Comparison

Tubecasts vs Pulseq

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

Head to head
About

Tubecasts

Listen to YouTube videos and playlists in the background or audio-only mode. Continue listening while using other apps or with your screen off, saving battery with audio-only playback.

Highlights
  • Background playback
  • Audio-only mode
  • Use other apps while listening
  • Screen off playback
  • Battery saving audio-only
  • Playlist creation
Features
Read full description

Listen to your favorite YouTube playlists and videos in the background or in audio-only mode. Keep listening while using other apps or with your screen turned off, and reduce battery consumption with audio-only playback. For more information on how the app works and how your data is used and protected, please refer to our service terms and privacy policy: Service terms: https://drwjf.github.io/tca/terms.html Privacy policy: https://drwjf.github.io/tca/privacy.html

About

Pulseq

This multi-stage MIDI sequencer is designed for electronic music production, allowing users to create complex patterns for external synths and AUv3 plugins. It offers extensive control over notes, velocity, gate behavior, and rhythm, with features for arranging scenes into full tracks.

Highlights
  • Multi-stage sequencing (1-16 stages)
  • Pitch and scale control with 17 scales
  • Flexible gate modes and rhythm shaping
  • Multiple play and split modes
  • Up to eight CC modulation lanes
  • Scene chaining for full track arrangements
  • Standalone and AUv3 plugin support
Features
Read full description

Pulseq is a multi-stage MIDI sequencer built for techno, acid, and experimental electronic music. It drives your external synths and AUv3 plugins over MIDI. Made up of 1-16 "stages", each stage carries its own note, velocity, gate behavior, and length. Chain scenes together into full arrangements. Use Pulseq as a standalone app or as an Audio Unit MIDI effect inside your host. SEQUENCING Build patterns from 1 to 16 stages. Each stage sets its own note, velocity, gate mode, and length in pulses. Let a stages hold for two or three pulses, and hear the loop come alive. PITCH & SCALES Pitch comes from each stage's note, guided by root and scale. Seventeen scales are available. Snap Notes to Scale keeps emitted notes in key; turn it off and stored notes play exactly as entered. GATE MODES & RHYTHM Gate mode is the character of each stage: Off, Single (one trigger per stage), Multi (retriggers every pulse, or every 2nd, 3rd, or 4th), Prob (fires by chance), Long (holds to the end), and Prog (a pattern you draw across up to 16 steps). Add Swing from 0 to 100%, shape Gate Length from tight and clipped to legato, and turn on per-stage Glide with global Portamento. PLAY & SPLIT MODES Play mode sets direction: Forward, Ping-Pong, Random, and Fixed. Split mode changes form: run a single lane, alternate lanes A and B by repeat counts (Serial, to build AAAB patterns), or run both lanes at once on two MIDI channels (Parallel) with an independent B clock multiplier. CC MODULATION Up to eight CC lanes drive filter cutoffs, mod wheels, or any destination that accepts MIDI CC. Lane values are per-stage, and every new lane starts with Don't Send so adding one can never surprise attached hardware. CLOCK & TRANSPORT When hosted, Pulseq follows the host transport and clock. Standalone, an internal tempo from 20 to 300 BPM drives playback, with clock divisions from 1/1 down to 1/32 plus triplet and dotted options. Apply Changes controls when live edits take effect: Immediate, Next Pulse, or Next Bar, for deterministic performance. SCENES & CHAIN Sixteen scene slots capture the full musical setup: stages, root, scale, tempo, split, and CC lanes, while leaving your user configuration intact. String scenes into a complete track with the Chain editor: set per-step lengths, loop the whole chain, and hand scene changes to the timeline. STANDALONE & AUV3 Use Pulseq as a standalone app or as an AUv3 MIDI effect. It runs in AUv3 hosts such as AUM, Drambo, Logic, and Cubasis.

Screenshots

Tubecasts3 screens
Pulseq4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Tubecasts at Free against Pulseq's $3.99. Tubecasts also leads on ratings volume (62 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). Pulseq's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 3.7) 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Tubecasts is free to download; Pulseq costs $3.99 up front. Tubecasts sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.69 per 7 days. Pulseq asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pulseq holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tubecasts has 62 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Tubecasts versus Pulseq: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTubecastsPulseq
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating3.7 (62 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews46.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings62 — better1
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB15 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperJianfeng WuJoe Topjian

Customer experience

Tubecasts

All ratings62 ratings
Positive62.9%
Neutral4.8%
Negative32.3%
Written reviews106 reviews
Positive46.2%
Neutral11.3%
Negative42.5%

Pulseq

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Tubecasts

Reported bugs

42 issues
  • Audio keeps cutting after every few mins
  • Pauses audio stream randomly to ask to subscribe
  • Player pauses every ten mins to ask for subscription
  • Stops mid stream
  • Failure to load
Show 37 more
  • Not working anymore
  • Not working today
  • Menus get in the way of user experience
  • Constant popups to subscribe
  • Pop up ads that stop the music
  • Buggy and cumbersome to use
  • Constant pop ups that get in the way of the UI
  • Pauses the audio or distracts from browsing
  • App struggles to remember place
  • Frequently reverts back to the beginning of the video
  • Completely fails to load when on mobile data
  • Error: 'Failed to load'
  • Does not reliably remember your place
  • Does not work
  • Buffers and then tells me that it failed to load
  • Does not remember when it stopped playing
  • Starts from the beginning
  • Error 0 when adding songs
  • No sound
  • Doesn't work
  • Playlist import doesn't work
  • Error message « failed to get… »
  • Playback error
  • Constantly stops
  • Doesn't have auto save feature
  • Pause/stop then kill app, next time should auto play from last previous time
  • Takes ages to process a seven hour long video
  • Playback speed shown as 1x but actual speed is different
  • Pause an episode, sometimes have to restart the app to make it play
  • Starts from the beginning again
  • Cannot skip to different parts of the audio
  • Video gets translated into another language
  • Plays in a different language when video is originally in English
  • Episodes always play in a foreign language different than link on YouTube
  • Doesn't remember place, recording starts from beginning each time
  • Clicking play does not respond
  • Does not play, plays in YouTube

Requested features

11 requests
  • Add option for Airplay only audio
  • Enable photos, videos, files and iCloud files import options
  • Enable all audio file formats like Mp3, M4A and others
  • Enable Mp4 file video formats
  • Proper accessibility mode quicker done
Show 6 more
  • Download subtitles of foreign language in English version
  • Include an option to cast audio to Google Nest
  • Add auto-save feature
  • Option to adjust button customization
  • Import playlist functionality to be fixed
  • Roll back to previous version

Pulseq

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Tubecasts

Subscriptions1
  • Sponsorship3 Days trial$0.697 Days
None

Pulseq

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tubecasts free?
Tubecasts is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pulseq free?
Pulseq costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Tubecasts or Pulseq?
Pulseq is rated higher. Tubecasts averages 3.7 out of 5 from 62 ratings, while Pulseq averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Tubecasts or Pulseq have ads?
Neither Tubecasts nor Pulseq shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tubecasts or Pulseq?
Tubecasts ships an update monthly, and Pulseq monthly. Most recently, Tubecasts was updated on November 3, 2026 and Pulseq on November 5, 2026.

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