Pixound vs ClockTear
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
Read full descriptionHide full description
"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
ClockTear
This audio processor simulates digital signal degradation through various clock failure modes. It offers granular control over timing instability, dropouts, and signal fracturing for unique sound design.
- Clock-based sample hold and timing damage
- Four clock failure modes: Slip, Stutter, Tear, Collapse
- Drift and jitter-driven clock wobble
- Dropouts, stutters, folding, and digital interruption
- Adjustable tone shaping and saturation
Read full descriptionHide full description
Clock Tear is a digital instability processor built around failing clock behavior. Instead of simple bit crushing, Clock Tear holds, slips, stutters, folds, drops, and damages the signal based on input activity, drift, jitter, and the selected clock mode. Four modes move from subtle timing instability to heavier fractured playback and collapse-style digital failure. Features • Clock-based sample hold and timing damage • Four clock failure modes: Slip, Stutter, Tear, and Collapse • Drift and jitter-driven clock wobble • Dropouts, stutters, folding, and digital interruption Modes Slip – Sample-hold clock slipping with the shortest failure range. Stutter – Adds repeating stutter behavior to the clock damage. Tear – Adds stronger clock tearing with drive and foldback-style damage. Collapse – Combines the widest clock failure range with stronger stutter, folding, and drop behavior. Controls Tear – Sets the main clock damage and drive intensity. Mode – Selects Slip, Stutter, Tear, or Collapse behavior. Tone – Shapes the artifacts from darker to brighter. Drift – Adds slow clock movement and stereo wobble. Jitter – Adds faster random clock instability. Drop – Introduces intermittent dropouts and level collapses. Glue – Adds saturation and makeup cohesion after the damage. Mix – Blends dry and processed signal.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ClockTear at 5.0 against Pixound's 4.1. ClockTear also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (100% vs 72%). Pixound's advantage is price ($0.99 vs $2.99) and ratings volume (8 vs 2). On 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 ClockTear $2.99 up front. Pixound sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. ClockTear asks for nothing beyond the download.
ClockTear holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Pixound's written reviews are positive against 100% of ClockTear's.
| Parameter | Pixound | ClockTear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $2.99 |
| Rating | 4.1 (8 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 72.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 8 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.1 GB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Techné Media | Jeremy Phillips |
Customer experience
Pixound
ClockTear
In-app purchases
Pixound
- Pixound Live Video$1.99
- Pixound MIDI Features$2.99
ClockTear
No in-app purchases









