best with AUM, Audiobus, or ApeMatrix ◦ Pixel Music does NOT support Logic Pro or Garage Band Have fun with it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Pixel Music at 4.6 against Pixound's 4.1. Pixel Music also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (82% vs 72%). Pixound's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 8 months) and price ($0.99 vs $5.99). On ratings volume, ads, monetization model 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
Pixound costs $0.99 and Pixel Music $5.99 up front. Pixound sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Pixel Music asks for nothing beyond the download.
Pixel Music holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 7 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Pixound's written reviews are positive against 82% of Pixel Music's.
Pixound ships an update monthly, Pixel Music every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on August 12, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pixound | Pixel Music |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $5.99 |
| Rating | 4.1 (8 ratings) | 4.6 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 72.2% of reviews | 81.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 8 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.1 GB | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Techné Media | Andrei Antonescu |
Customer experience
Pixound
Pixel Music
In-app purchases
Pixound
- Pixound Live Video$1.99
- Pixound MIDI Features$2.99
Pixel Music
No in-app purchases





