WindSynth 16 vs spool.
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
WindSynth 16
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[Turn your smartphone into a next-gen wind instrument] WIND Synth is a synthesizer app that lets you enjoy expressive, wind-like performances with just a touch of your fingertip. [16 Versatile Built-in Sound Sources] Equipped with 16 carefully selected tones, ranging from classic synth leads to organic acoustic instruments.
spool.
Create full songs on your phone with this pocket music studio. It offers a variety of sound engines, sampling capabilities, step sequencing, and a 4-track tape recorder for recording and mixing your music. Effects and MIDI controller support enhance the creative process.
- Multiple sound engines
- Sampling and sequencing
- 4-track tape recording
- Extensive effects rack
- MIDI controller support
- Step sequencer
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Make a whole song on your phone. Spool is a pocket music studio inspired by the joy of hardware grooveboxes — play, sample, sequence, and record to tape, all in one playful instrument. Fourteen sound engines. From punchy FM and fat subtractive Pulse to shimmering Cluster, plucked String, granular Cloud, the TALK vocoder, the WIDE stereo engine, THUMP bass, a Sampler, and two drum machines — each with its own animated, touchable visualizer and four hands-on controls. Sample anything. Record straight from the mic into the sampler or drum kits, trim it, and play it across the keyboard. Drums & beats. Build kits, chop a sample into a playable kit, and lock in grooves with the step sequencer. Playful sequencers. Pattern and arpeggiator to start; unlock Stream, Taps, and the bouncing-ball Gumball machine for happy accidents. Six minutes of 4-track tape. Record, overdub, varispeed (including reverse), scrub, and bounce your jam to a finished mixdown — export to WAV. Your tape is saved with your project. Effects & mixer. A deep rack — delay, spring reverb, drive, compressor, chorus, multimode filter, phaser, tremolo/auto-pan, beat-repeat stutter, and a pitch-shifter/harmonizer — many tempo-syncable. Plus a master EQ and brickwall limiter so it always sounds finished. Plays with your gear. Connect a USB or Bluetooth MIDI controller and play Spool like hardware. AUv3 plugin support is planned for a future update. Free to download and make music with a starter set of engines and sequencers. A single one-time Spool Pro purchase unlocks the full instrument — all engines, sampling, every effect and sequencer, unlimited projects, export, and MIDI. No subscription. Spool is an original, independent work by a solo developer — affiliated with no hardware maker.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: WindSynth 16 at none against spool.'s 1. spool.'s advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.4). On price 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
Both are free to download. spool. sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. WindSynth 16 asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | WindSynth 16 | spool. |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (9 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 9 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | — |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.4 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kouki Yoshimoto | Kristopher Yang |
In-app purchases
WindSynth 16
No in-app purchases
spool.
- Spool Pro$9.99
