Comparison

Aether Synth vs Anacru

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Aether Synth

This music creation app offers a professional synthesizer engine with dual-layer sound design and rhythmic motion. It can be used as a standalone workstation or as an AUv3 instrument within compatible iOS hosts for recording and production.

Highlights
  • AUv3 instrument support
  • Standalone synth workstation
  • Dual preset layering
  • Melodic and drum sequencers
  • Sampler tools
  • Multitrack audio workspace
  • Arpeggiator and motion controls
Read full description

Aether Synth is an AUv3 synthesizer, sequencer and sampler for iPhone and iPad, built for creating expressive sounds that move. Start with a sound, combine two sounds into something new, introduce motion, build a pattern, capture a sample, or simply play. Aether brings synthesis, sequencing, sampling and performance together in one instrument designed to keep ideas moving. CREATE YOUR OWN SOUND Build rich synth patches for pads, basses, leads, textures, atmospheres and evolving sounds. Aether is designed to make sound creation immediate. Shape a patch directly, explore presets for inspiration, or use Random Sound to discover combinations you might not have reached manually. The result can become a finished sound or the starting point for something completely different. DUAL — TWO SOUNDS BECOME ONE Dual lets you combine two independent sounds into a new composite instrument. Choose a sound for A. Choose another for B. Blend between them and shape the result. The two sides can complement each other, contrast with each other, or create something that neither patch produces alone. Save your favorite Blends and return to them later. MAKE SOUNDS MOVE Aether is built around motion as part of the instrument. Use Motion and Random Motion to animate sound over time and create patches that evolve rather than remain static. Movement can be subtle and organic or become a major rhythmic part of the sound. This makes Aether especially suited to evolving pads, shifting textures, rhythmic sounds and patches that respond like performances rather than snapshots. SEQUENCE IDEAS Turn sounds into patterns with Aether's built-in sequencer. Create melodic and rhythmic phrases, experiment with different rates and musical feels, and develop ideas without leaving the instrument. The arpeggiator provides another immediate way to transform held notes and chords into movement, while tempo synchronization keeps rhythmic material locked to the music. SAMPLING Capture and work with audio directly inside Aether. Use sampling alongside synthesis to bring recorded material into the same creative environment as your patches, patterns and performances. A sample can become part of a larger musical idea instead of living in a separate workflow. PERFORM Aether is designed to be played. Use the keyboard and performance controls to shape sounds in real time, then connect a MIDI controller when you want a more traditional playing experience. Velocity, sustain and expressive controls allow patches to respond dynamically instead of behaving like static presets. DISCOVER INSTEAD OF SEARCHING Sometimes you know exactly what sound you want. Sometimes you don't. Random Sound and Random Motion make exploration part of the workflow. Generate a new direction, keep what works, reshape it, combine it with another sound in Dual, and continue from there. The goal is not randomness for its own sake. It is getting from a blank idea to something musically useful quickly. STANDALONE OR AUV3 Use Aether as a standalone instrument on iPhone and iPad, or load it as an AUv3 instrument inside compatible hosts and DAWs. That means the same sound-design environment can work as an instrument on its own or become part of a larger mobile production setup. BUILT FOR MUSICIANS Aether brings together: • Synthesizer sound design • Dual layered instruments and saved Blends • Motion and evolving sound • Random Sound and Random Motion • Preset exploration • Sequencing • Arpeggiation • Sampling • Performance controls • MIDI • Standalone operation • AUv3 plugin support Whether you're designing an evolving ambient texture, building a bass or lead, creating a rhythmic patch, experimenting with layered sounds, or starting a new musical idea from scratch, Aether is designed to keep the distance between inspiration and sound as short as possible. Create a sound. Make it move. Turn it into music.

About

Anacru

Build complex rhythms with interlocking meters, tempo changes, and nested tuplets. Visualize and hear intricate polyrhythms and metric modulations. Export your creations as MIDI files for use in digital audio workstations.

Highlights
  • Construct advanced rhythms
  • Interlocking meters and phase shifts
  • Metric modulation with tempo changes
  • Nested tuplets
  • Interactive visual wheel
  • Export MIDI files to DAWs
  • Private by design, no account needed
Features
Read full description

Anacru is a scratchpad for constructing advanced rhythm. Most rhythm apps measure time — Anacru builds it. Instead of tapping along to a click, you assemble the rhythm you're hearing in your head from its parts: interlocking meters, tempo modulations, phase shifts, and tuplets nested inside tuplets. Then you play it back, watch it move, and export it to your DAW. Built for composers, drummers, producers, and teachers who work past 4/4 — and for students trying to finally *feel* how these ideas fit together. WHAT YOU CAN BUILD • Polymeter — stack independent layers, each with its own meter, subdivision, accent pattern, and phase offset. Watch 5/4 drift against 4/4 and snap back into alignment, locked to one shared pulse. • Metric modulation — pick the note value before and after a tempo change and get the exact new BPM instantly, with the direction never ambiguous. Chain modulations into a timeline the playback steps through as it loops. • Nested tuplets — put a quintuplet inside a triplet inside a bar. The engine handles the math; you just stack them. • Phase & accents — tap a pulse to accent it, or drag a layer's ring to rotate its phase. The wheel is the instrument. THE INTERACTIVE WHEEL Every layer is a ring of pulses on a single wheel, color-coded and voiced so you can follow each stream by eye and by ear. A playhead sweeps the cycle so you can see the relationships, not just hear them. HEAR IT PROPERLY Each layer gets its own pitch, stereo position, and selectable voice — woodblock, marimba, pluck, sine, or a kick/hi-hat drum kit — so interlocking parts read as separate instruments instead of one wash. SEE IT NOTATED Each layer is rendered on its own staff with correct meter, beaming, accents, and tuplet brackets. TAKE IT WITH YOU • Save and recall your patterns on-device. • Export a MIDI file — a clean tempo map carrying your modulation timeline, plus one track per layer — and drop it straight into any DAW. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No sign-up. No tracking. No internet required. Everything lives on your device. One purchase, yours to keep.

Screenshots

Aether Synth4 screens
Anacru4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Aether Synth at every 6 days against Anacru's monthly. Aether Synth also leads on price ($2.99 vs $4.99) and ratings volume (9 vs 2). Anacru's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

Aether Synth costs $2.99 and Anacru $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Anacru holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aether Synth ships an update every 6 days, Anacru monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Aether Synth versus Anacru: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAether SynthAnacru
Price$2.99 — better$4.99
Rating4.7 (9 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings9 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJacob KirkEVAN TRACEN POWERS

Customer experience

Aether Synth

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral16.7%
Negative16.7%

Anacru

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Aether Synth

No in-app purchases

None

Anacru

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Aether Synth free?
Aether Synth costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Anacru free?
Anacru costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Aether Synth or Anacru?
Anacru is rated higher. Aether Synth averages 4.7 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while Anacru averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Aether Synth or Anacru have ads?
Neither Aether Synth nor Anacru shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aether Synth or Anacru?
Aether Synth ships an update every 6 days, and Anacru monthly. Most recently, Aether Synth was updated on October 2, 2026 and Anacru on October 12, 2026.

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