Comparison

Fingerophone vs Rithmatic

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

Head to head
About

Fingerophone

Features
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Fingerophone brings the feel of a classic pocket electronic instrument to your iPhone and iPad: slide a finger to play, with no extra hardware to buy. Slide across the compact hex keyboard to play an electronic tone instantly. It is a real monophonic touch synthesizer that makes its own warm, analog-style sound: two slightly detuned oscillators give it a vintage warmth, a resonant low-pass filter rounds off the digital edge, and vibrato adds the familiar wobble. Every control stays within reach while the note is still playing: - Four waveforms (sine, triangle, saw, square), crossfaded as you switch - Vibrato for the classic pocket-synth wobble - Tone to darken or brighten the sound - Drive to push it from clean into gritty - Volume A live oscilloscope draws the actual signal coming out of the synth, so the screen moves with the sound instead of running a canned animation. Scroll the keyboard across several octaves and play quick melodies, sustained drones, and noisy little riffs. Plug in a MIDI keyboard to play the synth, then map its knobs to the controls with MIDI Learn. The sound is generated on your device. You can play without an account or an internet connection. Whether you want to experiment with a pocket synth, explore warm analog-style sounds, or try a finger-played instrument without buying hardware, Fingerophone keeps everything on one focused screen.

About

Rithmatic

This app is an FM synthesizer featuring a vast library of classic voices. It allows users to explore, learn, build, and blend sounds using an intuitive interface and an AUv3 plugin for DAWs. It offers a comprehensive synthesis engine and various playback options.

Highlights
  • 36,118 classic DX7 voices included
  • AUv3 plugin for DAWs
  • Patch Builder to learn FM synthesis
  • Sound blending feature
  • On-screen and MIDI keyboard support
  • Arpeggiator and latch function
  • WAV export
Features
Read full description

Rithmatic is an FM synthesizer with 36,118 classic DX7 voices built in, and an AUv3 plugin for GarageBand on iPad and your DAW on the Mac. Browse them by family and by character, learn how FM works by watching it shape each one, build and blend your own, and play them from the on-screen keys or a MIDI keyboard. No account, no ads, nothing locked. IN YOUR DAW • Put it on a track in GarageBand on iPad, or in an Audio Unit host on the Mac such as Ableton Live. • Its window is the app's own Patches screen and Patch Builder, with your library. • Your bank appears as the plugin's presets, and Brightness, Attack, Decay, Release and Feedback can be automated. The patch is saved with your project. A LIBRARY THAT SHIPS FULL • 36,118 unique DX7 voices come with the app: no download, no account, no network. • Start with Essentials: the famous sounds and the songs they're on. • Browse by family, or by character: percussive, plucked, metallic, bright, sustained, swell, evolving, mellow. Or search by name. • Patch of the day: one classic voice each day, in the app and in a widget for iPhone, iPad and Mac. • Every voice is credited to the archive it came from, and to its designer where a bank names one. PLAY IT • A DX7-compatible synthesis engine runs inside the app, so every patch plays with nothing plugged in. • Play from the on-screen keys, your Mac's keyboard, or any MIDI keyboard you connect. • Pitch bend, mod wheel, breath, sustain and aftertouch, with aftertouch set to vibrato, tremolo or swell. • Velocity from a MIDI keyboard, or turn it off and choose how hard every note plays. • An arpeggiator (up, down, up and down, random or as played, over up to three octaves) and a latch that holds each key. • Record what you play and share it as a WAV. • Five tunings: equal, just, and Wendy Carlos's Alpha, Beta and Gamma scales. • Light or dark, as your device is set or as you choose. Drag the keys taller or shorter. • Keys, shortcuts and every synth term, explained under Help. SEE THE SOUND The waveform follows what you play: each operator's envelope, how hard you hit, the pitch, the LFO's wobble, and a chord as one layer per note. Resize it, go full screen, or watch the output itself in the Scope look. PATCH BUILDER: LEARN HOW FM WORKS FM is famous for being hard to program. The Patch Builder shows you why a sound sounds the way it does. • All six operators on a graph, each cable carrying its wave: see a modulator reshape its carrier as you drag. • Draw a cable and the builder snaps to the nearest of the 32 algorithms, so you learn routing by doing it. • Plain words beside the jargon. Edit each operator's ratio, level, envelope and tuning, the LFO and pitch envelope, or use FEEL: thickness, touch and brightness. BLEND Pick two patches and Rithmatic blends them into eight new ones. Play each, and keep the ones you like. YOUR BANK AND FILES • Gather patches from anywhere into your bank, then drag pads to swap or reorder them. • Export the bank as standard DX7 .syx files. Open .syx banks, or a .zip of them, from Files, Mail, AirDrop or the Finder. • Share a sound as a short clip of it playing, with a card and a code that brings the patch into anyone's Rithmatic. WITH A SYNTH, IF YOU HAVE ONE Hardware is optional. Choose your synth in Settings: • Korg Volca FM2 (firmware 1.10 or later, over MIDI): read its current patch, write to any of its 64 memory slots, back up and restore all 16 sequencer patterns, and capture the whole instrument to a snapshot. • DX7 family: send patches and 32-voice banks to a DX7 (mkI/II), TX7, TX802 or the original Volca FM over standard Yamaha voice dumps. FREE AND PRIVATE Every feature is free; tips are optional and unlock nothing. Rithmatic works offline and collects no personal data: no account, no analytics, no ads. KORG and volca are trademarks of Korg Inc. DX7 and TX are trademarks of Yamaha Corporation. Rithmatic is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.

Screenshots

Fingerophone3 screens
Rithmatic4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Rithmatic at every 2 days against Fingerophone's every 2 weeks. Rithmatic also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Fingerophone ships an update every 2 weeks, Rithmatic every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Fingerophone versus Rithmatic: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFingerophoneRithmatic
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—4 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB64 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMaxim OranskyMADE WITH BEST PRACTICE LLC

In-app purchases

None

Fingerophone

No in-app purchases

None

Rithmatic

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Fingerophone free?
Fingerophone is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Rithmatic free?
Rithmatic is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Fingerophone or Rithmatic have ads?
Neither Fingerophone nor Rithmatic shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Fingerophone or Rithmatic?
Fingerophone ships an update every 2 weeks, and Rithmatic every 2 days. Most recently, Fingerophone was updated on October 22, 2026 and Rithmatic on October 13, 2026.

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