Comparison

sub808 vs VAPolyMkII

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

Head to head
About

sub808

Create powerful sub-bass sounds with this intuitive instrument app. Explore analog-inspired flavors, fine-tune saturation, and sculpt your basslines with versatile envelope and shaper controls. Compatible across devices for seamless production.

Highlights
  • 50 Factory Presets
  • 4 Analog Flavors
  • 8 Saturation Modes
  • Filter Cutoff & Glide
  • Handcrafted Envelope & Shaper
  • Cross-platform Compatibility
Features
Read full description

Sub atomic bass. Anywhere. For any mix. sub808 is the end result of countless hours dialing in and perfecting the perfect 808 - so you don’t have to! Experience the instant power of sub808 in your productions and sculpt your bass into something uniquely yours with our intuitive interface, all within moments. At its core, sub808 includes 50 Factory Presets, featuring 4 distinct flavors: Smooth, Tape, Gritty, and Nasty. Each flavor comes with its own unique analog character, providing excellent starting points for your creativity. Fine-tune these sounds to perfection with 8 Saturation modes, offering precise control over drive and mix levels. Smooth Easy-To-Dial-in Filter Cutoff & Glide Times: Experience enhanced versatility with a filter cutoff featuring both pre and post saturation modes, enabling you to position your filter precisely within the signal chain. Elevate your bass playability with the added convenience of an easily adjustable glide function, facilitating seamless pitch bending between your bass lines for added depth and expression. Handcrafted Envelope and Shaper: We’ve dialed in a customized amp envelope, giving you just what you need: Attack & Release. To complement this further, a specialized transient shaper that can sculpt your sound from a smooth bass pad, to PUNCH kick drum sound with ease. Collaborate, Anytime, Anywhere, on Any Machine: Wether you have a fleet of production machines, or if you collaborate with music makers around the world, we have you covered with cross-platform compatibility & presets to make switching between any machine fast and easy. Features - 50 Factory Presets covering multiple genres - 4 distinct Flavors with baked in Analog goodness - 8 Saturation Modes w/ Drive & Mix Controls - Punch Control for Smooth or Punchy bass - Sound sculpting Glide & Attack/Release Controls - Preset Manager included for saving, editing, and loading different presets - Standalone app and AUv3 included

About

VAPolyMkII

This virtual analog synthesizer offers a 16-voice bitimbral polyphonic sound engine with two distinct filter models and extensive modulation options. It includes a built-in sequencer, various effects, and supports AudioUnit Extension for integration with DAWs. Projects can be synced across iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud.

Highlights
  • 16-voice bitimbral polyphonic synthesizer
  • Two analog-modeled filter types
  • Extensive modulation capabilities
  • Built-in piano roll sequencer
  • Multiple audio effects
  • AudioUnit Extension (AUv3) support
  • iCloud Drive project syncing
Features
Read full description

VAPolyMkII is a virtual analog bitimbral polyphonic synthesizer for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It features 16 voice synthesizer, effects, sequencer and audio visualization tools. It operates as a stand alone or as an AudioUnit Extension (AUv3). Stand Alone supports Ableton Link, MIDI and audio file export. The synthesizer consists of two 8 voice synthesizer, which features two oscillators, two ADSR envelopes, resonant high pass and low pass filter and an amplifier per voice. The oscillators features continuously variable wave shape and wide variety of modulation. The filters are modeled on the Sallen-Key filter circuit and cascaded OTA filter circuit for classic analog sound. The Effects include delay, chorus, flanger, reverb, eq and compressor. The sequencer features piano roll and parameter automation editor to program 16 bar pattern per clip. Project files can be saved in iCloud Drive, so that the project can be accessed from iPhone, iPad or Mac. - Main Features - Virtual analog 16 voice bitimbral polyphonic synthesizer Two type of Lowpass filter, cascaded OTA model and Sallen-key model. Patch points for modulation. Support MIDI 2.0 New User Interface built by SwiftUI for improved performance. Built-in Sequencer. 16 bar patterns per clip. Total 8 clips. Piano Roll and Parameter automation. Support Audio Unit Extension (AUv3) Works on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Support iCloud Drive to share project files between the platforms. Audio Export. Linear PCM format (AIFF, WAV and CAF) and compressed format (AAC) Support Ableton Link, Bluetooth MIDI, MIDI In / Out. - System Requirements - A13 Fusion or above is recommended. AudioUnit Extension (AUv3) requires host application which support AudioUnit Extension. AudioUnit Extension is supported by Apple Logic and Apple Garage Band on iOS and macOS. For any other DAW, it depends on the application and some of them don’t support AudioUnit Extension.

Screenshots

sub8084 screens
VAPolyMkII4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: VAPolyMkII at 67% against sub808's 0%. VAPolyMkII also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 6 months) and rating (4.5 vs 4.2). sub808's advantage is price ($9.99 vs $14.99) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.6). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

sub808 costs $9.99 and VAPolyMkII $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

VAPolyMkII holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 11 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of sub808's written reviews are positive against 67% of VAPolyMkII's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

sub808 ships an update every 6 months, VAPolyMkII weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 7, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
sub808 versus VAPolyMkII: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parametersub808VAPolyMkII
Price$9.99 — better$14.99
Rating4.2 (10 ratings)4.5 (11 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1011 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size150 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOSC AudioRyo Togawa

Customer experience

sub808

All ratings10 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

VAPolyMkII

All ratings11 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative9.1%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

sub808

No in-app purchases

None

VAPolyMkII

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is sub808 free?
sub808 costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is VAPolyMkII free?
VAPolyMkII costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, sub808 or VAPolyMkII?
VAPolyMkII is rated higher. sub808 averages 4.2 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while VAPolyMkII averages 4.5 from 11 ratings.
Do sub808 or VAPolyMkII have ads?
Neither sub808 nor VAPolyMkII shows ads.
Which is updated more often, sub808 or VAPolyMkII?
sub808 ships an update every 6 months, and VAPolyMkII weekly. Most recently, sub808 was updated on September 7, 2026 and VAPolyMkII on September 20, 2026.

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