Comparison

PocketDAW vs Cantus

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

Head to head
About

PocketDAW

Features
Read full description

PocketDAW brings vocal recording, arrangement, mixing, lyric writing, and export into one local-first workspace for iPhone and iPad. BUILD A VOCAL SESSION Import a beat into project-owned storage, record vocals while existing tracks play, and arrange up to 32 audio tracks. Keep the playhead centered while clips move behind it, zoom or fit the timeline, and choose a comfortable track height. Tap tracks and clips for contextual controls. Move, duplicate, precisely trim, split, fade, and crossfade clips. Shape tracks with gain, pan, mute, and solo, with project Undo and Redo. MIX WITH CONTROL Use built-in Studio EQ and Vocal Compressor, adjustable sends, Aux returns, delay, subgroup routing, Master EQ and compression, peak limiting, and peak, RMS, LUFS, and true-peak metering. Preview evidence-backed local gain and mix recommendations before applying or rejecting them. WRITE BESIDE YOUR MUSIC Create lyric documents and sections with offline exact, slant, internal, compound, and multisyllabic rhyme cues. Explore deterministic suggestions, syllable and stress facts, an offline dictionary and thesaurus, project pronunciations, search, custom themes, draft history, timeline links, and a transport-aware teleprompter. DELIVER YOUR WORK Export a 24-bit Mix WAV, choose from three loudness and true-peak-aware Mastered WAV profiles, or create aligned dry, wet, Aux, and subgroup stem packages with reconstruction metadata. LOCAL-FIRST BY DEFAULT Projects and core analysis stay on your device. PocketDAW has no account, ads, analytics, or social feed. Optional Studio Assistant chat connects to a server you choose and control on a reachable local or private network. Before Send, the app shows the destination, model, and shared context. Names, saved lyrics, and conversation history require separate sharing choices; any text you enter in a message is part of that message. Raw audio and file paths are never sent. Supported project edits require review and Apply, and local chat history can be cleared.

About

Cantus

This interactive tool helps musicians explore harmony and chord voicings on a virtual piano. It allows users to visualize how notes move within chords, understand modal relationships, and develop a feel for harmony through focused practice.

Highlights
  • Interactive chord and voicing exploration
  • Piano keyboard visualization
  • Modal and scale-based harmony practice
  • Voice-leading movement analysis
  • Tone.js audio playback
  • Account-free operation
Features
Read full description

Cantus - Voicing Lab is an interactive harmony and chord-voicing tool by Nathaniel School of Music for pianists, composers, producers, and music theory students. Explore how notes move inside chords, hear voicings in context, and study color, tension, and modal relationships from the keyboard. Cantus is designed as a focused practice lab: pick a sound, inspect the voice leading, and build intuition for how harmony feels under your hands. FEATURES * Interactive chord and voicing explorer * Piano keyboard visualization * Modal and scale-based harmony practice * Voice-leading movement and pinboard-style comparison * Tone.js audio playback * Self-hosted fonts and bundled web assets * Works without an account BY NATHANIEL SCHOOL OF MUSIC Built for practical harmony learning, composition practice, and deeper chord fluency.

Screenshots

PocketDAW4 screens
Cantus3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Cantus at 15.0 against PocketDAW's 18.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PocketDAW ships an update every 2 days, Cantus every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
PocketDAW versus Cantus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocketDAWCantus
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size47 MB3 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperMICHAEL DWAYNE WILLIAMSJason Zachariah

In-app purchases

None

PocketDAW

No in-app purchases

None

Cantus

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PocketDAW free?
PocketDAW is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cantus free?
Cantus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PocketDAW or Cantus have ads?
Neither PocketDAW nor Cantus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PocketDAW or Cantus?
PocketDAW ships an update every 2 days, and Cantus every 5 days. Most recently, PocketDAW was updated on October 25, 2026 and Cantus on October 21, 2026.

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