Comparison

MIDI Shimmer vs What About Phase?

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

Head to head
About

MIDI Shimmer

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MIDI Shimmer turns your iPhone or iPad into a professional synthesizer with a true shimmer reverb engine. Connect any MIDI keyboard wirelessly via Bluetooth LE or wired via USB-C, and instantly access 28 hand-crafted presets across five categories: Pads, Keys, Strings, Brass & Wind, and Synth. SHIMMER REVERB Shimmer reverb is the ambient effect behind countless iconic pads and soundscapes: every note is pitch-shifted up one octave and fed into a long cathedral reverb, creating a glowing halo of sound that trails above the note you play. MIDI Shimmer runs two independent FX buses in parallel — a natural hall reverb and the shimmer path — both continuously adjustable with dedicated sliders. FEATURES • 28 presets across Pads, Keys, Strings, Brass and Synth — including a Korg D1 E-Piano • True shimmer reverb — parallel octave-shifted cathedral reverb bus • Dual FX Mix panel — Reverb, Shimmer, and Master Volume sliders per preset • Bluetooth LE MIDI — connect wirelessly to adapters like the Yamaha MD-BT01 • USB MIDI — plug in any keyboard via USB-C hub • Real-time chord detection — names every chord you play (maj7, m9, sus4, inversions) • Chord history breadcrumb — scrollable log of your progression • Built-in demo — tap ▶ to hear the synth without a keyboard • Sustain pedal support (MIDI CC 64) • Background audio — sound continues when screen locks • Adaptive portrait and landscape layout for iPhone and iPad • Ultra-low latency via AVAudioEngine • No account, no subscription, no internet required

About

What About Phase?

Record short audio clips and transform them into evolving, hypnotic soundscapes. This pocket instrument uses phasing and other processes to create unique, unfolding audio patterns from simple sounds.

Highlights
  • Audio recording and looping
  • Ten distinct audio processes
  • Radial display of sound patterns
  • On-device pitch detection
  • Save, share, and revert recordings
  • Live control over audio parameters
Features
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Record a few seconds of anything — your voice, a clap, a passing train — and let the app pull it apart in time. What about phase? is a pocket instrument for process music: it loops your recording in two channels and lets them drift out of sync, so simple sounds grow into shifting, hypnotic patterns. Inspired by the tape-phasing experiments of 1960s minimalism, it makes the process itself audible — you set it in motion, then listen as it unfolds. TEN PROCESSES • Phasing — two copies of your loop, one drifting a few cents faster; hear them separate into echo, then canon • Gradual process — a ramp that grows louder and sweeps across the stereo field • Tape loop multiplication — your loop fanned into a detuned chorus • Rhythmic construction — a rhythm assembled hit by hit • Pattern substitution — beats replaced one at a time: silence, octaves, fifths • Resultant patterns — two interlocking rhythms revealing a third • Clapping Music — a pattern rotating against its fixed copy • Pulse / drone — a pulse grid over a deep foundation • Canon — staggered voices entering one after another • Speech melody — a syllable pulsed in speech rhythm and dynamics THE WHEEL A radial display shows what the process is doing: your loop's waveform — or the process's own pattern — wrapped around a circle, left channel in coral, right in cyan, a comet sweeping the playhead. In Phasing you can watch the two rings physically drift apart. Volume and pitch views included, with on-device pitch detection. AUDIO UNIT (AUv3) Every process also comes as an AUv3 plugin for AUM, GarageBand and other hosts: an instrument that plays the process's own demo, and an effect that does the process to whatever you send it. The wheel is the plugin's screen. Each voice has an output of its own, a MIDI note starts the loop over, and Sync can follow the host's transport. A Level control sets how loud every output is, and on the effects BAR sets the loop to one bar of your host's tempo and keeps it there. Look for the maker "Scriptum" in your host. The plugin is part of Pro, a one-time in-app purchase that also includes everything in the full version. Until Pro is unlocked the plugin loads and shows its wheel, but stays silent. MADE FOR EXPLORING • Ten built-in demo takes, one per process, playable from the very first launch • Every take saves with its process and settings; rename, share as WAV, revert • Takes named after where you record them (optional, location used only while in the app) • Live controls: drift in cents, process amount, tempo, sample offset • No account, no ads, no analytics — recordings never leave your device unless you share them Record something small. Let it become something long.

Screenshots

MIDI Shimmer2 screens
What About Phase?4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: What About Phase? at Free against MIDI Shimmer's $1.99. What About Phase? also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 5 days). MIDI Shimmer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

What About Phase? is free to download; MIDI Shimmer costs $1.99 up front. What About Phase? sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. MIDI Shimmer asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MIDI Shimmer ships an update every 5 days, What About Phase? daily. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
MIDI Shimmer versus What About Phase?: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMIDI ShimmerWhat About Phase?
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size336 MB21 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHeinrich KruppVladimir Gusev

In-app purchases

None

MIDI Shimmer

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

What About Phase?

One-time2
  • Full Version$0.99
  • Pro$3.99

Questions

Is MIDI Shimmer free?
MIDI Shimmer costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is What About Phase? free?
What About Phase? is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do MIDI Shimmer or What About Phase? have ads?
Neither MIDI Shimmer nor What About Phase? shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MIDI Shimmer or What About Phase??
MIDI Shimmer ships an update every 5 days, and What About Phase? daily. Most recently, MIDI Shimmer was updated on October 25, 2026 and What About Phase? on October 25, 2026.

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