Comparison

Tape Loop Machine vs Particle Chimes

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

Head to head
About

Tape Loop Machine

Create warm, evolving ambient soundscapes with tape-style looping and sound-on-sound layering. This audio effect plugin offers long delay times and analog degradation simulations for experimental music creation. Explore presets or use it within your favorite AUv3-compatible host.

Highlights
  • Tape-style loop and delay
  • Sound-on-sound overdubbing
  • Long delay times
  • Analog degradation and tone coloring
  • Wow, flutter, and tape degradation simulation
  • Preset library
  • AUv3 plugin support
Features
Read full description

Tape Loop Machine is a free AUv3 audio effect built around tape-style looping, sound-on-sound layering, and long ambient delays. Use it inside any AUv3-compatible host to create warm repeats, evolving drones, layered guitar textures, synth soundscapes, and slow-moving experimental loops. Simple enough to pick up in minutes. Deep enough to get lost in. Features: - Tape-style loop and delay behavior - Sound-on-sound overdub layering - Long delay times for ambient and drone use - Analog degradation and tone coloring - Wow, flutter, and tape degradation simulation - Presets for quick sound exploration - AUv3 plugin support The standalone app is included for exploring presets and quickly auditioning sounds. For the full experience, load Tape Loop Machine BA2 as an AUv3 audio effect inside your favorite host, connect a guitar, synth, microphone, or any audio source, and start building evolving loops.

About

Particle Chimes

Create generative ambient music and captivating visualizers with this sonic instrument. Explore diverse soundscapes, from gentle strings to glass bells, and customize your experience with various visual themes. Easily record and share your creations, or use it for relaxation and focus.

Highlights
  • Generative soundscapes
  • Diverse instrument tones
  • Interactive visualizers
  • Performance ribbon control
  • Auto-evolving melodies
  • High-resolution audio/video export
  • Sleep timer
Features
Read full description

Particle Chimes is an instrument for your iPhone and iPad that is designed for touch, with sounds ranging from gentle strings to glass bells to cathedral organs. Press Auto and start an evolving melody in the key of your choice. Select visualizations like ink swirls, starfields, koi ponds, or stark black and white patterns to match your mood. Play notes or strum the performance ribbon to create a wide range of tones. It's easy to capture your performances with high resolution audio and video exports to share with friends. Set the sleep timer to relax and drift off to your own personal lullaby, or keep it playing in the background for focus time. Connect the app to your TV or projector and create your own personal interactive art installation. Under the hood, Particle Chimes has a deep generative synthesizer engine. The sound is the real Rings physical-modeling resonator and Clouds granular engine, the same open-source Mutable Instruments algorithms inside two of the most-loved Eurorack modules ever built. Play with the built-in performance ribbon or with external keyboards and sequencers within your favorite AUv3 host such as GarageBand or AUM. SOUNDS TO START FROM Thirty-nine sounds, from plucked strings and glass bells to choirs, organs, and slow, stretched washes. The sound browser is a doorway to a wide range of presets. THE RIBBON Particle Chimes has three distinct performance ribbons: note mode, texture board, and, in Studio, a theremin-like free mode. Drag across the textured ribbon and notes ring out in whatever scale and tuning you've set: 23 scales from pentatonic to Hungarian minor, tunings from standard 12-tone to Just, Pythagorean, and Bohlen-Pierce, or your own imported .scl file. PARTICLES Everything you play is saved in the recording buffer, and the particle engine plays it back in three different ways. GRAINS scatters it into a granular cloud. LOOP repeats a slice of it and can sync to the clock. STRETCH plays it as a slow, pitched loop, with speed and pitch set separately. Up to three playheads read the buffer at once, each at its own pitch. AUTO Turn on AUTO and Particle Chimes will begin playing a unique evolving melody. Use one of the three modes to fit your goals: a Turing-machine sequencer, an arpeggiator, and a slow drift generator all help to create soundscapes that don't become repetitive. MANY WAYS TO SEE THE SOUND Every visualizer skin responds to what's actually playing, 46 in all. Five are free to start, including Signal Flow, a living schematic that shows you how the instrument works underneath. The rest, including a new set of eight black and white looks, open up with Studio. USE IT IN YOUR HOST Particle Chimes loads as an instrument plugin (AUv3) in AUM, Loopy Pro, and Logic for iPad. Play it from a MIDI keyboard or a host piano roll, with parameters exposed for automation and MIDI learn, locked to your host's tempo. AUTO can also start and stop with your host's transport. FREE TO PLAY, ONE UNLOCK The full resonator, the full granular engine, reverb, AUTO sequencers, all 39 sounds, five visualizer skins, MIDI, and the AUv3 are included in the free version. One purchase unlocks Studio: the full editing surface for both engines, including the LOOP and STRETCH controls, laid out on a single screen on a full-screen iPad. Studio also brings a tempo-syncable ping-pong delay, a sleep timer that fades the whole mix to silence, your own saved presets, recording and exporting a performance as video, Hi-Res Visuals on supported devices, and every visualizer skin. No subscription. No account required.

Screenshots

Tape Loop Machine3 screens
Particle Chimes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Tape Loop Machine at none against Particle Chimes's 1. Particle Chimes's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs fortnightly). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Particle Chimes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Tape Loop Machine asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Tape Loop Machine against 5.0 for Particle Chimes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 11 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tape Loop Machine ships an update fortnightly, Particle Chimes every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 15, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Tape Loop Machine versus Particle Chimes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTape Loop MachineParticle Chimes
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (11 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings411 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBaturay KocPlastic Factory LLC

Customer experience

Tape Loop Machine

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Particle Chimes

All ratings11 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Tape Loop Machine

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Particle Chimes

One-time1
  • Unlock Everything$9.99

Questions

Is Tape Loop Machine free?
Tape Loop Machine is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Particle Chimes free?
Particle Chimes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Tape Loop Machine or Particle Chimes?
Tape Loop Machine and Particle Chimes are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 11 ratings respectively.
Do Tape Loop Machine or Particle Chimes have ads?
Neither Tape Loop Machine nor Particle Chimes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tape Loop Machine or Particle Chimes?
Tape Loop Machine ships an update fortnightly, and Particle Chimes every 5 days. Most recently, Tape Loop Machine was updated on October 15, 2026 and Particle Chimes on October 15, 2026.

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