MESA Synth AUv3 vs Melodai
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MESA Synth AUv3
This music creation tool transforms visuals into sound by rendering shaders and images into wavetables. It offers a powerful synthesis engine, extensive sound-shaping capabilities, and a full effects rack, all controllable through light and visual input.
- Visual-to-audio wavetable synthesis
- Unison oscillator stack with sub-oscillator
- Zero-delay-feedback filter
- Vision panel for sound shaping with light
- 26 stackable visual modifiers as audio effects
- 8-stage stereo FX rack
- Sampler mode with auto pitch-tracking
Read full descriptionHide full description
MESA is a wavetable synthesizer unlike any other — it turns visuals into sound. Drop in a shader or a .vkograph and MESA renders it offscreen, reads the light across the image, and turns that into a wavetable you play. The picture literally becomes the oscillator — and the same visual keeps living behind your keys, reacting to every note. No other synth works like this. Behind the magic is a complete, serious instrument: THE ENGINE • 64-frame wavetables, FFT mip-banked for clean, alias-free playback everywhere • Unison oscillator stack with detune, spread, and a sub-oscillator • Zero-delay-feedback filter — cutoff, resonance, drive, self-oscillating • Full ADSR envelope, portamento glide, and a dedicated pitch envelope SHAPE THE SOUND WITH LIGHT • Vision panel: choose the scanline, weight color channels, bend the brightness curve, sweep time — one shader, a thousand timbres • 33 color palettes that reshape the tone, not just the look • VFX chain: 26 stackable visual modifiers, each one also an audio effect A FULL STUDIO • 3-slot modulation matrix with 2 LFOs, velocity, and mod wheel • 8-stage stereo FX rack: tape, wow & flutter, chorus, delay, reverb, lo-fi, tape-stop • Sampler mode — load any audio, auto pitch-tracked across the keys • Arpeggiator, Ableton Link, and MIDI Learn on nearly every control BUILT FOR YOUR WORKFLOW • AUv3 plug-in AND standalone app — one purchase, iOS + macOS • iCloud sync — build a patch on your Mac, it's ready on your iPhone • Categorized preset browser with import/export and full patch recall
Melodai
Read full descriptionHide full description
Melodai is a desktop-class DAW for iPhone, iPad, and Mac: multi-track editing, instruments you can play, a full FX rack, and on-device AI for jam, stems, and sheet scan. The mix stays on your device. RECORD AND ARRANGE Build a song on a real timeline. Audio, voice, loops, and MIDI tracks live in one project. Move, split, duplicate, and snap clips. Record from the mic or into the instrument you have open, with count-in and overdub. Undo walks a change back. PLAY THE INSTRUMENTS Select a track and the dock becomes the instrument: keys, drums, guitar, bass, 808, synth, violin, saxophone, or Guzheng. Tap, play, and record MIDI, then edit notes in the piano roll. MIX AND SHAPE A studio FX rack on every track and on the master: parametric EQ, 10-band EQ, compressor, limiter, reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, distortion, and pitch. Drop in loops from a bundled library filed by drums, bass, keys, guitar, synth, strings, vocals, and genre. Clean a take with on-device noise reduction. ON-DEVICE AI Jam: hold notes, pick a style — Lo-Fi, Dark Jazz, Trap, Orchestral, and more — and generate a take on Apple silicon. Prompt Mixer: blend style terms on faders and generate into the mix you dialled in. Stems: split a song into bass, drums, other, and vocal, then open it as a four-track session. Sheet scan: photograph a piano score and open MIDI you can play and edit. MIDI import: drop a .mid file and it becomes tracks and notes, not a dead bounce. Jam, stems, sheet scan, and noise reduction run with Core ML on your device. Your recordings are not uploaded to finish an edit. Optional text-to-arrangement compose sends only a prompt, never your audio. EXPORT Share MP3 or AAC. Bounce lossless WAV, AIFF, or 32-bit float CAF when the file has to leave as audio. iPhone, iPad, and Mac. No ads, no tracking, no account. MELODAI PRO You can build a song for free. Pro unlocks the full instrument set, piano roll, Pro loops, Jam, Prompt Mixer, stem split, EQ, noise reduction, and lossless export. If a session uses those tools, Pro is required to export. Prices are shown in the app in your local currency. Auto-renewable subscription Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel in your Apple ID account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial, if offered, is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Privacy Policy: https://melodai.youthpe.com/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://melodai.youthpe.com/terms.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Melodai at Free against MESA Synth AUv3's $8.99. MESA Synth AUv3'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
Melodai is free to download; MESA Synth AUv3 costs $8.99 up front. Melodai sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. MESA Synth AUv3 asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | MESA Synth AUv3 | Melodai |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $8.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.4 | 18.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 636 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Juan Maguid | 巧霞 詹 |
In-app purchases
MESA Synth AUv3
No in-app purchases
Melodai
- Monthly Pro$2.991 Month
- Yearly$19.991 Year









