Spreadsheets Synth vs Gliss
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Spreadsheets Synth
Create acid basslines and lead sounds with a resonant filter and built-in step sequencer. This app functions as an AUv3 plugin or standalone, offering MIDI support and background audio. It's designed for live performance and integration with other music production tools.
- Acid bass synthesizer
- Resonant filter with cutoff, resonance, decay, accent
- Built-in step sequencer
- AUv3 plugin support
- Standalone app with background audio
- MIDI in and out (including Bluetooth MIDI)
- Phaser and delay effects
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The 303 lives between the sheets. Spreadsheets Synth is an acid bass synthesizer with a built-in step sequencer — a cultural product of the band Spreadsheets, tuned to 313K and pointed straight at the dance floor. THE SQUELCH Sawtooth or square through a resonant filter with cutoff, resonance, decay, and accent — from rubbery basslines to screaming acid leads. Add distortion for grit, then send it into orbit with the phaser and delay. THE SEQUENCER Program patterns step by step, set the line looping, and ride the cutoff live. It's an instrument for performing, not just programming. PLAYS WITH YOUR WHOLE RIG • AUv3 plugin — load it as an instrument in GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis, Loopy Pro, and any AUv3 host • Standalone app with background audio • MIDI in and out, including Bluetooth MIDI NO STRINGS No account, no ads, no tracking, no data collected. Just voltage.
Gliss
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Gliss is a touch instrument that sings. Two lines of light run across the screen. Slide a finger along one and the pitch follows continuously, like a voice or a bow, never stepping from key to key. Press lower on the line and the note swells; lift toward it and it fades to a breath. GRAVITY Each note of the scale is a well. Turn gravity down and the lines are fretless: every pitch in between is yours. Turn it up and your finger is gently pulled into tune: slide freely, land exactly. All the way up, it locks. FLEX The pitch follows your finger on an elastic. Loose, and it lags behind with a slow, singing portamento. Tight, and it snaps. SOUNDS 24 sounds built around a singing core: strings, voices, winds, leads, basses, pads, plucks and a few oddities, like a cello that sings, a choir, a horn in the fog. A slow orbital vibrato settles in once the note has been held, the way a singer's does. Shape any sound with tone, texture, subharmonic mixture, formant, filter and envelope. 28 TUNINGS Western modes, blues, Arabic maqam with true quarter tones, Turkish makam, Persian dastgah, klezmer, Southeast Asian scales, just intonation, 19 and 31 equal temperaments. Neutral intervals can be shaded from Egypt to Syria. MORE THAN TWO FINGERS • Chords: one finger can play a fifth, a triad, a seventh or an octave, always inside the scale • Arpeggiator: up, down, up and back, random, locked to tempo • Looper: record, overdub, loop, clear • Lanes: give each line its own sound, chord and octave • Tilt the device to bend and open the filter • Flick a note and it slides away, bounces and fades. Touch it to catch it IN YOUR HOST (AUv3) Gliss is also an AUv3 instrument for AUM, Loopy Pro, GarageBand, Logic and every host that loads Audio Units. Play its two lines with your fingers inside the host, or from a keyboard, an MPE controller or a MIDI track: every note lands on a line and gravity pulls it into your tuning. Ten parameters to automate, factory presets, and the whole instrument saved with your project. FREE, THEN PRO AND STUDIO Gliss is free to play: the whole gesture, three sounds (VOIX, PLUIE NOIRE, KOTO LUNE) and three tunings (major, minor and maqam Rast), in the app and in your host. Two one-time purchases, each on its own: GLISS PRO for the app unlocks all 24 sounds and their settings, all 28 tunings, chords, the arpeggiator, the looper, lanes, tilt and effects. GLISS STUDIO for your host unlocks every sound and tuning in the AUv3 plugin, with MIDI and MPE in and automation. No subscription. Designed for iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo: landscape on a phone, any way you hold a large screen, the bars on the flat half and the settings on the raised half when it is folded. Dark, with nothing on screen that is not sound. No account. No ads. No tracking. Gliss collects nothing; your settings stay on your device.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Spreadsheets Synth at none against Gliss's 2. Spreadsheets Synth also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Gliss sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Spreadsheets Synth asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Spreadsheets Synth | Gliss |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | — | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | James Hurlbut | Thinkspark |
In-app purchases
Spreadsheets Synth
No in-app purchases
Gliss
- GLISS STUDIO$12.99
- GLISS PRO$12.99
Questions
Is Spreadsheets Synth free?
Is Gliss free?
Do Spreadsheets Synth or Gliss have ads?
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