Comparison

Raven Synth vs Retromulator

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

Head to head
About

Raven Synth

This powerful wavetable synthesizer allows musicians to draw custom waveforms and morph between them. Sculpt evolving textures with a deep effects chain and performance-ready interface for sound design and live playing.

Highlights
  • Dual drawable oscillators with wavetable morphing
  • Utility oscillator with sub, ring mod, FM, noise, and harmonics
  • Classic ladder filter with 12/24dB slope
  • Dual ADSR envelopes for filter and amp
  • Dual LFOs with drawable waveforms and modulation slots
  • Full effects chain including delay, reverb, chorus, and distortion
  • AUv3 instrument and MIDI support
Features
Read full description

RAVEN - Wavetable Morphing Synth RAVEN is a deep, expressive wavetable-morphing synthesizer designed for evolving textures and sculpted sound on iOS. Built for musicians, producers, and sound designers, Raven delivers drawable waveforms, real-time morphing, and a full effects chain in a clean, performance-ready interface - whether you're crafting pads, designing sounds, or playing live. Key Features: Dual drawable oscillators with wavetable morphing Utility oscillator (sub, ring mod, FM, noise, harmonics) Classic ladder filter with 12/24dB slope Dual ADSR envelopes (Filter + Amp) Dual LFOs with drawable waveforms, fade-in (up to 20s), and flexible modulation slots 12-band parametric EQ Delay, reverb, chorus, and distortion FX 56 factory presets with QR code sharing Touch-optimized performance controls AUv3 instrument support CoreMIDI & Bluetooth MIDI Designed for iPhone and iPad Raven is intentionally deep - every control shapes the sound. Draw your waveforms. Morph between them. Sculpt everything in between. Designed for exploration. Built for expression.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Cycle-accurate hardware emulation
  • AUv3 plugin support
  • Standalone app functionality
  • Full MIDI control
  • ROM firmware loading
  • Background audio support
Features
Read full description

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 — delivering the unmistakable character of the hardware that defined electronic music from the early 80s through the 2000s. Version 1.6 adds the 88emu core, covering the Roland SC-88, SC-88VL, SC-88Pro, SC-8850 and SC-55mkII GS sound modules with their own Standard MIDI File player. — EMULATED CORES — VIRTUAL ANALOG SYNTHS Motorola DSP 56300 recreation (requires M1 iPad or iPhone 15 Pro or newer): • Access Virus A, B and C • Access Virus TI / TI2 / Snow • Clavia Nord Lead 2X • Waldorf microQ • Waldorf Microwave XT FM SYNTHESIS • Yamaha DX7 — original chip set emulation, based on VDX7 by Charles Chiaccona • Yamaha OPL3 — Nuked OPL3 cycle-accurate FM by Nuke.YKT GM / GS SOUND MODULES • 88emu — 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 • Commodore 64 SID 6581/8580 — 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. • Ayumi (AY-3-8910 / YM2149) — 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. ELECTRIC PIANO AND SAMPLER • Wurlitzer 200A — OpenWurli physical modelling by hal0zer0 (Rust ported to C++ by discoDSP) • Akai S1000 — SFZero sample engine by Steve Folta, with Bliss Sampler support and resampling engine by discoDSP (SF2 / SFZ / ZBP / ZBB) — KEY FEATURES — • Native AUv3 plug-in for AUM, Cubasis, GarageBand, Logic Pro and more • Standalone app for iPhone and iPad • Full MIDI control: CC, mod wheel, expression, pitch bend • 8-point sinc interpolation for sample playback • Auto-slice drum mapping and global retuning via MIDI • ROM firmware loading from original hardware • Background audio, iCloud and Files app integration • Optimised interpreter compatible with the iOS App Store sandbox

Screenshots

Raven Synth4 screens
Retromulator1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Raven Synth at 100% against Retromulator's 50%. Raven Synth also leads on price ($6.99 vs $9.99). Retromulator's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Raven Synth costs $6.99 and Retromulator $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Raven Synth ships an update every 4 days, Retromulator every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on August 15, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Raven Synth versus Retromulator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRaven SynthRetromulator
Price$6.99 — better$9.99
Rating5.0 (5 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings5 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB67 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSteffen Mølgaard LarsenDiscoDSP LLC

Customer experience

Raven Synth

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

Retromulator

Written reviews6 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

None

Raven Synth

No in-app purchases

None

Retromulator

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Raven Synth free?
Raven Synth costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Retromulator free?
Retromulator costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Raven Synth or Retromulator have ads?
Neither Raven Synth nor Retromulator shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Raven Synth or Retromulator?
Raven Synth ships an update every 4 days, and Retromulator every 3 days. Most recently, Raven Synth was updated on August 15, 2026 and Retromulator on September 20, 2026.

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