Comparison

Ascent Reverb vs SampleScape

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

Head to head
About

Ascent Reverb

This audio plugin offers a dual-reverb engine, blending a spacious hall with a granular pitch-shifting particle effect. Create subtle ambient spaces or dramatic otherworldly atmospheres with intuitive controls and built-in ducking for mix clarity.

Highlights
  • Dual reverb engine
  • Granular pitch-shifting particle reverb
  • Spacious hall reverb
  • Pitch transposition up to one octave
  • Dynamic ducking compressor
  • Cross-platform preset manager
Features
Read full description

Ascent is a dual reverb for iPhone and iPad. It pairs a deep, natural hall reverb with a granular pitch-shifting particle engine: two reverbs, one interface, built to work together. The result is a sound that moves, from grounded, room-filling depth to shimmering, pitch-shifted atmospheres that evolve over time. The hall is the foundation; it always runs. The particle engine sits on top, and BLOOM sets how much of it you hear. Pull Bloom to zero for a pure hall, push it up for shimmer over the space, and dial in the built-in ducking compressor to keep your dry signal present. Subtle space to full cinematic wash, without ever touching a second effect. FEATURES • Dual reverb engine: hall reverb and particle reverb run simultaneously, with Bloom controlling the amount of shimmer. • Granular particle engine: pitch transposition from -12 to +12 semitones. Dual overlapping grains eliminate the metallic artifacts common in lesser shimmer reverbs, and an octave down gives darker, sub-octave shimmer just as easily as pitching up. • Expanse control: three tuned room modes (Small, Medium, Large) shape the delay network and spatial character of the hall, not just the decay time. • Particulate: adds a touch of randomness to grain pitches for thicker, more organic texture. • Built-in dynamic ducking: reverb tails pull back on transients automatically, keeping your dry signal present without constant fader riding. • Full preset manager with factory presets and favorites. • Runs as an AUv3 plugin in your favorite host, plus a standalone app. Ascent is part of Audio Damage's Motion Effects family, alongside Descent and Traverse. No accounts, no subscriptions, no in-app purchases. Buy it once and it is yours.

About

SampleScape

Create complex, evolving soundscapes with this sample-based instrument. Build sequences of samples or instruments, control playback with granular synthesis, and apply a variety of filters and effects. Features an auto-sampler for easy recording and SF2 file import.

Highlights
  • Morph Sequencer up to 12 steps
  • Sample or Granular Rendering
  • 12 Sample Slots with 24 samples each
  • 114 Ready-made Instruments
  • Morphing VCF with multiple modes
  • Integrated effects suite
  • Auto Sampler for instrument recording
Features
Read full description

SampleScape is an AUv3 plugin for use in your favourite DAW such as AUM, Cubasis, GarageBand, Logic or Loopy Pro. SampleScape is an innovative sample-based instrument for building complex evolving soundscapes. You can create a sequence of steps, each step being either an individual sample or a collection of tuned samples which we refer to as an instrument. Each step allows you has controls how it is played back, either as a traditional sample or via granular synthesis. You can control transition times, fade times, transpose, pitch, glide, level, pan, vibrato, tremolo at each step, and together with a 3 mode morphing filter and integrated effects you can create a constantly evolving and complex soundscape. SampleScape also has the ability to map any incoming CC controllers to a large number of internal knobs, sliders, switches etc. for fantastic automation possibilities. Our build in Auto Sampler makes recording samples from other instruments so simple. You can use this to expand the library of more than 114 pre-build instruments. SampleScape also has a configurable randomisation feature which can piece sequences of instruments together to create new sequences at the press of a button. Need more samples, simply drag and drop SF2 files into the Sample Library to extract all the samples. The Sample Library also lets you configure and reference a remote folder on your iPad. This is useful if you already have a sample library located on your iPad. SampleScape features: • Morph Sequencer: create morphing sequences up to 12 steps in length. • Sample or Granular Rendering: Choose to render samples using sample or granular modes. • 12 Sample Slots: Reference up to 12 individual samples or instruments in your sequence. • 24 Samples Per Slot: Add up to 24 individual samples in any of the 12 sample slots. • Ready-made Instruments: 114 built-in, ready-made instruments to use as a basis for your sequences. • 2x Fluid LFOs: Control panning, vibrato, tremolo, and filter modulation using the LFO's. • VCF: offers Ladder (Moog), SEM (Oberheim), Formant, and CS-20 (Korg) modes with 12/24-bit slopes and morphable LP/BP/HP. • 2x ADSR: Includes two traditional ADSRs to control both AMP and FILTER envelopes. • Beat Sync: Sync sample sequences to your host DAW. • MPE Mode: Use MPE controllers with SampleScape with per-note pitch bends and CC47 control. • Effects: Add reverb, delay, chorus, Haas, 8 Band EQ, Leslie Simulator, and Phaser effects to your presets. • Drag and Drop: Import and export presets, samples, and complete instrument folders. • Modulation: Map MIDI CC to a huge range of interface functions. • Sample Library: Maintain local and remote sample and instrument libraries. • Auto Sampler: Quickly and intelligently record entire instruments directly into SampleScape. • Auto Tune: Built-in auto-tune and tuner options to automatically place your samples on the correct root note. • Auto Looping: An automatic loop finder is available to make finding loop points easy. • Randomisation: Built-in intelligent randomization features to auto-generate sequences. • Sample Extractor: Built-in sample extraction from SF2 soundfont files.

Screenshots

Ascent Reverb3 screens
SampleScape4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Ascent Reverb at $4.99 against SampleScape's $14.99. Ascent Reverb also leads on ratings volume (5 vs 1). SampleScape's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (13 vs 16.0). On rating, review sentiment, 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

Ascent Reverb costs $4.99 and SampleScape $14.99 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 — 5.0 for Ascent Reverb against 5.0 for SampleScape. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ascent Reverb has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ascent Reverb ships an update every 3 months, SampleScape every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 9, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Ascent Reverb versus SampleScape: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAscent ReverbSampleScape
Price$4.99 — better$14.99
Rating5.0 (5 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.013 — better
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB806 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAudio Damage, Inc.4Pockets.com

Customer experience

Ascent Reverb

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

SampleScape

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Ascent Reverb

No in-app purchases

None

SampleScape

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Ascent Reverb free?
Ascent Reverb costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is SampleScape free?
SampleScape costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Ascent Reverb or SampleScape?
Ascent Reverb and SampleScape are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Ascent Reverb or SampleScape have ads?
Neither Ascent Reverb nor SampleScape shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ascent Reverb or SampleScape?
Ascent Reverb ships an update every 3 months, and SampleScape every 5 days. Most recently, Ascent Reverb was updated on September 9, 2026 and SampleScape on September 13, 2026.

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