HEXBEAT vs Nimbus Synth
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
HEXBEAT
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Make music like a pro โ right from your iPhone or iPad. HEXBEAT is a fully-featured iOS synthesizer and beat machine for musicians, producers, and beatmakers who want studio-quality sound in their pocket. No samples, no imports โ every sound is generated in real time using advanced audio synthesis. STEP SEQUENCER Build rhythmic patterns with a 16-step grid sequencer and 8 programmable drum tracks including kick, snare, hi-hat, clap, 808 bass, tom, and cymbal. Fine-tune your groove with BPM control from 60โ200 and swing up to 100%. Save up to 64 patterns across 8 banks and 8 slots each. SYNTH PAD Play melodies with a responsive XY touch pad. Choose from 8 musical scales including Major, Minor, Dorian, Pentatonic, and more. Slide your finger to control filter brightness and pitch simultaneously โ up to 5 simultaneous notes for expressive, real-time performance. POWERFUL SOUND SYNTHESIS Shape your sound with 6 oscillator types (Sine, Square, Sawtooth, Triangle, Noise, Super Saw), full ADSR envelopes for amplitude and filter, a resonant low-pass biquad filter, and a 4-waveform LFO with destinations including pitch, cutoff, volume, pan, and PWM. 8-CHANNEL MIXER Mix your tracks withper-channel volume faders, pan control, mute/solo buttons, reverb and delay sends, and real-time peak meters. A master channel with limiter keeps your mix clean and loud. BUILT-IN FX RACK Add depth and character with Reverb (5 room presets from Small Room to Cathedral), Delay with tempo sync, multi-preset Distortion, and a 10-band parametric EQ. BUILT FOR LOW LATENCY HEXBEAT runs at 44.1kHz with 32-bit internal processing and configurable buffer sizes down to 128 samples โ delivering under 10ms latency for live performance feel. Whether you're sketching beats on the subway, performing live on stage, or producing tracks at home, HEXBEAT gives you the tools to create. Compatible with iPhone and iPad.
Nimbus Synth
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Nimbus Synth is an ambient instrument you play by moving. No keys, no piano roll, no menus to learn. Tilt your phone, drag a finger across the screen, and slow, evolving drones grow out of the motion. Every gesture shapes the sound in real time. SIX VOICES Layer up to six ambient timbres: Sub Drone, Warm Pad, Glass, Air, Metallic, Cello Dark, each with its own character, sculpted through tilt and touch. ALWAYS IN KEY Seven scale modes and note-exclusion keep whatever you play in tune with itself. No wrong notes. LOOP AND LAYER Record a phrase, loop it, and keep playing on top. Quantize to tempo, add a metronome with time signatures and subdivisions, and build a piece one layer at a time. SAVE YOUR IDEAS Keep a library of recordings and slot presets to return to later. NIMBUS SYNTH PRO A one-time unlock, no subscription: โข Unlimited saved ideas and presets โข Export recordings as WAV and MIDI (free tier exports MP3) โข MIDI Out: send what you play live to a DAW or hardware synth over Network MIDI Made for headphones, a quiet room, and a phone in your hand.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is device support: Nimbus Synth at 2 against HEXBEAT's โ. Nimbus Synth also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.6). On price and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. HEXBEAT sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Nimbus Synth sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | HEXBEAT | Nimbus Synth |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | โ | Weekly |
| Ads | โ | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | โ | iPhone, iPod โ better |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | 15.1 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gregory Hogan | Ondre Studios, LDA |
In-app purchases
HEXBEAT
- HEXBEATOTP$7.99
Nimbus Synth
- Nimbus Synth Pro$6.99









