Comparison

Sentient Synthesizer vs PerformerClick

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

Head to head
About

Sentient Synthesizer

This music app creates unique sounds by learning from your environment. It uses a neural network to generate wavetables from ambient noise, voices, or music, which you can then play and manipulate. The app functions as a standalone tool or an AUv3 plugin.

Highlights
  • Learns from ambient sounds via microphone
  • Generates unique wavetables
  • Standalone app and AUv3 plugin support
  • MIDI and MPE keyboard compatibility
  • Adjustable ADSR envelope
  • Modulation of pitch, pan, drive, and filter
  • Customizable filter types (lowpass, bandpass, highpass)
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Sentient is a synthesizer that learns from the sounds around you. A self-organizing neural network listens through the microphone and grows wavetables from what it hears: street noise, voices, music, birds. You play these wavetables as notes and use them to move pitch, panning, drive and the filter. Every Sentient becomes unique to its owner and to the places it has listened to. Sentient runs as a standalone app and as an AUv3 plugin inside your favorite host. It responds to MIDI keyboards, including MPE pitch bend, and shares its memory between the app and the plugin. HOW IT WORKS When a new sound is analyzed, the neuron that best matches it updates its stored waveform and swells more than the others. Nearby neurons also update, but less strongly, so similar sounds settle close together and the sound changes smoothly as you move across the network. Two grids represent the two hemispheres of the network. The left one learns timbres, the shape of a single oscillation. The right one learns contours, the way loudness rises and falls. Each cell is a neuron. Tap a cell to choose the neuron whose wavetable the active row will play. An orange dot marks it, and the display above shows the wavetable exactly as it sounds. THE INTERFACE The controller with the eyes is the learning system. Hold it to start or stop learning: open eyes mean the network is listening. Drag vertically to change the learning rate and horizontally to change how strongly the winning neuron pulls its neighbors. You can see this in the number of open eyes and the width of the pupils. While Sentient learns, it stays silent and the network visibly swells. Below the grids are six rows, each marked with a Russian letter. The first, `Г` from `generator`, plays the wavetable as a note; its sliders set volume and the fundamental frequency. Hold `Г` to open an ADSR envelope editor. With finite sustain and hold on, notes repeat in their own rhythm and turn into melodies. The other rows are modulators. Their sliders set depth and rate, and the letter names the destination: `П` pitch from `podstroika`, `П` pan from `panorama`, `Д` drive from `drive`, `Ч` filter frequency from `chastota`, `Р` resonance from `rezonans`. Tap a letter in rhythm to set the rate by tap tempo. The display above the grids shapes the active row. Drag sideways to set the start phase, drag up or down to smooth the wavetable, hold it to turn antialiasing on or off. The controller with the stars is the filter. Drag sideways for lowpass, bandpass or highpass, drag up or down for drive. Hold it to share one filter between all notes; a green ring shows the shared mode. The curve beside it sets cutoff and resonance. At the bottom is a keyboard of eight keys drawn as Lissajous figures, curves made of two harmonic oscillations. Each figure shows the ratio of its note. The closer you touch to the center, the louder the note. Above the keys are `У` hold from `uderzhanie` and `П` tuning from `podstroika`, which lets you retune each key across 64 just-intonation steps. Hold the level meter to record what you play to a WAV file. MEMORY The controller with the planets moves through time. Drag it to browse saved memories; each one keeps the whole instrument, including the network, settings, tuning and playing notes. Double tap to return to the present. Hold it to open a menu marked with Russian letters: `С` save from `sokhranit`, `У` delete from `udalit`, `Х` close, shaped like a cross, plus arrows to export, import and replace memories as files. The planets tell time symbolically. The crescent shadow shows the time of day, the moon's position follows its 27-day orbit, and the satellite circles like the ISS. Tap the UFO at the top for a quick tour of the screen.

About

PerformerClick

Features
Read full description

PerformerClick is a programmable metronome built for rehearsals, complex arrangements, and reliable live performance. Save every song with its tempo, meter, and beat grouping. Organize songs into projects and ordered setlists. For arrangements that need more than one steady click, program tempo changes, pauses, meter changes, and transitions in advance. On stage, PerformerClick presents the current and upcoming events in a clear performance view, allowing you to concentrate on playing instead of operating the metronome. FEATURES • Save songs with tempo, meter, and beat grouping • Create projects and ordered setlists • Program tempo and meter changes • Add pauses and choose how sections transition • Use odd meters and custom beat groupings • Follow all programmed events in Performance Mode • Reorder setlists quickly before a performance • Import and export projects for backup and transfer • Works completely offline • No account, advertising, analytics, or tracking For timing-critical live performance, a wired audio connection or USB audio interface is recommended. Bluetooth audio introduces unavoidable latency.

Screenshots

Sentient Synthesizer4 screens
PerformerClick4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: Sentient Synthesizer at #149 against PerformerClick's unranked. Sentient Synthesizer also leads on device support (3 vs 1). PerformerClick's advantage is price ($3.99 vs $4.99). On ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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

Sentient Synthesizer costs $4.99 and PerformerClick $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Sentient Synthesizer versus PerformerClick: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSentient SynthesizerPerformerClick
Price$4.99$3.99 — better
Rating4.3 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
Best chart rank#149 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size365 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperValery MironovPeter Peters

In-app purchases

None

Sentient Synthesizer

No in-app purchases

None

PerformerClick

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sentient Synthesizer free?
Sentient Synthesizer costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PerformerClick free?
PerformerClick costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Sentient Synthesizer or PerformerClick have ads?
Neither Sentient Synthesizer nor PerformerClick shows ads.

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