dSL1200 vs TEMPO
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
dSL1200
This app simulates a professional DJ turntable, offering a realistic touch experience for scratching and beatmatching. It plays your music library and supports AUv3 effects for creative mixing.
- Real-time turntable emulation
- Touch-based scratching and control
- Plays DRM-free music library
- Loop playback for breaks
- AUv3 effect rack integration
- Realistic 3D tonearm and lighting
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dSL1200 — Digital SL-1200 A professional DJ turntable simulator and music player for iPhone — a faithful real-time emulation of the most-used direct-drive deck in DJ history. Every part of the deck modeled in 3D, most touch-controllable. THE DECK, REBORN For nearly fifty years, one direct-drive turntable has been the de-facto industry standard in clubs, hip-hop, dance, and bedroom studios across the world. dSL1200 captures that deck — its motor, its slipmat, its quartz-locked strobe, its long-throw pitch fader, its tonearm tracking — as a working real-time simulation, not a skin or a sample player. REAL TOUCH, REAL SCRATCH Touch the vinyl and the platter responds the way a real one does. The motor keeps spinning underneath while you scratch, the slipmat couples back when you let go, and the audio rate follows your finger through every back-cue, body-trick rub, and crab. QUARTZ-LOCKED STROBE The multi-dot rim ring locks at exactly 33⅓ and 45 RPM through honest motor-rate-driven strobe physics. Pitch off center and the dots drift; lock to nominal and they freeze — the same visual feedback DJs have used to beat-match by eye for half a century. ACCURATE PITCH RANGE Faithful to the original long-throw pitch fader, with ±8% range, a center-detent snap, and strobe drift independent of motor rate. Beat-match by eye exactly the way the deck was designed for. YOUR MUSIC, ON THE DECK Plays MP3, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, and Apple Lossless files from your iOS Music library — any DRM-free track you've imported, ripped, or purchased. (DRM-protected Apple Music subscription streams cannot be played.) The vinyl label is generated from each track's metadata, with title and artist printed on the LP. LOOP PLAY FOR BREAKS Toggle loop mode and the track wraps with zero-sample-gap continuity — perfect for chopping b-boy breaks, drum loops, and battle samples. Cue points and back-cues across the loop boundary work transparently. AUv3 EFFECT RACK Load any installed Audio Unit Extension into a wet/dry parallel mix. Reverb, delay, filters, EQ, distortion — any AUv3 plugin you have on the device works. 3D TONEARM Drag the arm to cue, tap the cue lever to lift and drop, and watch it sweep from outer rim to inner spindle in real time with the audio playhead. The anti-skating dial, height adjustment, and counterweight are visually modeled on the 3D deck for fidelity to the original (not user-adjustable in this version). AUTHENTIC LIGHTING The pop-up inspection lamp lifts and lights with a warm bulb when toggled. A red strobe LED throws a sharp glowing arc across the platter rim — the same flashing red light that makes a working deck look alive in low-light club environments. 120 Hz METAL RENDERER Native 120 Hz on ProMotion devices, 60 Hz everywhere else, with PBR lighting, real-time reflections, vinyl groove geometry, and adaptive touch-density compensation so scratching feels identical regardless of refresh rate. ENGINEERED FOR DETAIL - End-to-end touch-to-audio response under 6 ms - Adaptive high-resolution resampler tuned for scratching - Streaming + ring buffer for tracks of any length - Slipmat physics, not state-machine fakery dSL1200 is an independent simulation product. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any manufacturer of physical turntable hardware. Any visual or behavioral resemblance to professional DJ equipment is offered as faithful artistic homage to a category of product that has shaped DJ culture for decades.
TEMPO
Create beats quickly with a 12-voice drum machine featuring deep sequencing, live capture, and resampling. Shape sounds with modeled drums, samples, or your own WAVs, then mix and add effects to finish your tracks anywhere.
- 12-voice drum workstation
- Playable pads and step sequencing
- Up to 64 steps per pattern
- Modeled drums and user WAV import
- Live capture and resampling
- Mixer, FX, and automation
- AUv3 extension
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TEMPO-1 is a sampler groovebox for fast beat making, deep sequencing, live capture, resampling, MIDI workflows, and finishing ideas anywhere. Build beats with a 12-voice workstation: Kick, Snare, Closed Hat, Open Hat, Clap, Tom, Cymbal, Perc, Keys, Bass, Synth, and Sounds. Tap ideas on playable pads, shape each voice, arrange patterns, route effects, and keep the rhythm moving from the first touch. The sequencer is built for feel. Create patterns up to 64 steps, then shape each step with velocity, probability, microtiming, ratchets, conditional playback, and pitch. Push hits ahead or behind the grid, add rolls, thin out busy parts, and turn programmed rhythms into grooves with movement. Sampling stays immediate. Record live audio, import WAVs, edit samples in place, and assign them to any voice. Browse modeled drums and bundled sounds, build custom kits, then bounce sounds or recordings back into pads for resampling. Capture pad or MIDI performances directly into patterns, with quantized recording when you want tight timing. Mix with level, pan, mute, solo, master controls, and meters. Add motion with Phaser, Slicer, Delay, Reverb, Filter, routing, and automation. TEMPO-1 gives you practical ways to finish ideas. Export loops as WAV, export patterns as MIDI, or capture a live performance as WAV. Use it on its own, map controls with MIDI learn, send MIDI from pads and sequenced tracks, or run it as an AUv3 in supported hosts. Key features: - 12-voice sampler groovebox - Playable pads and step sequencing - Up to 64 steps per pattern and 64 pattern slots - Velocity, probability, microtiming, ratchets, conditional steps, and chromatic pitch per step - Live quantized recording from pads or MIDI - Record, import, edit, and resample WAVs - Modeled drums, bundled sounds, and custom sample kits - Mixer, FX, routing, and automation - External MIDI output for pads and sequenced tracks - MIDI learn for performance controls - AUv3 extension for host-based workflows - Loop WAV export, MIDI export, and live WAV capture - User presets plus bank import and export - Designed for iPhone, iPad, and Mac TEMPO-1 is for beatmakers who want hardware-style speed, deep sequencing, portable sampling, MIDI flexibility, and practical export tools in one focused instrument.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: dSL1200 at 5.0 against TEMPO's 4.3. dSL1200 also leads on price ($2.99 vs $9.99) and chart position (#200 vs unranked). TEMPO's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On review sentiment, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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
dSL1200 costs $2.99 and TEMPO $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
dSL1200 holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 3 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
dSL1200 ships an update every 3 days, TEMPO every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 28, 2026.
| Parameter | dSL1200 | TEMPO |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 — better | $9.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better | 4.3 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #200 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 99 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mike Wolak | Richard Gillespie |
Customer experience
dSL1200
TEMPO
In-app purchases
dSL1200
No in-app purchases
TEMPO
No in-app purchases








