Comparison

Performance Clock vs ABDCTN

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

Head to head
About

Performance Clock

This app helps musicians manage tempo and setlists hands-free during performances. It automatically transitions between BPMs with customizable ramp curves and syncs with other Link-enabled devices. Build and loop setlists, customize visuals, and use it as an AUv3 plugin within your DAW.

Highlights
  • Hands-free tempo changes
  • Setlist management
  • Ableton Link synchronization
  • Customizable ramp curves
  • AUv3 plugin support
  • Visual customization
Read full description

PortaTempo is a performance clock and setlist manager built for musicians whose hands are already full. Instead of reaching over to nudge a tempo knob or button between songs, set your next BPM and let PortaTempo glide you there automatically - so both hands stay on the gear that's actually driving the room. STAY LOCKED TOGETHER • Sync tempo instantly with any Ableton Link-enabled app or device on your local network - DAWs, other Link apps, sequencers, and Link-enabled hardware like Eurorack modules - with no cables and no manual re-syncing • Join or leave a Link session at any time without interrupting playback CHANGE TEMPO, HANDS-FREE • Move from one BPM to the next smoothly using linear, exponential, or logarithmic ramp curves • Or make the change instantly - a hard cut from one tempo to another when that is what the moment calls for • Set the ramp duration in seconds, beats, or bars, then keep both hands on your rig instead of stopping to adjust tempo by hand BUILD YOUR SET • Save your go-to tempos as Favorites for instant recall - or start from 16 built-in presets spanning Ambient to Speedcore (20-300 BPM) • Build a full Setlist with a target tempo for every song, and let PortaTempo advance and ramp automatically as you move through the set • Loop your Setlist to create a rhythmic tempo sway - swing between 75 and 80 BPM every 30 seconds for an evolving, hypnotic groove • Get a local notification with a customizable advance warning before each scheduled tempo change, so you are never caught off guard MAKE IT YOURS • Customize the colors for current tempo, target tempo, and highlights to match your rig or your set • Fine-tune the ramp glow effect with 7 sliders covering radius, intensity, pulse speed, movement, and fade timing, plus 5 animation styles to choose from • Hit randomize to instantly reshuffle every glow parameter - or turn on auto-randomize to get a fresh look on every ramp USE IT INSIDE YOUR DAW • PortaTempo also ships as an AUv3 plugin, bringing the same tempo control directly into your favorite AUv3-compatible host EVERYTHING YOU NEED, NOTHING YOU DON'T • One purchase unlocks PortaTempo on iPhone, iPad, and as an AUv3 plugin • No subscription - ever • Family Sharing enabled, so your household can share one purchase • Runs in the background so your clock keeps going while PortaTempo is out of view Questions? help@synthfamdsp.com Join our community on Discord https://www.synthfamdsp.com/#community

About

ABDCTN

This app generates classic sci-fi synthesizer sounds live from oscillators, filters, and envelopes. Interact with a visual farm interface where elements control sound parameters. Create unique sounds by bending, stretching, and rebuilding them.

Highlights
  • Live sound generation
  • Visual instrument interface
  • Interactive sound manipulation
  • Customizable oscillators and filters
  • Automated sound sequencing
  • AUv3 instrument support
Features
Read full description

Every science-fiction film had a sound department, and somewhere in it stood a synthesizer. ABDCTN is that synthesizer, rebuilt for your phone and your iPad: not a collection of recordings of those sounds, but the machine that makes them. Theremins, saucers, tractor beams, alarms, talking computers, and everything in between, generated live from oscillators, filters and envelopes. Each sound is a starting point, yours to bend, stretch and rebuild until it is one nobody has heard before. THE PICTURE IS THE INSTRUMENT There are no knobs, no sliders, no menus. The whole screen is a farm at night, and everything on it is a control. The fence is the keyboard: planks are white keys, flower pots are black keys. The alien on the left is the envelope: pull its body for attack, stretch its neck for decay, lift and reach its hands for sustain and release. The alien on the right is the filter. Lift the cow's tail to detune, lift the whole cow into the beam and the reverb grows. Slide the barn door for volume. Raise the chimney for drive. Tap the hayloft window to crush the bits. The clouds are the LFO: how much, how fast, what shape. Drag the saucer higher and the echo follows. Tap a light on the saucer to choose a sound, tap the moon to change the bank. THE RAY GUN A ray gun hangs next to the moon, and it makes the farm play itself. Tap the gun to choose the ray's speed. Light blue sweeps every second, cyan every three seconds and pink every ten. Tap once more for static, which erases. Hold the gun and it comes off its hook. Point its tip at anything on the farm, and whatever lights up yellow can be hit: an alien's legs, neck or either hand, the cow or her tail, the saucer's dome, the barn door, the chimney, the hayloft window or a cloud. Let go and that part turns the ray's colour. It then sweeps from one end of its range to the other on its own, in time with the sound. The filter opens and closes, the cow floats up into the reverb and sinks back, the window flickers the crusher on and off, and the third cloud steps through the LFO shapes. Shoot as many parts as you like, each at its own speed. Touch a swept part and it holds still under your finger. Shoot a part with static to stop its ray, or double-tap the gun to clear every ray on the sound. Rays are saved with each sound and in your presets. In a host, every ray is an automatable parameter. Every edit is remembered per sound. Hold a light to take a sound back to the factory. A REAL SYNTHESIZER Two oscillators with band-limited saw and pulse, an endless Shepard stack for lifts that never stop rising, noise and ring modulation. A state-variable filter that sweeps from low-pass through band-pass to high-pass, with envelope, key tracking and LFO. Real stereo: the oscillators spread across the field, voices sit where their keys are, a ping-pong tape echo bounces between the speakers, a spring-like reverb on each side. IN THE STUDIO Works as an AUv3 instrument in AUM, Drambo, Logic Pro, GarageBand and other hosts, with the same picture inside the host and every control exposed as an automatable parameter. MIDI 2.0 with full MPE: per-note pitch bend, pressure and timbre, so expressive controllers play it the way they were meant to. A hold latch keeps chords sounding with no fingers on the screen, and the instrument keeps playing in the background from a MIDI keyboard. Save and load your own presets from the transmission log. Pay once, own it. No subscription, no ads, no account, no tracking, nothing leaves your device. Somewhere a cow is rising slowly into the light. She sounds wonderful.

Screenshots

Performance Clock4 screens
ABDCTN1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: ABDCTN at daily against Performance Clock's every 3 weeks. ABDCTN also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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

Performance Clock costs $4.99 and ABDCTN $4.99 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 Performance Clock against 5.0 for ABDCTN. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 5 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Performance Clock ships an update every 3 weeks, ABDCTN daily. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Performance Clock versus ABDCTN: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPerformance ClockABDCTN
Price$4.99$4.99
Rating5.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings25 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB2 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperJoshua TotemwongseLASZLO DOBROVOLSZKI

Customer experience

Performance Clock

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

ABDCTN

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Performance Clock

No in-app purchases

None

ABDCTN

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Performance Clock free?
Performance Clock costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ABDCTN free?
ABDCTN costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Performance Clock or ABDCTN?
Performance Clock and ABDCTN are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 2 and 5 ratings respectively.
Do Performance Clock or ABDCTN have ads?
Neither Performance Clock nor ABDCTN shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Performance Clock or ABDCTN?
Performance Clock ships an update every 3 weeks, and ABDCTN daily. Most recently, Performance Clock was updated on October 31, 2026 and ABDCTN on November 10, 2026.

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