Comparison

Circa Looper vs Fauve

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Fauve

This audio processor captures and reinterprets sonic fragments, introducing intentional glitches, distortions, and variations. It allows users to reshape sounds, creating unique soundscapes that blend memory and reality.

Highlights
  • Records and breaks down incoming audio into fragments
  • Introduces intentional glitches, distortions, and memory errors
  • Allows shaping playback with sampling/slicing parameters
  • Sculpts amplitude through 'Absence' parameter
  • Blurs reality with 'Mirage' parameter for dream-like effects
  • Lock parameters to preserve settings while browsing presets
  • In-GUI information for parameter details
Read full description

Fauve is an audio processor that collects sonic fragments and replays them, not always faithfully. It forgets, distorts, and glitches into new meanings.  Like the hallucination of a broken machine. A fractured memory, yours to reshape. "Fauve is a perfect cure for sound-alike effects. It really is distinct from other buffer/glitch and granular tools. And it strikes an ideal balance between predictability and weirdness, between polished controls you can learn and master and unexpected combinations that surprise you." Peter Kirn – CDM By continuously recording incoming audio, Fauve analyzes and breaks sound into small units we call collections. When playing them back, it sometimes fails, opening space for the user to edit and shape the material according to their own sonic vision. Fauve can be a harsh distortion, a gentle shadow, a paroxysmal dance between reality and dream, and much more. It can slightly scramble your sound, completely strip it of its original meaning, or introduce subtle, almost imperceptible variations to make it richer, yet always organic. Fauve disrupts, but never destroys. REMEMBER / FORGET Fauve listens and remembers — but it may forget to capture the present, getting stuck in the past. It blends memory and reality, shaping a soundscape as if it were truly what it just heard. BEHOLD THE HALLUCINATION Beyond the native errors of its faulty replicatory nature, Fauve opens space for your design: you can shape the playback of fragments using classic sampling/slicing parameters like Disorder, Repeat, Freeze, and playhead rate. SHAPING THROUGH ABSENCE Sculpts amplitude in two distinct ways through Absence: turn left to assign a random value to each fragment for more organic results, or turn right to introduce audio drops, adding uncertainty, or even reaching distortion wilderness on shorter fragments. BEYOND BALANCE: ENTER THE MIRAGE Let Fauve blur reality with its dream using the Mirage parameter. Shape the balance, focus it across the stereo field, and control amplitude for both source and processed sound. LOCK PARAMETERS Enable lock toggle to preserve key parameters values while browsing presets. IN-GUI INFOS Enable Infos toggle to get all parameters details always in sight; just hover on a parameter. Fauve is a totem/series plugin, and like all totems, it follows its own logic. Timing in Fauve doesn’t rely on beats or note values — it’s driven by the material itself. Every operation is triggered by zero crossings, making the outcome deeply dependent on the source. Same settings, radically different results.

Screenshots

Fauve3 screens

Verdict

The call

Circa Looper and Fauve both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 75% of Fauve's written reviews are positive against 33% of Circa Looper's. Fauve also leads on price ($3.99 vs $7.99) and device support (3 vs 1). On rating, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Circa Looper costs $7.99 and Fauve $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Circa Looper against 4.7 for Fauve. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 19 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 33% of Circa Looper's written reviews are positive against 75% of Fauve's.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Circa Looper versus Fauve: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCirca LooperFauve
Price$7.99$3.99 — better
Rating4.6 (10 ratings)4.7 (19 ratings) — better
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews75.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1019 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.09.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size66 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAudio Damage, Inc.K-Devices

Customer experience

Circa Looper

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

Fauve

All ratings19 ratings
Positive94.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

In-app purchases

None

Circa Looper

No in-app purchases

None

Fauve

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Circa Looper free?
Circa Looper costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Fauve free?
Fauve costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Circa Looper or Fauve?
Fauve is rated higher. Circa Looper averages 4.6 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Fauve averages 4.7 from 19 ratings.
Do Circa Looper or Fauve have ads?
Neither Circa Looper nor Fauve shows ads.

Other comparisons