Comparison

Raw Byte Audio Machine vs Traverse Lo

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

Head to head
About

Raw Byte Audio Machine

This app generates complex musical patterns using a single sawtooth wave and a powerful expression engine. It supports binary and bitwise operations to create rhythms, harmonies, and melodies. Operates as a standalone app or an AUv3 instrument plugin.

Highlights
  • Sawtooth wave synthesis
  • Expression engine for sound design
  • Binary and bitwise operations
  • Rhythm, harmony, and melody generation
  • Standalone app
  • AUv3 instrument plugin
Features
Read full description

The Raw Byte Audio Machine allows the user to operate on a constant sawtooth wave that is calculated against the assigned sample rate and bit-depth. With each sample, the counter "t" increments by 1. Your expression is evaluated and the lowest bits become a PCM audio sample. Expressions allow for binary arithmetic like addition, subtraction, division, and modulo; and bitwise operations like AND/OR/NOT and bit shifting. With these combinations of tools, a single expression can yield tremendous musical results in complex rhythms, harmonies, and melodies, all while operating on a single sawtooth wave. Operates as a standalone app or AUv3 instrument plugin.

About

Traverse Lo

This audio plugin emulates the character of cassette tape, offering a unique tape delay with degrading echoes. It includes controls for saturation, wobble, and procedural noise, allowing for creative sound design and adding warmth to any audio source.

Highlights
  • Cassette tape character emulation
  • Stereo tape delay with tempo sync
  • Procedural splice-point emulator
  • Curated noise generator
  • Gated noise control
  • Ping-pong width control
Features
Read full description

Traverse is a lo-fi tape effect and delay plugin from Audio Damage, makers of premium audio software since 2002. Runs as an AUv3 plugin inside AUM, Cubasis, Drambo, GarageBand, or any AUv3 host on iPhone and iPad. Make a beat sound like an old mixtape. Wash a vocal in tape echo. Push a clean synth into a slow, self-saturating wobble. Or just add a little warmth to anything. One plugin, one signal flow, no chaining, infinite possibilities. WHAT IT DOES - Cassette tape character — Drive, Wow, Flutter, and a tilt-EQ Tone knob that goes from clean and warm to wobbly and worn - Stereo tape delay, 20ms to 10 seconds, free or host-tempo synced - POST DELAY routing button reorders the chain: tape emulator with a delay, or tape delay with a clean input - Procedural splice-point emulator with four controls for tape dropouts and chirps - Curated noise generator with hiss, crackle, dust, fan rumble, 60Hz and 50Hz hum, white, pink, and the Califone Card Reader - Gated noise that drops the floor when input is silent — room tone speaks only when the track does - Ping-pong width control, click-free bypass, fully-wet mix by default WHY IT SOUNDS DIFFERENT Most tape delay plugins keep saturation and delay as separate stages: input gets saturated, then echoed cleanly. Traverse re-processes every feedback repeat through the full cassette chain, so echoes degrade and bloom with each pass instead of just decaying in volume. PART OF THE MOTION EFFECTS FAMILY Traverse joins Ascent (shimmer reverb) and Descent (granular effect processor) in Audio Damage's Motion Effects family — three plugins for ambient explorations and sound design sonic science. ALSO AVAILABLE FOR DESKTOP The full version of Traverse runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux as VST3, AU, AAX, and CLAP. Same DSP, same sound. Visit audiodamage.com for the desktop builds and 20-year catalog of plugins. ABOUT AUDIO DAMAGE Founded in 2002 by Chris Randall and Adam Schabtach, Audio Damage builds plugins for people who care more about character than convention. No copy protection, no subscriptions, no DRM. Just plugins that sound like nothing else. NO TRACKING. NO IN-APP PURCHASES. NO SUBSCRIPTIONS. NO ADS.

Screenshots

Raw Byte Audio Machine4 screens
Traverse Lo2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Raw Byte Audio Machine at every 6 days against Traverse Lo's every 3 months. Raw Byte Audio Machine also leads on price ($0.99 vs $2.99). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Raw Byte Audio Machine costs $0.99 and Traverse Lo $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Raw Byte Audio Machine against 5.0 for Traverse Lo. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 7 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Raw Byte Audio Machine ships an update every 6 days, Traverse Lo every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Raw Byte Audio Machine versus Traverse Lo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRaw Byte Audio MachineTraverse Lo
Price$0.99 — better$2.99
Rating5.0 (5 ratings)5.0 (7 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings57 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.616.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB62 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCallback Audio, LLCAudio Damage, Inc.

Customer experience

Raw Byte Audio Machine

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Traverse Lo

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Raw Byte Audio Machine

No in-app purchases

None

Traverse Lo

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Raw Byte Audio Machine free?
Raw Byte Audio Machine costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Traverse Lo free?
Traverse Lo costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Raw Byte Audio Machine or Traverse Lo?
Raw Byte Audio Machine and Traverse Lo are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5 and 7 ratings respectively.
Do Raw Byte Audio Machine or Traverse Lo have ads?
Neither Raw Byte Audio Machine nor Traverse Lo shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Raw Byte Audio Machine or Traverse Lo?
Raw Byte Audio Machine ships an update every 6 days, and Traverse Lo every 3 months. Most recently, Raw Byte Audio Machine was updated on October 24, 2026 and Traverse Lo on October 25, 2026.

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