Comparison

ARPJAM Studio vs VisualSound

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

Head to head
About

ARPJAM Studio

This app offers a generative synthesizer experience focused on sound design without requiring keyboard skills. It allows users to shape waveforms, filters, and effects in real-time as music plays, offering a unique approach to music creation for those who enjoy sound sculpting.

Highlights
  • Generative arpeggios with multiple waveforms
  • Probability-based drum generation
  • Chord progression locking
  • Real-time XY pad parameter control
  • Assignable LFOs for dynamic sound shaping
  • Play pad for layering live input
  • Preset saving and sharing
Features
Read full description

No sequence. No play button needed. An instrument that keeps going without you programming anything. Two generative engines invent phrases endlessly inside the scale and chord you choose. What you shape is not a song — it is a way of sounding. Move a control and the sound changes shape without ever stopping. Density, contour, filter, tape movement. It is built so that nothing you touch can break it. And you can play it. On the key pad or from a MIDI keyboard, right on top of the stream it is generating. What you play can be captured into the looper. Now your own sound can go in too. Record a bar into SAMPLE, the fourth machine, and chopping it up and rearranging it is the app's job. ■ Generate • Two independent arpeggio engines (waveform, filter, envelope, effects) • Eight arpeggio types, chord progressions, ten time signatures • Drum machine and bass • Six LFOs, XY pad, performance FX ■ Slice (SAMPLE) • Record one bar from a mic or line input, with count-in and click • Record the app itself (ARP A / ARP B / drums), and overdub onto it • Load audio files — and the audio from a video file • Up to 32 slices, ordered by the same rules as the arps: direction, reverse, octave, probability, groove • STRETCH (on by default) — change tempo without changing pitch • Its own filter, envelope and delay / reverb sends ■ Play • On-screen key pad — always in scale • MIDI keyboard input (damper pedal, pitch bend, standard control changes) • One-bar looper that records how hard you played ■ Sound • Piano — three velocity layers, stereo, damper release • Electric piano — harmonics shift with how hard you strike • Kalimba, handpan and chime — struck metal, measured from the real instruments and synthesised • Waveforms (sine / triangle / saw / square) plus an acid filter • Delay, reverb, Glitch, Granular, overdrive • DRIFT / FLUTTER — tape movement on the synth voices and the live input alike • Concert pitch A=415–444 Hz ■ Connect • AUv3 plug-in — as an instrument and as an effect • Ableton Link, MIDI Clock, MIDI out • External audio input (line / microphone) • WAV recording and export One-time purchase. No subscription.

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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)
Read full description

---- 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

ARPJAM Studio4 screens
VisualSound2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: ARPJAM Studio at $7.99 against VisualSound's $19.99. ARPJAM Studio also leads on ratings volume (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On rating, 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

ARPJAM Studio costs $7.99 and VisualSound $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for ARPJAM Studio against 5.0 for VisualSound. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
ARPJAM Studio versus VisualSound: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterARPJAM StudioVisualSound
Price$7.99 — better$19.99
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 daysEvery 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size82 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTakashi TsunodaMike Gazzaruso

Customer experience

ARPJAM Studio

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

VisualSound

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

In-app purchases

None

ARPJAM Studio

No in-app purchases

None

VisualSound

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ARPJAM Studio free?
ARPJAM Studio costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is VisualSound free?
VisualSound costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ARPJAM Studio or VisualSound?
ARPJAM Studio and VisualSound are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do ARPJAM Studio or VisualSound have ads?
Neither ARPJAM Studio nor VisualSound shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ARPJAM Studio or VisualSound?
ARPJAM Studio ships an update every 2 days, and VisualSound every 2 days. Most recently, ARPJAM Studio was updated on September 23, 2026 and VisualSound on September 30, 2026.

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