Comparison

FretMachine vs What About Phase?

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

Head to head
About

FretMachine

This app allows musicians to sketch guitar parts by placing chords on a fretboard and creating strumming patterns. It offers an intuitive alternative to traditional tab workflows, enabling users to build chord progressions and export ideas as MIDI files for DAWs.

Highlights
  • Fretboard chord input
  • Strumming pattern sequencer
  • Chord library with advanced chords
  • Real-time chord analysis
  • MIDI export for DAWs
  • Timeline arrangement
Read full description

Place chords on the fretboard. Sketch guitar parts with strumming patterns. FretMachine is a guitar chord and strumming sequencer for musicians, producers, songwriters, and DAW users. Unlike traditional tab-based workflows, FretMachine provides a more intuitive way to create guitar parts. Place chords on a fretboard-style interface, create strumming patterns in the rhythm sequencer, and arrange your ideas on the timeline. When you place notes on the fretboard, FretMachine analyzes the shape in real time and shows you the chord name. You can also choose chords directly from the chord library and quickly build chord progressions. Once your chords are ready, create strumming patterns on the rhythm grid, arrange them on the timeline, and export your ideas as MIDI files for further production in your DAW. KEY FEATURES • Strum-Based Sequencing Create guitar ideas around chords and strumming rhythms instead of entering notes one by one. • Pattern-Based Sequencer Arrange strumming and rhythm patterns freely on the timeline to structure your song ideas. • Chord Library Supports Basic Triads, 7th chords, tension chords such as 9th/11th/13th, sus/add chords, Altered chords, and a variety of guitar voicings. • Reverse Chord Finder Place notes on the fretboard and see the chord name analyzed in real time. • Fretboard Input Enter and sequence chord shapes while viewing a visual guitar fretboard interface. • Rhythm & Strumming Pattern Editor Design strumming rhythms on a grid using downstrokes and upstrokes. • MIDI Export Export completed guitar parts as MIDI files and bring them into your DAW. FretMachine helps you quickly build guitar-focused ideas, from chord sketches to pattern-based song drafts.

About

What About Phase?

Record short audio clips and transform them into evolving, hypnotic soundscapes. This pocket instrument uses phasing and other processes to create unique, unfolding audio patterns from simple sounds.

Highlights
  • Audio recording and looping
  • Ten distinct audio processes
  • Radial display of sound patterns
  • On-device pitch detection
  • Save, share, and revert recordings
  • Live control over audio parameters
Features
Read full description

Record a few seconds of anything — your voice, a clap, a passing train — and let the app pull it apart in time. What about phase? is a pocket instrument for process music: it loops your recording in two channels and lets them drift out of sync, so simple sounds grow into shifting, hypnotic patterns. Inspired by the tape-phasing experiments of 1960s minimalism, it makes the process itself audible — you set it in motion, then listen as it unfolds. TEN PROCESSES • Phasing — two copies of your loop, one drifting a few cents faster; hear them separate into echo, then canon • Gradual process — a ramp that grows louder and sweeps across the stereo field • Tape loop multiplication — your loop fanned into a detuned chorus • Rhythmic construction — a rhythm assembled hit by hit • Pattern substitution — beats replaced one at a time: silence, octaves, fifths • Resultant patterns — two interlocking rhythms revealing a third • Clapping Music — a pattern rotating against its fixed copy • Pulse / drone — a pulse grid over a deep foundation • Canon — staggered voices entering one after another • Speech melody — a syllable pulsed in speech rhythm and dynamics THE WHEEL A radial display shows what the process is doing: your loop's waveform — or the process's own pattern — wrapped around a circle, left channel in coral, right in cyan, a comet sweeping the playhead. In Phasing you can watch the two rings physically drift apart. Volume and pitch views included, with on-device pitch detection. MADE FOR EXPLORING • Ten built-in demo takes, one per process, playable from the very first launch • Every take saves with its process and settings; rename, share as WAV, revert • Takes named after where you record them (optional, location used only while in the app) • Live controls: drift in cents, process amount, tempo, sample offset • No account, no ads, no analytics — recordings never leave your device unless you share them Record something small. Let it become something long.

Screenshots

FretMachine4 screens
What About Phase?4 screens

Verdict

The call

FretMachine and What About Phase? are too close to call on the numbers: across 9 compared parameters — price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. FretMachine sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and What About Phase? sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for FretMachine against 5.0 for What About Phase?. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly daily. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
FretMachine versus What About Phase?: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFretMachineWhat About Phase?
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyDailyDaily
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size227 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKyuhwa ChoiVladimir Gusev

Customer experience

FretMachine

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

What About Phase?

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

FretMachine

One-time1
  • Pro Unlock$9.99
1 purchases

What About Phase?

One-time1
  • Full Version$0.99

Questions

Is FretMachine free?
FretMachine is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is What About Phase? free?
What About Phase? is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, FretMachine or What About Phase??
FretMachine and What About Phase? are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do FretMachine or What About Phase? have ads?
Neither FretMachine nor What About Phase? shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FretMachine or What About Phase??
FretMachine ships an update daily, and What About Phase? daily. Most recently, FretMachine was updated on October 9, 2026 and What About Phase? on October 10, 2026.

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