lo vs Circa Looper
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
lo
This app offers a versatile toolkit for manipulating audio with a variety of lo-fi effects. Explore historical audio degradation, modern digital artifacts, and analog warmth to transform your sound.
- Convolution reverb with unique impulse responses
- Spectral processing for MP3 simulation and pitch shifting
- Digital section with bitcrusher and CD stutter
- Analog section with tape saturation and noise generation
- Rearrangeable processing sections
- Dozens of presets for sound warping
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"LO‑FI‑AF is a very capable lo‑fi toolkit capable of surgically targeted destruction and it could easily find applications in just about any musical genre" -SoundOnSound Unfiltered Audio's lo-fi-af is now available on iOS as a Standalone app or AUv3 plugin! lo-fi-af takes your sound on a journey of artifacts and noise throughout recorded history, from tape warbles and vinyl noise to MP3 chirps and cell phone speaker chatter. lo-fi-af's many sections and versatile algorithms can place your sound in a different decade, or give it a thoroughly modern spin through compound processing. The first section is a convolution reverb preloaded with impulse responses from broken microphones, toy speakers, cell phones, and more. With this section alone, you can place your sound into an entirely different space. The Spectral section then splits your sound into thousands of frequencies before reconstructing it with a twist. Here you can reproduce the sound of a pirated MP3 or pitch shift your signal with clean perfection. Your signal then takes a trip through the digital section. All sorts of hazards are present here, from a skipping CD stutter effect to a multimode bitcrusher. Finally, the rich, colorful analog section adds that vibe that you crave. A maximizer, a tape saturator, a noise generator, an analog-style filter, a pitch warbler, and a radio demodulator all work together in harmony to toss your sound into the past. But wait! That's only one possible signal chain. The Convolution, Spectral, Digital, and Analog sections can be completely rearranged in any order. Dozens of presets will get your started on your sound warping adventure. As an AUv3 plugin, lo-fi-af has been tested to work perfectly with Garageband, Drambo, AUM, Cubasis, Beatmaker, Nanostudio, apeMatrix, Loopy Pro, and more! Additionally, with its clear layout and smart resizing, lo-fi-af can be used on tablets and phones with ease. (Note for Drambo users: Drambo does not yet have automatic Plugin Delay Compensation for managing plugins with latency. As a result, tracks with lo-fi-af will not line up properly with other tracks. An upcoming patch for Drambo will add this feature in.)
Circa Looper
A powerful multi-channel looping instrument for iPad, designed for musicians and producers. It offers six independent stereo loop layers, deep modulation, precision syncing, and built-in effects for creating complex patterns and evolving soundscapes. Its touch-friendly interface allows for hands-on creative control and seamless DAW integration.
- Six independent stereo loop layers
- Deep modulation control
- Precision syncing
- Built-in reverb and delay
- Touch-friendly interface
- Full MIDI mapping
- Drag-and-drop audio export
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Circa runs as a standalone app, or as an AUv3 plugin in hosts such as GarageBand, Logic, AUM and Cubase. Equal parts workhorse and abstract creative tool, Circa is a six track multi-layer looping environment that can do most of the things your popular floor pedal looper can while also paying homage to the serendipitous world of ambient looping. Each layer can sync to the host, a master loop, or free run, and can be triggered in sync, with an audio signal, or freely. Circa has seven stereo outputs (including a dedicated cue output for monitoring) and built-in reverb and delay. Add in a complete MIDI control and LFO modulation system and Circa is a full looping workstation. Features -- Multi-Layered Looping Circa has six layers that can operate independently or in sync with each other and/or the host. Circa can record from the stereo input, or self-record via an internal buss for interesting feedback possibilities. -- Standalone Or Plugin As a standalone app, Circa has its own audio and MIDI settings: choose your audio interface, sample rate and buffer size, pick the input pair, send each of Circa's seven outputs to any output pair on your interface, and select a MIDI input. Sync to incoming MIDI clock, or let Circa set the tempo from your first loop. As an AUv3 plugin, it lives inside your host and syncs to its transport. -- Designed To Be Touched And Played Circa's user interface is made for tactile manipulation, with touch strips for speed and position (including dedicated pages). The position strip can be further subdivided with slices. All this works together to turn a looping effect into a playable instrument. -- Easy To Get Along With Circa's layers each have an undo for destructive edits like recording, overdubbing, and erasing. -- Controllability And Modulation Circa has 30 modulation slots. Each one can map a MIDI controller to any of Circa's looping functions, or run an LFO: seven shapes, free-running or tempo-synced, with rate, phase and level, modulating speed, start and end position, level, panning, delay and reverb sends, filter frequency and resonance, or the slice the play head is on. LFOs swing around wherever each control is set, so the knobs stay in charge. -- Self-Contained Circa has a full internal mixer, filtering on each layer, and studio-quality send reverb, send delay, parametric EQ and compressor taken directly from Audio Damage's extensive effect library. -- Expandable And Performance-Ready Circa has 7 outputs in all: six assignable stereo outputs and a cue output for monitoring. Send any layer to any of the six stereo outputs, while keeping the cue for soloing, recording, and editing, unheard by the audience. In the standalone app, each output can go to its own pair of outputs on your audio interface. -- Ecosystem-Aware Circa's user presets are cross-platform compatible, and work on any instance of Circa, whether on macOS, Windows, Linux, or iOS. In addition, sessions created in GarageBand or Logic on iOS will open in the desktop version on macOS if you have purchased a license to that version.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: lo at 67% against Circa Looper's 33%. lo also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and device support (3 vs 1). Circa Looper's advantage is price ($7.99 vs $9.99). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
lo costs $9.99 and Circa Looper $7.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
lo holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 29 and 10 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of lo's written reviews are positive against 33% of Circa Looper's.
lo ships an update fortnightly, Circa Looper every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | lo | Circa Looper |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | $7.99 — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (29 ratings) — better | 4.6 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 29 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Unfiltered Audio | Audio Damage, Inc. |
Customer experience
lo
Circa Looper
In-app purchases
lo
No in-app purchases
Circa Looper
No in-app purchases








