Comparison

16 Drones vs Ambience.

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

Head to head
About

16 Drones

Create evolving soundscapes and harmonic textures with a powerful ambient drone synthesizer. Shape layered drones using custom wavetables and envelopes, then perform expressively in key. Offers deep timbral control and flexible MIDI integration.

Highlights
  • 16 drone voices for layered textures
  • Custom wavetable synthesis
  • Per-voice drone envelopes
  • Subtractive synthesis layer
  • Expressive in-key performance voice
  • Support for musical scales
  • Standalone and AUv3 operation
  • MIDI input and learn
Features
Read full description

16 Drones is an ambient drone synthesizer built for evolving textures, harmonic soundscapes, and expressive in-key performance. Shape layered drones with a custom wavetable engine, per-voice controls, per-voice custom drone envelopes, and an additional subtractive layer. Then perform on top with a dedicated Play voice that stays in the same scale. Designed to be deep but immediate, 16 Drones gives you rich timbral control, musical scale exploration, expressive performance options, flexible MIDI workflow, and both standalone and AUv3 operation. Features: 16 drone voices for layered evolving textures Custom wavetable synthesis with per-voice control Per-voice custom drone envelopes for motion and character An additional subtractive layer for extra depth and weight A dedicated Play voice for expressive in-key performance Rich musical and exotic scales Standalone app and AUv3 instrument support MIDI input support for performance and control MIDI Learn for fast hardware mapping Aftertouch expression support, including polyphonic aftertouch Factory presets for fast inspiration

About

Ambience.

Features
Read full description

Generative ambient pads for worship. Prayer, altar moments, broadcast - texture that sits behind the vocal without getting in the way. WHAT IT IS Most pad apps play back recorded loops sold per-key. Norcoast Ambience generates every voice in real time. The pad breathes, the chord moves, the arp evolves. It never loops. Set the key, press play, walk away. FIVE LAYERS Foundation - sub layer, slow detuned saws. Pads - four timbres: Lush, Warm, Choir, Celestial. Texture - granular dulcimer. Arp - generative arpeggiator with three voices: Bloom, Hush, Glow. Movement - drum machine with four named patterns: Pulse, Mist, Stride, Roam. Plus a custom 3x16 step sequencer. CHORDS All 12 keys. Smooth crossfades between them. Switch on a whisper mid-song without a click. Major, Minor, Sus2, Sus4, Maj7. Plus a custom chord builder for any combination of major-scale degrees. STUDIO FX Plate reverb with shimmer. Juno-style chorus. BPM-synced delay. 4-band EQ. Oversampled saturation. High-pass and low-pass filters at 12 or 24 dB per octave. Stereo width LFO. Soft limiter. No plugins, no extra purchases. MIDI AND TEMPO MIDI clock in and out. Ableton Link. Bluetooth MIDI. MIDI Learn for any controller knob, fader or footswitch. Tap tempo. BPM 50 to 200. Time signatures 4/4 or 6/8. EASY AND ADVANCED MODES Easy mode for fast set-up on a Wednesday night. Advanced mode for the deep dive on a Saturday afternoon. Switch any time without losing your sound. NAMED SETLISTS Save the sound, name it (Gratitude, Prayer and Ministry), drag to reorder. Run the whole service from a tap. Setlists sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac via iCloud. WORKS OFFLINE No internet connection required after install. Useful when church Wi-Fi is patchy or the iPad lives in airplane mode at the back of the platform. PRIVACY No analytics, no telemetry. No account, no sign-in. Bluetooth permission used only for MIDI controller pairing. iCloud used only for preset sync. WHO MADE IT Tim Gosden. Producer, songwriter, musician. Fifteen years on worship records with a few hundred million streams behind them, plus a long run as music director at a big church. Based in Norwich, England. Built because the joy and the chaos of running a Sunday platform aren't theory. The kit didn't exist, so I made it!

Screenshots

16 Drones4 screens
Ambience.4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: 16 Drones at Free against Ambience.'s $4.99. Ambience.'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

16 Drones is free to download; Ambience. costs $4.99 up front. 16 Drones sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Ambience. asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

16 Drones ships an update every 2 weeks, Ambience. every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on August 1, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
16 Drones versus Ambience.: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter16 DronesAmbience.
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.7 (12 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRuben Terron RodriguezNorcoast Audio Ltd

In-app purchases

1 purchases

16 Drones

One-time1
  • 16 Drones Pro$11.99
None

Ambience.

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is 16 Drones free?
16 Drones is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ambience. free?
Ambience. costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do 16 Drones or Ambience. have ads?
Neither 16 Drones nor Ambience. shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 16 Drones or Ambience.?
16 Drones ships an update every 2 weeks, and Ambience. every 5 days. Most recently, 16 Drones was updated on August 1, 2026 and Ambience. on September 14, 2026.

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