Saws All vs VisualSound
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Saws All
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It started as an amusing idea: an 8-channel drone engine that only uses sawtooth waves called the Saws All. With trigger lengths, timing controls, and extended LFOs, the drone engine quickly became a canvas for ambient soundscapes, arps, and chords. That inspired a new challenge: create an 8-channel drum synth that uses sawtooths instead of sine waves, powered by beat probability for manageable randomness instead of a standard step sequencer. Finally, a fuzzy mono-synth was born and split into two faces—bass and lead—to fill in the gaps. The project officially evolved into something beyond expectation. Saws All is a beautiful-sounding sawtooth groovebox with a quirky workflow and a massive amount of character. Spend hours playing with drones and exploring melodic polyrhythms and percussive chaos. -The Engine & Features- • Sawtooth Drone Engine: 8 independent channels that can drone endlessly or trigger for set lengths and rests. Set different waiting periods across channels to generate lush, complex polyrhythms. Shape your sound with bitcrushing, delay, and 6 LFOs per channel (pitch, panning, filter, plus 2 customizable slots) to craft gliding drones, arps, chords, and wild effect rhythms. • Probability Drum Synth: 8 channels of physical drum modeling driven by beat probability for the perfect blend of groove and evolving randomness, replacing the rigid loops of a standard step sequencer. • Dual Fuzz Synths: Dedicated Bass and Lead mono-synths with virtual keybeds and dynamic pitch ribbons to fill out your low-end and melodies. • Performance Mode: Customize macro pads on the fly to trigger live FX, tape stops, stutters, and more using the universal recorder. • Song Mode: Save scenes, arrange full songs, and bounce your tracks directly to high-quality audio files. • Share Your Sounds: Export and share individual scenes, drum models, or entire projects with friends using lightweight JSON files. • Pro Mode: Turn off the guardrails. Take parameters deeper and bypass factory limits with manual value inputs. -Interactive Audio-Worlds- Kick back, close your eyes, and listen to your creation—or dive into our unique, interactive visualizers designed specifically for this app. Play games, watch dance-offs and slug-hunting ant colonies, or launch fireworks. Every world reacts and syncs perfectly to your music's tempo, frequencies, and individual channels. No ads. No subscriptions. All local. All private. Get lost in saws.
VisualSound
This app is a modular instrument that synthesizes sound and visuals using a unified patching system. Explore over 140 modules for audio, control, and graphics, and even generate custom effects with AI. It's designed for performance and integrates with your existing studio setup.
- Unified sound and visual patching
- Over 140 modules (sound, control, visuals, code)
- AI-powered module creation
- GPU-native visuals
- Performance-oriented features
- AUv3 integration and hosting
- Cross-device functionality (iPad, Mac, iPhone)
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---- Launch offer — introductory pricing for a limited time. The price goes up after launch week: now is the moment to patch in --- VisualSound is a modular instrument where sound and image are made of the same material. One canvas, one cable language: patch an oscillator into a filter, then patch the same signal into light, liquid and geometry. Nothing is a visualizer bolted on top — the picture IS the patch. ONE CANVAS, FIVE REALMS More than 140 modules across sound, control, visuals, geometry and code. Drag a cable and anything can play anything: an envelope strikes a fluid simulation, a sequencer bends a shader, a camera feed becomes an oscillator. INSTRUMENTS WITH OPINIONS • VYPER — a snarling acid bassline machine with slides, accents and pattern morphing. • KINETIC — a step-sequenced drum machine built on lovingly recorded classic analog kits. • KEYS — a playable polyphonic keyboard panel; on Mac, your QWERTY becomes the keybed. • SEQ, LFO, ENV, granular engines, a looper, a tape-stop, reels you can scrub like vinyl. LIGHT AS SIGNAL GPU-native visuals: shaders, feedback, bloom, fluid dynamics, sculpted 3D geometry. Point the camera at the world and use it as a texture. OCULUS tracks your hands and face so you can play parameters by moving. WRITE YOUR OWN MODULES — OR JUST ASK GRAIN is VisualSound's per-sample DSP language: code your own audio and visual processors right on the canvas. Tap the wand, describe the effect in plain English — "a dark tape echo that wobbles" — and an AI running entirely ON YOUR DEVICE writes the code, compiles it, and tells you honestly when something isn't possible. No cloud, no account. It works in airplane mode. (The AI brain is a free one-time download.) BUILT TO PERFORM Eight scenes with beat-synced morphing, motion loops, MIDI learn on everything, a timeline that can bend the tempo itself. Record your performance — audio and video — straight out of the app. PLAYS WELL WITH YOUR STUDIO Runs as an AUv3 instrument inside your DAW, and HOSTS your AUv3 synths and effects inside the canvas. MIDI in and out. Background audio. Files in, stems out. YOUR IPHONE IS THE REMOTE Install VisualSound on iPhone and it becomes VS Remote: a wireless control surface for the instrument running on your iPad or Mac, over your local network. No setup, no cloud. ONE PURCHASE, EVERY SCREEN Buy once and VisualSound is yours on iPad, Mac and iPhone. Same patches, same engine — the Mac gets QWERTY keys and plugin hosting depth, the iPad gets ten fingers on glass. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts, no analytics, no ads. Your patches, recordings and prompts never leave your device. Privacy policy: https://visualsound.app/privacy/ Open the app and you land on Welcome — a living patch, already playing, wired for you to pull apart. That's the whole philosophy: understanding by unscrewing. Sound and light, patched together.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Saws All at $9.99 against VisualSound's $19.99. Saws All also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). On ads, in-app purchases 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
Saws All costs $9.99 and VisualSound $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Saws All | VisualSound |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 — better | $19.99 |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 40 MB | 40 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ANCIENT APPARATUS LLC | Mike Gazzaruso |
In-app purchases
Saws All
No in-app purchases
VisualSound
No in-app purchases









