Comparison

NuSaw vs Tessera Sequenced Resonator

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

Head to head
About

NuSaw

Create massive, detuned '90s dance sounds with this polyphonic synthesizer. Features a stack of sawtooth oscillators, a resonant filter, and a full effects chain. Generate dynamic patches with LFOs, a modulation matrix, and an arpeggiator.

Highlights
  • Polyphonic SuperSaw engine
  • Detuned sawtooth oscillators
  • Resonant low-pass filter
  • Full effects chain (chorus, delay, reverb, drive)
  • Multiple LFOs and modulation matrix
  • Sequenced gate and arpeggiator
  • AUv3 plugin and standalone app
Features
Read full description

NuSaw is a polyphonic SuperSaw synthesizer: the huge, detuned '90s dance sound, built for accuracy and tuned to fill the room. At its heart is a stack of 3 to 25 detuned sawtooth oscillators with a sine sub, a resonant lowpass filter, and dual ADSR envelopes for amp and filter. On top sits a full effects chain: an accurately modeled chorus, a tempo-syncable stereo ping-pong delay, plate reverb, and drive. Motion is built in: three LFOs, a flexible modulation matrix, a sequenced gate, and an arpeggiator, so patches breathe, wobble, all on their own. • 50+ factory presets: leads, basses, stabs, pads, strings, arps, and keys • Authentically modeled SuperSaw engine with accurate drift and stereo spread • FX rack with authentic chorus + ping-pong delay + reverb + drive • 3 LFOs, mod matrix, sequenced gate, and arpeggiator • Resonant switchable filter, with slope control and key tracking • Save and share your own patches • AUv3 plug-in for AUM, Logic, GarageBand, Cubasis, and more, plus a full standalone app with an on-screen keyboard Whether you're chasing a festival trance lead, a snarling Reese bass, or a wide evolving pad, NuSaw gets you there fast. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Roland Corporation. Roland, JP-8000 and JP-8080 are trademarks of Roland Corporation, used for reference only.

About

Tessera Sequenced Resonator

Transform any sound into lush, evolving musical textures with twelve tuned voices. Choose from various resonator models and motion engines to create unique sonic landscapes. Lock to host tempo for rhythmic precision.

Highlights
  • Twelve parallel tuned resonators
  • Selectable scales and chords
  • Eleven resonator models
  • Five motion engines (Contour, SEQ, Strum, Arp, Swarm)
  • Host tempo synchronization
  • MIDI and gate input
  • Standalone and AUv3 plugin support
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Tessera is a tuned resonator. Play a drum loop, a guitar, a vocal, or a field recording into it, and it blooms that sound into twelve pitched voices that ring, shimmer, and decay in tune. At its core are twelve parallel resonators, each locked to a note of a chord or scale you choose. Whatever you feed them excites those voices, so a single hit becomes a lush chord, a sustained pad, or a slowly evolving cloud. Pick a root and a scale, from majors and minors through ninths, elevenths, whole tone, and chromatic, and the whole instrument retunes at once. Choose from eleven resonator models: plucked strings, struck bells, singing bowls, glass, membranes, tuned bars, plates, and hollow tubes. Shape each one with decay, damping, brightness, and stereo spread, moving from tight and percussive to vast and cathedral-like. Five motion engines decide how the voices arrive: Contour spreads them into shimmering, arpeggiated waves. SEQ steps each voice through its own rhythmic pattern. Strum rakes across the chord like fingers on strings. Arp cycles the voices one note at a time. Swarm lets them weave and drift around a moving center. Any of it can lock to your host tempo, so rhythmic patches stay in time. Play Tessera three ways: leave MIDI off and let the resonators sound on their own tuning, key them live from a keyboard, or gate them with held chords. Balance the effect with the dry and wet mix, blur the tails with the diffusion stage, and add motion with the built-in vibrato LFO. Microtonal tunings are supported for the pitch-obsessed. One hundred factory presets get you going, from plucks and drones to bells, rhythmic sequences, strummed chords, arpeggios, and dark cinematic textures. Tessera runs as an AUv3 plug-in inside your favorite host, and as a standalone app.

Screenshots

NuSaw4 screens
Tessera Sequenced Resonator4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Tessera Sequenced Resonator at $3.99 against NuSaw's $6.99. Tessera Sequenced Resonator also leads on chart position (#151 vs unranked) and ratings volume (11 vs 2). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

NuSaw costs $6.99 and Tessera Sequenced Resonator $3.99 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 NuSaw against 4.9 for Tessera Sequenced Resonator. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tessera Sequenced Resonator has 11 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
NuSaw versus Tessera Sequenced Resonator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNuSawTessera Sequenced Resonator
Price$6.99$3.99 — better
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.9 (11 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings211 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#151 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB31 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCharles VestalAudio Damage, Inc.

Customer experience

NuSaw

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Tessera Sequenced Resonator

All ratings10 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

NuSaw

No in-app purchases

None

Tessera Sequenced Resonator

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is NuSaw free?
NuSaw costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tessera Sequenced Resonator free?
Tessera Sequenced Resonator costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, NuSaw or Tessera Sequenced Resonator?
NuSaw is rated higher. NuSaw averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Tessera Sequenced Resonator averages 4.9 from 11 ratings.
Do NuSaw or Tessera Sequenced Resonator have ads?
Neither NuSaw nor Tessera Sequenced Resonator shows ads.

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