Comparison

Melthaven vs Raw Byte Audio Machine

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

Raw Byte Audio Machine

This app generates complex musical patterns using a single sawtooth wave and a powerful expression engine. It supports binary and bitwise operations to create rhythms, harmonies, and melodies. Operates as a standalone app or an AUv3 instrument plugin.

Highlights
  • Sawtooth wave synthesis
  • Expression engine for sound design
  • Binary and bitwise operations
  • Rhythm, harmony, and melody generation
  • Standalone app
  • AUv3 instrument plugin
Features
Read full description

The Raw Byte Audio Machine allows the user to operate on a constant sawtooth wave that is calculated against the assigned sample rate and bit-depth. With each sample, the counter "t" increments by 1. Your expression is evaluated and the lowest bits become a PCM audio sample. Expressions allow for binary arithmetic like addition, subtraction, division, and modulo; and bitwise operations like AND/OR/NOT and bit shifting. With these combinations of tools, a single expression can yield tremendous musical results in complex rhythms, harmonies, and melodies, all while operating on a single sawtooth wave. Operates as a standalone app or AUv3 instrument plugin.

Screenshots

Melthaven3 screens
Raw Byte Audio Machine4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Raw Byte Audio Machine at none against Melthaven's 1. Raw Byte Audio Machine also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs every 6 weeks) and price ($0.99 vs $2.99). On rating, ratings volume, 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

Melthaven costs $2.99 and Raw Byte Audio Machine $0.99 up front. Melthaven sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Raw Byte Audio Machine asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Melthaven against 5.0 for Raw Byte Audio Machine. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 4 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Melthaven ships an update every 6 weeks, Raw Byte Audio Machine every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Melthaven versus Raw Byte Audio Machine: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMelthavenRaw Byte Audio Machine
Price$2.99$0.99 — better
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings44
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperquantovoxCallback Audio, LLC

Customer experience

Melthaven

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

Raw Byte Audio Machine

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

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Melthaven

One-time1
  • Melthaven Pro$4.99
None

Raw Byte Audio Machine

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Melthaven free?
Melthaven costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Raw Byte Audio Machine free?
Raw Byte Audio Machine costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Melthaven or Raw Byte Audio Machine?
Melthaven and Raw Byte Audio Machine are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 4 ratings respectively.
Do Melthaven or Raw Byte Audio Machine have ads?
Neither Melthaven nor Raw Byte Audio Machine shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Melthaven or Raw Byte Audio Machine?
Melthaven ships an update every 6 weeks, and Raw Byte Audio Machine every 6 days. Most recently, Melthaven was updated on October 14, 2026 and Raw Byte Audio Machine on September 23, 2026.

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