Comparison

Melthaven vs AU Studio

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

Head to head
About

Melthaven

This app provides a note-triggered phase shifter for guitarists, bassists, and synthesizers. It offers organic, rhythmic movement that syncs to your playing, with analog-modeled filters for diverse sonic textures. Enhance loops or create experimental sounds with its input-dependent modulation.

Highlights
  • Note-triggered phase shifting
  • Analog-modeled OTA filters
  • Responds to guitar and bass transients
  • Enhances pre-recorded loops
  • Input-dependent synth modulation
  • Low-latency engine
Features
Read full description

Melthaven is a note-triggered phase shifter built to give guitarists and bassists organic, rhythmic movement that syncs to their playing, rather than a fixed LFO. It's also highly suited for a number of synth basses and sounds with sharp attacks and fast decays. Its analog-modeled OTA filters provide deep resonance and character, ranging from wah-like effects to complex, shifting formant textures or even experimental tones, like bubbling or hard, slappy effects. For bright, harmonically dense signals – such as saturated or overdriven tones and synthetic sounds – the effect range also includes growls and glistening sweeps. FOCUSED ON BASS & GUITARS The effect was specially developed to respond to the frequency response and transient peaks of electric guitars and basses. Every pluck, pop, or pick attack re-triggers the phase sweep, effectively turning your rhythmic timing into the "engine" of the effect. USING LOOPS? BREAK THEM OPEN Add various resonant effects like growls, or vintage bark / quacks "after the fact." This unlocks a level of control usually lost the moment a loop is bounced. Instead of being stuck with locked-in sound design, you can now reshape the envelope of any pre-recorded sample, breathing new life into your loop library. FOR SYNTHS & SOUND DESIGN: INPUT DEPENDENT Soft signals like pads or heavy/layered effects can produce wild, unpredictable responses. While such use is outside the plugin's core design, the smoothing feature can tame these re-triggers, yielding a flow that can feel organic and physical in its instability when operating beyond the plugin’s transient-focused comfort zone. MOVING BEYOND ENVELOPE FILTERS The plugin uses low-latency note detection paired with its own envelope generator and LFO, allowing sculpting and even reshaping each note’s modulation profile or filter envelope. It even detects notes that hide under a consistent signal amplitude when using a traditional envelope follower. BASE FEATURES: - Built around a versatile preset from the Pro version to suit a wide variety of applications - Controls: feedback & panoramic position, attack & hold timings, LFO Rate - Smoothing: from envelope shaping to creating a weighted, fluid response, giving note sequences a sense of physical momentum - Low-latency engine: preserves natural playing feel when used as a real-time effect PRO FEATURES - Requires Pro Edition Upgrade (In‑App Purchase): - Additional envelope parameters, several envelope flavors with pre-mapped control subsets - Pro presets encompassing both strong and milder effects, including the quintessential rubber bass - Enhanced stereo phaser modes & internal stereo re-imaging modulator (for formant-like effects and more) - Vintage-style phaser feedback that can optionally build or ramp with each note onset (non-rampable in the base version) - Instant visual feedback via an audio scope with dual-channel envelopes overlaid on the input waveform TECHNICAL NOTES: - Place before creative effects (unless experimenting). It can be used before or after harmonic processing (saturation, amp sims) depending on your preference - Response may vary on sustained notes with shifting harmonic content - Not optimized for upright bass due to its reliance on sharp signal transients - Note detection involves statistical signal processing and confidence intervals. Weak transients and phantom notes could lead to a loss of output determinism, i.e. sensitivity to changes in certain project settings - While it offers multiple layers of real-time control, Melthaven operates primarily as an automatic effect; for full manual filter manipulation, please refer to RealPhase, a separate app PLEASE NOTE: • The Pro Edition Upgrade is offered as a one‑time In‑App Purchase • An AUv3-compatible host is required to use this app • Suported sampling rates: 44.1, 48, 96 kHz

About

AU Studio

This app acts as a dedicated host for Audio Unit extensions, allowing musicians and developers to inspect, audition, and test installed audio plugins. It provides detailed information about each unit's capabilities and behavior without requiring a full digital audio workstation.

Highlights
  • Scan and catalog installed Audio Units
  • Filter plugins by developer, type, and status
  • Load AUv3 interfaces or use detailed inspector
  • Inspect registry identity, MIDI support, and parameters
  • Route CoreMIDI sources and audition audio effects
  • Monitor runtime CPU and memory usage
  • Built-in manual for guidance
Read full description

AU Studio is a focused Audio Unit host, not a DAW. Open the plug-ins you already own, hear them in seconds, and see exactly what they expose. Made for musicians, sound designers, and Audio Unit developers who need a fast, honest test bench. No session to build, no tracks to arm. Pick a unit from your catalog and its interface opens in a panel of its own, named and sized to the plug-in, with your host controls in a bar above it. Key features: - Scan the instruments, effects, music effects, generators, and MIDI processors already installed on your device: AUv3 on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro, plus AUv2 on Mac. - Filter by developer, type, or search text, and hide Apple built-ins to focus on third-party gear. - Open a plug-in's own interface when it ships one, and fall back to a metadata view when it doesn't, with the full inspector always one tap away. - Inspect identity, four-character codes, version, sandbox and cached validation status, MIDI support, busses, parameters, presets, latency, and tail time. - Step through factory presets, then save your own working state without leaving the interface. - Play instruments from the floating MIDI keyboard: notes, pitch bend, mod wheel, auto, mono or poly voicing, a shiftable range, and one-tap panic for stuck notes. Your hardware controller lights up the on-screen keys as you play. - Run a guitar, a microphone, or any channel of your interface through a loaded effect. Pick the device, pick mono or stereo, pick the channels. - Load a track into the floating media player, scrub the waveform, loop a section, and play along with your live input at the same time. - Check a signal path in seconds with the built-in test tone. - Route external CoreMIDI sources in, and send generated MIDI back out to a CoreMIDI destination. - Test MIDI 2 units with automatic, MIDI 1, or MIDI 2 protocol selection: high-resolution notes, registered and per-note controllers, per-note pitch bend, discovered MIDI-CI Profiles, and a monitor showing raw or decoded MIDI going in and coming out. - Choose your output device on Mac, and set sample rate, buffer size, and which MIDI sources are enabled. - Keep host-process CPU and memory in view while you work. - Open unfamiliar plug-ins with less risk. AU Studio asks first when the system does not mark a unit sandbox-safe, and a peak limiter sits across the host output. - Read the built-in manual, fully searchable: discovery, routing, presets, hardware input, floating tools, troubleshooting, and developer notes. What AU Studio is: A focused host for discovering, opening, auditioning, and inspecting the Audio Units already on your device. It answers the practical questions: Is the unit visible? Does it load? Does it have an interface? What busses, parameters, presets, and MIDI capabilities does it expose? Does MIDI reach it? Does audio pass through it? What AU Studio is not: It is not a DAW. No multitrack recording, clip launching, timeline arrangement, piano-roll sequencing, MIDI learn, automation lanes, song export, or mastering tools. AU Studio ships no Audio Unit of its own — no instrument, no effect, no DSP engine. It hosts the units other apps provide and wraps them in host-owned routing, auditioning, and inspection. Discovery uses the system Audio Unit registry. If a provider app is not installed, not enabled, or not visible to the platform, AU Studio cannot invent it. Interface behavior, presets, parameter meaning, MIDI mapping, and DSP results belong to each Audio Unit.

Screenshots

Melthaven3 screens
AU Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Melthaven at 5.0 against AU Studio's 4.5. Melthaven also leads on price ($2.99 vs $9.99). AU Studio's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and device support (4 vs 2). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads and iOS requirement 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

Melthaven costs $2.99 and AU Studio $9.99 up front. Melthaven sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. AU Studio asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Melthaven holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 4 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Melthaven ships an update every 6 weeks, AU Studio monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Melthaven versus AU Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMelthavenAU Studio
Price$2.99 — better$9.99
Rating5.0 (4 ratings) — better4.5 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews—50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings44
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperquantovoxChristian Thompson

Customer experience

Melthaven

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

AU Studio

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Melthaven

One-time1
  • Melthaven Pro$4.99
None

AU Studio

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Melthaven free?
Melthaven costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is AU Studio free?
AU Studio costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Melthaven or AU Studio?
Melthaven is rated higher. Melthaven averages 5.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while AU Studio averages 4.5 from 4 ratings.
Do Melthaven or AU Studio have ads?
Neither Melthaven nor AU Studio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Melthaven or AU Studio?
Melthaven ships an update every 6 weeks, and AU Studio monthly. Most recently, Melthaven was updated on October 14, 2026 and AU Studio on October 1, 2026.

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