junoNATIVE vs Retromulator
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
junoNATIVE
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junoNATIVE puts a warm, expressive polyphonic synthesizer in your hands โ no hardware required. Designed from the ground up for iOS, junoNATIVE faithfully recreates the soul of classic analog synthesis with a real-time audio engine built on AVAudioEngine. Shape rich, evolving sounds using authentic DCO waveforms, resonant filters, multi-stage envelopes, and a lush built-in chorus โ all controlled through a beautifully crafted skeuomorphic interface that feels like touching real hardware. SOUND ENGINE โข 6-voice polyphony with per-voice oscillators, filters, and envelopes โข DCO with saw, square, and sub-oscillator waveforms plus PWM modulation โข Resonant low-pass VCF with cutoff, resonance, envelope mod, LFO mod, and key follow โข High-pass filter for thinning out low end โข ADSR envelope with snappy response for both filter and amplitude โข Syncable LFO with rate control for vibrato, filter sweeps, and modulation โข Three-mode chorus: Chorus I, Chorus II, and I+II combined for rich stereo width โข Delay and reverb effects with adjustable mix, time, and feedback โข Portamento for smooth pitch glides between notes ANALOG CHARACTER Dial in the imperfections that make analog synths feel alive: โข DCO Beating โ subtle detuning between voices โข Filter Drift โ slow random cutoff movement โข Envelope Click โ percussive transient at note onset โข Cable Length, Temperature, and Age controls for vintage warmth ARPEGGIATOR โข Up, Down, Up/Down, and Random patterns โข Adjustable tempo from slow ambient pulses to rapid sequences โข Hold mode to sustain arpeggios hands-free โข Chord mode for instant polyphonic voicings PRESET LIBRARY Browse a curated collection of patches organized by category โ pads, basses, leads, keys, FX, and more. Includes presets inspired by legendary electronic music productions. Tap to load and start playing instantly. INTERFACE โข Skeuomorphic design with realistic 3D knobs, illuminated LED buttons, and wood-grain panels โข Real-time oscilloscope waveform visualizer โข Scrollable, zoomable piano keyboard with velocity-sensitive touch โข Floating parameter overlay shows values as you tweak โข Haptic feedback on every interaction โข Optimized for iPhone Built with SwiftUI and AVAudioEngine. No sample libraries. No MIDI required. Just pure synthesis.
Retromulator
This app recreates legendary vintage synthesizers, samplers, and keyboards through accurate emulation. It functions as a standalone application or an AUv3 plugin, offering classic electronic music hardware sounds on iOS devices.
- Cycle-accurate hardware emulation
- AUv3 plugin support
- Standalone app functionality
- Full MIDI control
- ROM firmware loading
- Background audio support
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Retromulator is a multi-core retro hardware emulation app and AUv3 plug-in that brings legendary synthesizer, sampler, and keyboard cores back to life through authentic low-level emulation. Each core runs its actual firmware, physical model, or sample data โ delivering the unmistakable character of the hardware that defined electronic music from the early 80s through the 2000s. โ EMULATED CORES โ VIRTUAL ANALOG SYNTHS Firmware-level chip emulation, enabled with the 56k cores option (requires M1 iPad or iPhone 15 Pro or newer): โข Access Virus A, B and C โ Motorola DSP 56300 recreation โข Access Virus TI / TI2 / Snow โ Motorola DSP 56300 recreation โข Clavia Nord Lead 2X โ Motorola DSP 56300 recreation โข Waldorf microQ โ Motorola DSP 56300 recreation โข Waldorf Microwave XT โ Motorola DSP 56300 recreation โข Roland JP-8000 and JP-8080 โ JE-8086 core by Giulio Zausa ANALOG SYNTHS โข Oberheim Matrix-1000 โ original firmware on an emulated Motorola 6809 board driving six CEM3396 voice models, with ROM banks 2 to 9 from the patch EPROM, a MIDI CC for each of the 96 patch parameters and LFO sync to the host tempo or MIDI clock FM SYNTHESIS โข Yamaha DX7 โ original chip set emulation, based on VDX7 by Charles Chiaccona โข Yamaha OPL3 โ Nuked OPL3 cycle-accurate FM by Nuke.YKT GM / GS SOUND MODULES โข 88emu โ Roland SC-88, SC-88VL, SC-88Pro, SC-8850 and SC-55mkII boards, emulation by Giulio Zausa, with GS variation, map and rhythm handling, program and drum kit names read straight from the board ROM, 16-part multitimbral operation, and a Standard MIDI File player with offline rendering to WAV or AAC. CHIPTUNE โข Commodore 64 SID 6581/8580 โ based on reSID. 3-voice polyphony, 8580 chip model with high-quality RESAMPLE, GoatTracker .sng / .ins bank loading (GTS3/4/5, GTI3/4/5) and .sid file import (PSID/RSID), full macro playback engine (wavetable, pulsetable, filtertable, speedtable) and live MIDI control of cutoff (CC 74), resonance (CC 71), pulse width (CC 75), vibrato (CC 1) and pitch bend. โข Ayumi (AY-3-8910 / YM2149) โ the PSG behind the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST and MSX. Ayumi emulation by Peter Sovietov with the Ym2149Synth voice engine, 3-voice polyphony, switchable AY / YM engine, .ay patch loading, Factory and User banks, and 11 live CC controls. ORGAN โข Hammond B3 with Leslie speaker โ OpenB3, based on the setBfree engine by Michele Perrone. Upper, lower and pedal drawbars, percussion, vibrato and chorus, overdrive, reverb, three Leslie cabinets, keyboard split and .fxp presets ELECTRIC PIANO AND SAMPLER โข Wurlitzer 200A โ OpenWurli physical modelling by hal0zer0 (Rust ported to C++ by discoDSP) โข Akai S1000 โ SFZero sample engine by Steve Folta, with Bliss Sampler support and resampling engine by discoDSP (SF2 / SFZ / ZBP / ZBB) โ KEY FEATURES โ โข Native AUv3 plug-in for AUM, Cubasis, GarageBand, Logic Pro and more โข Standalone app for iPhone and iPad โข Full MIDI control: CC, mod wheel, expression, pitch bend โข 8-point sinc interpolation for sample playback โข Auto-slice drum mapping and global retuning via MIDI โข ROM firmware loading from original hardware โข Background audio, iCloud and Files app integration โข Optimised interpreter compatible with the iOS App Store sandbox
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: junoNATIVE at $0.99 against Retromulator's $19.99. Retromulator's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 8 days) and chart position (#81 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
junoNATIVE costs $0.99 and Retromulator $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
junoNATIVE ships an update every 8 days, Retromulator every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | junoNATIVE | Retromulator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 โ better | $19.99 |
| Positive reviews | โ | 50.0% of reviews |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | Every 3 days โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | โ | Paid |
| Best chart rank | โ | #81 โ better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod โ better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 83 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alexis Boulet | DiscoDSP LLC |
In-app purchases
junoNATIVE
No in-app purchases
Retromulator
No in-app purchases









