Comparison

Melthaven vs Drift

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

Drift

This audio plugin offers dynamic saturation with a continuously shifting distortion curve. Achieve warm, musical tones or gritty, unpredictable textures. It's designed for musicians and producers seeking unique sonic character.

Highlights
  • Dynamic saturation with shifting distortion
  • Adjustable drive for warmth to clipping
  • Drift parameter for continuous curve changes
  • Depth and Spread for stereo variation
  • React for transient-following distortion
  • Post-saturation tone shaping
  • AUv3 plugin support
Read full description

DRIFT is a saturation plugin with a wandering soul. The distortion curve doesn't sit still — it shifts continuously, driven by the Drift parameter, so your signal is never processed the same way twice. Warm and musical at low settings. Gritty and unpredictable pushed hard. Everything in between. — DRIVE — Pushes the signal into saturation. From gentle warmth to hard clipping. — DRIFT — The wandering parameter. Steers the saturation curve continuously over time — the higher it goes, the more the character shifts. — DEPTH — Controls how far the curve travels from its center position. More depth, more variation. — SPREAD — Widens the drift behavior between left and right channels for stereo movement. — REACT — How quickly the curve responds to transients. Low React for smooth, gradual drift. High React for transient-following distortion. — TONE — Post-saturation tonal shaping. Roll off highs or open up the top end after the drive. — MIX — Dry/wet blend for parallel saturation. — OUTPUT — Final output level after saturation and tone shaping. — AUv3 PLUGIN — Run DRIFT inside AUM, ApeMatrix, Audiobus, or any AUv3 host. Multiple instances, each with independent settings. — WORKS ON — iPhone and iPad, all modern screen sizes.

Screenshots

Melthaven3 screens
Drift4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Drift at none against Melthaven's 1. Drift also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 6 weeks) and price ($1.99 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 Drift $1.99 up front. Melthaven sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Drift 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 Drift. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 6 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Melthaven ships an update every 6 weeks, Drift daily. The most recent releases landed on September 15, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Melthaven versus Drift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMelthavenDrift
Price$2.99$1.99 — better
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings46 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperquantovoxStephan Bolch

Customer experience

Melthaven

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

Drift

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Melthaven

One-time1
  • Melthaven Pro$4.99
None

Drift

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Melthaven free?
Melthaven costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Drift free?
Drift costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Melthaven or Drift?
Melthaven and Drift are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 6 ratings respectively.
Do Melthaven or Drift have ads?
Neither Melthaven nor Drift shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Melthaven or Drift?
Melthaven ships an update every 6 weeks, and Drift daily. Most recently, Melthaven was updated on September 15, 2026 and Drift on September 25, 2026.

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