Comparison

Drone Meditations vs Patchsynth

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

Head to head
About

Drone Meditations

Features
Read full description

A deep four-oscillator drone synthesizer for meditation, sound healing, and ambient composition. Inspired by Pauline Oliveros, Γ‰liane Radigue, Stars of the Lid, William Basinski, and the long-form drone tradition. Real synthesis, real tuning systems, real cymatics β€” designed for listeners who want to go deep. Most "drone apps" give you a few sliders and call it ambient. Drone Meditations gives you a real instrument. SOUNDS YOU CAN SIT WITH FOR HOURS β€’ Four oscillators per patch β€” sine, triangle, sawtooth, square, white / pink noise, granular pink, or loaded sample β€’ Per-voice filter (LP / HP / BP), drive, cross-osc FM, stereo chorus, three-mode delay with musical timing, stereo Schroeder reverb β€’ Twenty multi-target LFOs per patch (five per voice). LFOs 1–4 hit amp / pan / cutoff / Q / pitch / FM / FX-Mix; LFO 5 has its own row of granular + FX targets (grain, delay, reverb). Each LFO's rate can lock to a musical subdivision of the tempo. β€’ Per-voice timing envelopes β€” fade in over minutes, fade out later, repeat N times or forever. Rotate harmonically across 20 minutes without touching a slider. β€’ Six tuning systems: 12-TET, just intonation, Pythagorean, Lou Harrison Free JI, Wendy Carlos Ξ±/Ξ²/Ξ³, Harry Partch 43-tone DESIGNED FOR THE DRONE TRADITION β€’ 110+ presets across Drone Artists, Developer Patches, Solfeggio, Natural Resonance, Cymatics, Mystic & Composers, and Binaural categories β€” plus an INIT preset pinned at the top β€’ 48 Drone Artists tributes β€” Oliveros, Riley, Radigue, Stars of the Lid, Sunn O))), Basinski, Niblock, Palestine, Budd, Coltrane, and more β€” capturing each artist's waveforms, FX, and tuning, not just their pitches β€’ 21 Developer Patches showcasing granular sampling, BPM-locked grain density, FX-Mix LFO swells, and the JG hybrid pad/groove series β€’ Modal chord category β€” the 7 diatonic modes plus Harmonic and Melodic Minor β€” with quantize-to-scale so pitch-modulated voices arpeggiate across all 7 mode degrees β€’ Auto-morph between any two presets over 30 s to 60 min β€’ 25 scripted meditation journeys (Deep Listening, Heavy Resonance, Minimalist Arc, and 22 more) β€’ Tune to Room β€” global LISTEN snaps the chord root to a pitch from the mic; per-strip ear icon snaps just one voice LIVE CYMATICS THAT BREATHE WITH THE AUDIO β€’ Physically-calibrated Chladni patterns fit from real plate- vibration footage. The renderer crossfades between two adjacent eigenmodes bracketing each voice's live frequency β€” vibrato breathes between physical modes, not styled animation. β€’ Pinch to zoom; tap to enter fullscreen Performance mode with a drifting sand-particle simulation along the nodal lines β€’ Cymatic snapshot gallery + spectrum-analyzer alternative GRANULAR + TEMPO β€’ Granular waveform: pink noise chopped into Hann-windowed grains with size, density, jitter, stereo spread, per-voice overlap β€’ Granular sampling: same scheduler on any loaded sample β€” freeze a bansuri forever, smear a chord into a tape-decay cloud β€’ BPM-quantized density (Β½ β†’ 1/32T) locks grain spacing to the global tempo. Per-LFO rate sync extends musical subdivisions to LFO speed. Metronome click toggle for an audible reference. RECORD, SHARE, AND COMPOSE β€’ Mastered session recording: 24-bit WAV + AAC M4A sidecar with loudness normalization, automatic fades, embedded metadata β€’ Per-voice mic record captures into a voice's sample slot β€” normalized, granular-ready, with the current frequency as the sample's reference pitch β€’ 50+ bundled samples: bansuri, organ, piano, storm, tide, forest, urban, cosmic β€’ Cross-device preset sharing via .dronepreset files β€” AirDrop a patch between web, iPhone, and iPad, samples embedded inline. iCloud auto-syncs samples-free presets across devices. One-time purchase. No subscription, no accounts, no tracking. Free web version: dronemeditations.com

About

Patchsynth

Features
Read full description

Patchsynth is a Eurorack-style modular synthesizer for iPhone and iPad β€” and a place to actually learn how modular synthesis works, one patch cable at a time. Instead of a fixed synth engine with knobs, you build your own instrument by dragging cables between modules: oscillators into filters, envelopes into amplifiers, LFOs wobbling anything you point them at. If you've ever wanted to understand what a Eurorack rig actually does, this is the fastest way in. LEARN BY PATCHING, NOT BY READING 28 hands-on Lessons cover every module, from your first oscillator to full generative patches β€” some just explain, others build a real patch step-by-step in front of you as you tap "Next." No prior synthesis knowledge required. TRAIN YOUR EAR 15 Challenges hide a patch and play it for you β€” your job is to rebuild it by ear, with hints if you get stuck. A genuinely fun way to internalize how filters, envelopes, and modulation actually sound. 21 REAL MODULES Oscillator Β· Filter Β· VCA Β· ADSR Envelope Β· LFO Β· Noise Β· Delay Β· Reverb Β· Mixer Β· Sequencer Β· Arpeggiator Β· Clock Β· Attenuverter Β· Quantizer Β· Slew Limiter Β· Sample & Hold Β· Logic Β· Ring Modulator Β· Sampler Β· Keyboard Β· Output (with a live oscilloscope) Record your own sounds with the Sampler, or use the built-in factory drum kit. Quantize any CV to a musical scale. Chain multiple clocks for polyrhythms. It's a real modular rig, just without the cables costing $30 each. 70+ FACTORY PATCHES From simple bass and pad sounds to sprawling, 20+ module "flagship" patches β€” browse them, load them, take them apart to see how they're wired, then make them your own. PLAY IT WITH REAL GEAR Full MIDI support over Bluetooth or USB β€” plug in any MIDI keyboard or controller and play your patch's Keyboard module directly, no setup beyond pairing. BUILT FOR TOUCH, NOT PORTED FROM DESKTOP Every interaction β€” dragging cables, turning knobs, panning and zooming a big patch β€” is designed for a phone screen from the ground up. A dedicated Patch Bay view even gives you a spreadsheet-style matrix of every connection when patches get complex. Undo and redo everything. Save as many patches as you like. No ads, no in-app purchases, no internet connection required β€” just synthesis.

Screenshots

Drone Meditations4 screens
Patchsynth4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Patchsynth at $7.99 against Drone Meditations's $14.99. On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Drone Meditations costs $14.99 and Patchsynth $7.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
Drone Meditations versus Patchsynth: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrone MeditationsPatchsynth
Price$14.99$7.99 β€” better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksβ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size131 MB2 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperJOSE ANTONIO GUDEMartin Adler

In-app purchases

None

Drone Meditations

No in-app purchases

None

Patchsynth

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Drone Meditations free?
Drone Meditations costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Patchsynth free?
Patchsynth costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Drone Meditations or Patchsynth have ads?
Neither Drone Meditations nor Patchsynth shows ads.

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