Comparison

Aether Synth vs 2099 Techno

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
Features
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Aether Synth is an AUv3 synthesizer, sequencer and sampler for iPhone Duo, 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

2099 Techno

This app generates unique electronic music tracks using chaotic mathematical principles. It offers multiple styles, virtual analog synthesis, and drum machines, with options for live play and MIDI export. All features are available for free.

Highlights
  • Generative track creation
  • Virtual analog synth engine
  • 909-style drum machine
  • Chaos-driven melody and rhythm
  • 8 distinct musical styles
  • Live play and MIDI export
  • Audio Unit integration
Features
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2099 Techno writes complete tracks. Press generate and you get 76 bars with an intro, builds, two main sections, a breakdown and an outro, played by a virtual-analog engine and a 909-style drum machine. Bass, acid, stabs, pad, a lead line and the kit, through a dub delay, chorus and reverb. Nothing is sampled. Every note is made on the fly and no two tracks come out the same. The music comes from chaos maths. Three Lorenz attractors shape the melody, the rhythm and the mood. Three separate logistic maps run underneath the drums, the bass and the acid line, so they wander independently: turn the logistic control down and the hats and perc repeat every bar, turn it up and they never do. Chaos on its own is noise, so a small model filters it. It gets rewarded for consonant intervals and rehearses two hundred notes over the changes before it writes anything. The CHAOS / TASTE slider decides how much say each one gets. Eight styles, and they are properly different. Detroit rolls an off-beat bass under syncopated stabs. Dub Techno holds one chord for four bars and lets the delay do the work. Acid runs a 303 line with slides and accents. Hard pushes past 140 with a Reese bass and the drive up. Minimal takes most of it away. Every track is built from its seed. Write the seed down and you can have that exact track again, note for note, whenever you want it. You can play over it, too. The pads are the notes of the track's key rather than a piano keyboard, so nothing you touch is wrong, and the sixteen-step lane runs in time with the track and follows your host. Both play any part you like: bass, acid, stabs, pad or lead, through that part's sound and out on its MIDI channel. Choose which sections the lane plays in - just the breakdown, say - and preview it on its own without starting the track. Turn on RADIO and it keeps playing, picking a new key, mode, style, sound kit and tempo for each track. You also get: • 8 styles, 6 dark modes, 12 keys, tempo and density • Two-oscillator analog voice with sub, noise, resonant filter and glide • 22 presets and 9 sound kits, from Warehouse to Game Boy, plus random patch • Six-part mixer, dub delay, chorus, plate reverb and a global sweep filter • A PLAY panel: pads in the track's own key, and a 16-step lane with accent and slide, running in time with the track and only in the sections you pick • MIDI in, so your keyboard plays whichever part you have selected • MIDI export: six tracks, one per part • Live spectrum, waveform and a view of the chaos engine at work Two Audio Units, an instrument and a MIDI processor. Each part sends on its own MIDI channel, drums on 10, so one instance can drive six instruments. The MIDI version passes your keyboard through instead of swallowing it. Both follow your host's tempo and transport. One install registers both. The app is free and nothing in it is held back. Using the Audio Units inside other apps is a one-time purchase, and each AUv3 session plays for two minutes first so you can try them properly.

Screenshots

Aether Synth4 screens
2099 Techno4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: 2099 Techno at Free against Aether Synth's $0.99. 2099 Techno also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and device support (4 vs 2). Aether Synth's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

2099 Techno is free to download; Aether Synth costs $0.99 up front. 2099 Techno sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Aether Synth asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

2099 Techno holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Aether Synth has 10 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Aether Synth ships an update every 5 days, 2099 Techno every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Aether Synth versus 2099 Techno: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAether Synth2099 Techno
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (10 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings10 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJacob KirkSoft Brew Mobile

Customer experience

Aether Synth

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral14.3%
Negative14.3%

2099 Techno

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

In-app purchases

None

Aether Synth

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

2099 Techno

One-time1
  • AUv3 Unlock$2.99

Questions

Is Aether Synth free?
Aether Synth costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is 2099 Techno free?
2099 Techno is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Aether Synth or 2099 Techno?
2099 Techno is rated higher. Aether Synth averages 4.7 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while 2099 Techno averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Aether Synth or 2099 Techno have ads?
Neither Aether Synth nor 2099 Techno shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Aether Synth or 2099 Techno?
Aether Synth ships an update every 5 days, and 2099 Techno every 2 weeks. Most recently, Aether Synth was updated on November 5, 2026 and 2099 Techno on November 6, 2026.

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