Comparison

Degenson vs Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth

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

Head to head
About

Degenson

Create distorted percussion, hypnotic sequences, and aggressive sounds with this raw virtual analog drum machine. It offers six voices, dual LFOs, and fast hands-on control for electronic music production.

Highlights
  • Virtual analog drum machine
  • Distorted percussion
  • Hypnotic sequences
  • Aggressive sound design
  • Six voices
  • Dual LFOs
  • Hands-on control
Features
Read full description

Degenson is a raw virtual analog drum machine built for distorted percussion, hypnotic sequences and aggressive sound design. Six voices, dual LFOs and fast hands-on control for techno, EBM and experimental production. Now it's also an AUv3 plugin: run Degenson inside your favorite iOS host — GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis, Drambo and more — perfectly in sync with your project tempo. • Six punchy virtual-analog voices with analogue-style decay — percussive across most of the knob, opening into an infinite drone at the top • Full MIDI: notes trigger the voices, every knob responds to a fixed MIDI CC, and the sequencer can be bypassed to play live from any controller • Melodic mode: each octave maps the six voices and transposes them, so you can play the drums tuned across the keyboard • Fast, tactile step sequencer with per-step control and dual LFOs for evolving, hypnotic patterns • Crunch Verb: a gritty master reverb with Mix, Decay and Crunch — the tail degrades as it fades Free to play. The optional Pro upgrade unlocks the AUv3 plugin for use in your DAW and WAV export for bouncing your patterns.

About

Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth

Shape the overtone series directly to create unique sounds. This additive synthesizer allows real-time manipulation of harmonics, LFOs, and envelopes. Explore sound design and synthesis on your device.

Highlights
  • Additive synthesis engine
  • Overtone series shaping
  • Live waveform and spectrum response
  • Modulation matrix with LFOs and envelopes
  • AUv3 support
  • On-device processing
Features
Read full description

BKS Harmonic is an additive synthesizer that builds sound from individual overtones, then gives you tools to shape, scan and filter them by harmony. Load it as an Audio Unit v3 inside AUM, GarageBand, Cubasis, Loopy Pro or any AUv3 host, or run it standalone. A TUNER THAT KNOWS ABOUT STRETCH Tune mode turns the scope into a tuner: it names the note it hears and shows how far sharp or flat it is in cents, with a ring that closes as you land on the pitch. It tunes against the stretch curve rather than equal temperament, so it follows a real instrument. Stretch shapes the overtones inside a note; Key Stretch makes the keyboard follow it, so octaves widen the way a piano's do. FOURTEEN TUNING SYSTEMS, AND A TEMPERAMENT EDITOR Equal and Just, five historical temperaments, and six from outside the European tradition including Maqam Rast, Turkish Rast, Slendro, Pelog and the Harmonic Series. The Temperament slider is a morph, not a switch: fully left is Just, fully right is whichever you chose. Twelve bars show any system as cents away from equal; drag one to make the tuning yours, then copy it out as plain text. Tunings save with the preset. FIVE HUNDRED SCALES Searchable by alternate name: malkauns, nikriz, bhupali and freygish find the right set. THE PARTIALS ARE THE INSTRUMENT The partials display shows every overtone in your sound, and four tools work on it directly. FOLD sweeps upper partials below the fundamental, redistributing energy across harmonic layers — not a filter. The OVERTONE SCAN steps a spotlight through individual partials with triangle, saw or random patterns, and can visit only partials in the active scale. The HARMONIC GATE reinforces partials whose pitch class matches your chord and suppresses the rest: capture a chord, follow MIDI, split the keyboard, or pick the notes on the gate's own keys. SCULPT draws the level and pan of every partial, slides the curve up the grid as a formant, and locks partials in place while the rest moves. THE HARMONIC VOCODER Pass live input or a sample through the synth as an effect. Your sound travels through a bank of tuned peaking bells rather than being replaced by filtered noise: open the Air and the source stays dry, tighten it and the bands resonate into it. Key Track is the mode switch: on it plays as an instrument, off it is a fixed filter you can sweep. Aimed at a sample, the bands track that sample's spectrum as it evolves. One level-matched Blend control crossfades it against the oscillators. PULSE-WIDTH MODULATION Set the core to a saw and Source 2 to a saw: the two ramps subtract, which is what a pulse wave is, and the phase between them sets the duty cycle. Modulate it and you have PWM. A preset in the Utility folder is ready to play. MODULATION A cog on almost every control, so the synth's own engine can drive nearly anything in the interface, including the display. Sources include velocity, envelopes, LFOs, how many notes you hold, how many oscillators sound, the synth's own output level, and Atmo, a shape driven by 84 years of barometric weather data from the Beat Kitchen Weather Sonification Project. Rates run from audio rate down to cycles that span years. THE SCOPE A stereoscope, oscilloscope, spectrum and a live per-partial display. Glow takes the trace from a hard line to a diffuse bloom, Colour sets the hue, Trace Speed and Dot set how it draws — and every one is a modulation target. Route velocity to Colour and the trace shifts as you play. LIVE INPUT A headphone button passes the side-chain straight to the output, so you can hear and see your input with nothing held: green when signal arrives, amber when a bus is connected but silent, red when nothing is. Resynth Speed locks a sample's playback speed to pitch, tape-style, or keeps them independent. Every control has a tooltip, presets work offline, and a harmony wheel follows what you play. One purchase, every update. Made by Beat Kitchen, a music production and teaching community.

Screenshots

Degenson3 screens
Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Degenson at free against Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth's free with in-app purchases. Degenson also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 9 days). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Degenson sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth 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

Degenson holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 12 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Degenson ships an update every 9 days, Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Degenson versus Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDegensonBeat Kitchen Harmonic Synth
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (8 ratings) — better4.8 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings812 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB60 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFabrizio AlvitiBeat Kitchen LLC

Customer experience

Degenson

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth

All ratings12 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Degenson

One-time1
  • Degenson Pro Upgrade$7.99
1 purchases

Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth

One-time1
  • Full Unlock$14.99

Questions

Is Degenson free?
Degenson is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth free?
Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Degenson or Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth?
Degenson is rated higher. Degenson averages 5.0 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth averages 4.8 from 12 ratings.
Do Degenson or Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth have ads?
Neither Degenson nor Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Degenson or Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth?
Degenson ships an update every 9 days, and Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth every 3 days. Most recently, Degenson was updated on October 9, 2026 and Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth on October 12, 2026.

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