Comparison

Pixound vs GLYPHTONE

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read 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

About

GLYPHTONE

Features
Read full description

GLYPHTONE is a pocket-sized step sequencer built around one simple idea: tap a grid, hear a pattern. — 16×16 GRID — Sixteen steps across, sixteen pitches down. Tap a cell to place a note, tap again to remove it. Watch the playhead sweep across as your pattern plays back. — 9 TIMBRES — Bell, Piano, Organ, Strings, Brass, Lead, Pad, Bass, and a dedicated Drum voice with nine distinct percussion sounds built in — all synthesized live, no samples to download. — SOLO OR ENSEMBLE — Solo mode keeps one timbre per cell, so switching instruments recolors your whole pattern instead of stacking new sounds on top. Ensemble mode lets you layer multiple timbres in the same cell. — GENERATE — Stuck for ideas? Generate builds a fresh phrase in one of ten shapes — Up, Down, Wave, Zigzag, Random, Drum, and more. Keep pressing Generate to reroll variations, or Undo up to five steps back. — SCALES & OCTAVES — Ten scales (Major, Minor, Dorian, Blues, In Sen, Ryukyu, and more) and a ±2 octave range, so the same grid pattern can sound completely different. — FOUR BARS — Work across four separate bars, each auto-saving as you go. Chain any combination of them together for longer arrangements that loop in order. — EXPORT — Render your pattern to a WAV audio file, or save it as a Standard MIDI File to bring into your DAW. No account. No ads. No internet connection required. Everything happens on your device.

Screenshots

Pixound4 screens
GLYPHTONE4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pixound at $0.99 against GLYPHTONE's $9.99. GLYPHTONE's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and update cadence (every 2 days vs monthly). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Pixound costs $0.99 and GLYPHTONE $9.99 up front. Pixound sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. GLYPHTONE asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixound ships an update monthly, GLYPHTONE every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Pixound versus GLYPHTONE: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixoundGLYPHTONE
Price$0.99 — better$9.99
Rating4.1 (8 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews72.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings8 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.6
Further details — not scored
Size1.1 GB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTechné MediaTakayoshi Ogihara

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Pixound

One-time2
  • Pixound Live Video$1.99
  • Pixound MIDI Features$2.99
None

GLYPHTONE

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pixound free?
Pixound costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is GLYPHTONE free?
GLYPHTONE costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Pixound or GLYPHTONE have ads?
Neither Pixound nor GLYPHTONE shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pixound or GLYPHTONE?
Pixound ships an update monthly, and GLYPHTONE every 2 days. Most recently, Pixound was updated on October 2, 2026 and GLYPHTONE on October 16, 2026.

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