Orphion vs ThermoSynth
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Orphion
Create expressive music and melodies with a unique virtual instrument. Explore your creativity through intuitive finger movements on virtual pads, generating sounds between string and percussion. Ideal for both beginners and experienced musicians.
- Unique string and percussion sound
- Expressive polyphonic music
- Intuitive finger pad interaction
- Customizable pad layouts
- MIDI and Audiobus support
- Multiple articulations
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## Featured by Apple as "Band in your Hand" and 'Explore your creativity' ## Orphion is a musical instrument with a unique sound between string instrument and percussion. Everyone can play expressive, wonderful sounds and easy or virtuosic melodies on it just by moving fingers on virtual pads. This video shows you more: https://vimeo.com/35131490 What can I do with it? • Express the sounds you feel • Play polyphonic music very expressively • Crazy drumming • Dream and relax • Create soundscapes and melodies without musical knowledge • Visually explore music and music theory Features: • Different articulations from soft to plucked to hardly slapped • Natural interaction • Extend your ways of expression as a percussionist, guitarist, pianist or other musician • 15 transposable pad layouts with different tonalities from easy to complex • 8 individual voices for 8 fingers • MIDI support: Play your favorite synth with the revolutionary Orphion interface • Audiobus support: Stream live audio from Orphion directly to other Audiobus-compatible apps • Orphion Editor (availible as upgrade): Create and share your own custom pad layouts. Download new pad layouts from Orphion Universe What others say about Orphion: "We love this instrument! So cool. Great for Deep House, IDM, Ambient, and whatever!" - iPadloops "A simple but profoundly beautiful and expressive music app" - Evolutionaryarts.org "Orphion is very customizable and flexible — truly functioning as a full-fledged electronic instrument" - Harrison Weber, The next web Follow on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Orphion or Twitter: https://twitter.com/OrphionApp
ThermoSynth
This app is a generative synthesizer that creates evolving sonic structures inspired by thermodynamic systems. It features a self-regulating hyper oscillator engine with a feedback matrix and stochastic modulators for unique, never-repeating drone synthesis and organic textures.
- Self-regulating hyper oscillator engine
- Generative synthesis at waveform level
- 4x4 feedback matrix for oscillator interaction
- Stochastic modulators for sonic changes
- User-controlled injections for system perturbation
- MPE support
- High-resolution rotary encoder MIDI mapping
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Welcome to the politics of sound ! ThermoSynth is a self regulating hyper oscillator engine inspired by thermodynamic systems. ThermoSynth extends the classical oscillator concept, it is a generative synthesizer at the waveform level, which does not express only static / interference waveforms but also an evolution of a sonic structure by internal communication and its actions inside certain controllable margins. The oscillator of ThermoSynth establishes its own engine environment and begin its signal path with a waveform generator ( pure mathematical, not samples nor optimized tables ) rendering basic waveforms and capable of morphing in between. The 4 oscillators of the Thermo are in continuous interaction sending each other their signals thanks to a 4X4 feedback matrix. Many type of changes in this system are introduced by the stochastic modulators which sonicLAB is known for and also by the user through some perturbations called the injections into the system. Each oscillator engine continuously checks its environment conditions and takes decisions, “self regulates”, in reaction to these changes applied. The result is unique never ending and never repeating drone synthesis, pure organic textures for electronic music; and hours can easily pass with experimenting on ThermoSynth. Detailed app description can be found at https://www.sonic-lab.com/thermo/ And you can download the manual here : https://www.sonic-lab.com/Thermo/Thermo-iOS_manual.pdf ThermoSynth is identical to the desktop sonicLAB Thermo version. For external control, it comes with MPE support and sonicLAB high resolution rotary encoder midi mapping feature as on the desktop version.
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Orphion at $3.99 against ThermoSynth's $34.99. Orphion also leads on review sentiment (85% vs 50%) and ratings volume (31 vs 4). ThermoSynth's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.0) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). On update cadence, ads 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
Orphion costs $3.99 and ThermoSynth $34.99 up front. Orphion sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ThermoSynth asks for nothing beyond the download.
ThermoSynth holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Orphion has 31 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 85% of Orphion's written reviews are positive against 50% of ThermoSynth'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 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Orphion | ThermoSynth |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 — better | $34.99 |
| Rating | 4.0 (31 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.7% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 31 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 7.0 — better | 9.3 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bastus Trump | SonicPlanet Audio Video Teknolojileri Anonim Sti. |
Customer experience
Orphion
ThermoSynth
Bugs and requests
Orphion
Reported bugs
14 issues- Audio crackling and distortion on iPadOS 18 and M4 devices
- App crashes on startup with recent iPad OS versions
- UI elements out of place on iPad mini
- MIDI not working in AUM and other DAWs
- Virtual MIDI instruments not detected when loaded as IAA
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- App stops playing audio when iPad is closed
- Bluetooth headphone connectivity issues
- Orientation stuck on iOS 11+
- Pad sensitivity issues after iOS 8 update
- Velocity feature removed after forced Apple update
- App crashes intermittently even after reboot
- Incompatibility with newer iPad models (10.5 inch)
- SoundCloud upload function non-functional
- Forum support page returns errors
Requested features
15 requests- Recording and export functionality
- Additional sound patches and voices
- Custom scale and layout editor
- Pitch bend and modulation wheel controls
- AudioCopy/Paste support
Show 10 moreShow fewer
- AirPlay support for wireless speaker output
- More velocity increment options
- Adjustable timbre per touch type
- Finer sensitivity slider adjustment
- Support for different scales (Dorian, Hijazkiar, etc.)
- Sequencing and arranging features
- iPhone version of the app
- More pad layout options
- CC support for different synths
- Mono output option
ThermoSynth
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Orphion
- Orphion Editor$0.99
ThermoSynth
No in-app purchases









