Comparison

Melthaven vs Ring Modulator

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

Ring Modulator

This app creates unique metallic and bell-like timbres by multiplying two audio signals. It offers three modes for versatile sound design, from internal oscillators to sidechaining external audio.

Highlights
  • Ring modulation effect
  • Dual input capability
  • Three distinct modes (OSC+OSC, INPUT+OSC, INPUT+SIDECHAIN)
  • Mono and stereo input support
  • Adjustable carrier and modulator frequencies
  • Mix and output gain controls
Features
Read full description

Ring modulation multiplies two signals together sample by sample. The result contains the sum and difference of their frequencies, the sidebands, while the original carrier and modulator tones are suppressed. This produces the metallic, bell-like, and clangorous inharmonic timbres associated with classic ring modulators, from robot voices to detuned percussion. Signal path: the carrier is multiplied by the modulator to form the wet signal, Mix blends that against the dry carrier, and Output applies a final makeup gain. Ring Modulator is usable in three modes and can take either mono or stereo inputs. The host app must support mixing to bus inputs or sidechaining in order to use Ring Modulator with dual input. Outputs mono signal. OSC + OSC Both carrier and modulator are internal sine oscillators, set by Car Freq and Mod Freq. Produces classic two-tone ring modulation with no input required, good for bell tones and metallic drones. INPUT + OSC The carrier is your track's audio and the modulator is the internal sine at Mod Freq. This is the standard ring-mod effect: it turns voices and instruments metallic or robotic and adds inharmonic sidebands. This is the default mode. INPUT + SIDECHAIN The carrier is the main input and the modulator is a second, independent input routed into the plugin's sidechain bus. Use it to ring-modulate one track by another, for example a vocal shaped by a drum loop or synth pad. This requires a host that supports sidechain routing; if nothing is routed to the sidechain, the input passes through dry. Car Freq and Mod Freq do not apply in this mode.

Screenshots

Melthaven3 screens
Ring Modulator4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Ring Modulator at none against Melthaven's 1. Ring Modulator also leads on price ($1.99 vs $2.99). Melthaven's advantage is ratings volume (4 vs 1). On rating, ads, device support 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 Ring Modulator $1.99 up front. Melthaven sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Ring Modulator 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 Ring Modulator. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
Melthaven versus Ring Modulator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMelthavenRing Modulator
Price$2.99$1.99 — better
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings4 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperquantovoxCallback Audio, LLC

Customer experience

Melthaven

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

Ring Modulator

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Melthaven

One-time1
  • Melthaven Pro$4.99
None

Ring Modulator

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Melthaven free?
Melthaven costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Ring Modulator free?
Ring Modulator costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Melthaven or Ring Modulator?
Melthaven and Ring Modulator are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Melthaven or Ring Modulator have ads?
Neither Melthaven nor Ring Modulator shows ads.

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