Braindance vs Bent Spool
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Braindance
This app allows real-time audio manipulation with buffer-glitch effects. Create complex rhythmic patterns, apply various audio transformations, and perform live with intuitive controls. It can be used as a standalone application or as an Audio Unit within other hosts.
- Real-time buffer-glitch audio manipulation
- Step sequencer with Euclidean patterns
- Multiple audio effects (bitcrush, flanger, delay, reverb)
- Master filter with various modes
- Live performance controls (XY pad, macros)
- AUv3 and MIDI support
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Braindance is a buffer-glitch effect for iOS. Feed it audio and cut, stutter, repitch and mangle it in real time. SEQUENCE Build glitch patterns on a step sequencer with gate, repeat, reverse and pan lanes. Fill rhythms with Euclidean patterns, set step size and length, and capture what you just played onto the history tape. EFFECTS Shape the result with bitcrush, flanger, delay and reverb, then a master filter with switchable SVF, ladder, comb and resonator modes. Automate any parameter with per-slot shapes and depth over a chosen number of bars. PERFORM Play the effect live. Morph between settings on an XY pad, hold macros like Fire, History, Forget and Freeze, and fire launch pads including Trance Gate, Half-Time, Tresillo, IDM Chop, Stutter, Machine Gun, Glitch Walk, Reverse Rain, Ping Pong, Repitch, Dub Siren and Clicks + Cuts. AUv3 Run Braindance as an Audio Unit inside your host to process tracks in place, or play it standalone. A MIDI variant is included for triggering glitches from a keyboard or sequencer. Three themes: Ark, Candy and Clarity.
Bent Spool
This music app offers creative audio effects for live performance or use within other music apps. Explore rhythmic tremolo, pitched repeats, and looping fragments of your audio. It includes built-in overdrive and tape effects for unique sound shaping.
- Rhythmic tremolo effects
- Pitched repeat sequences
- Overlapping audio loops
- Built-in overdrive and fuzz
- Vintage tape effects
- Standalone and AUv3 host support
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Bent Spool is a creative effect that can transform simple musical parts into unexpected rhythms and melodies, played live or as an effect in your favorite host app. Shape a tremolo pulse, turn a note into a run of pitched repeats, or build a moving layer from fragments of what you just played. Drive the input with built-in overdrive or fuzz, add a core effect, then finally layer in vintage analog tape effects. THREE MODES TREM: a pulsing volume effect, from a rounded sine through triangle and sawtooth to a hard square gate. Syncs to your host's tempo or runs free. REPEAT: up to 64 pitched copies with their own decay and feedback, across five pitch stations from two octaves down to two octaves up. LOOPS: up to six overlapping fragments of your recent audio, spread across pitch, direction, read position and the stereo field. CHARACTER CHAOS adds movement that suits each mode: octave jumps in REPEAT, held or stalled pulses in TREM, wandering reversals and pitch drift in LOOPS. WEAR adds tape wear, magnetic saturation and digital crush after the active mode. At the input, OD is a softer clip; FUZZ is a harder distortion that sputters as it decays. PRESETS 48 factory presets: 10 TREM, 15 REPEAT, 15 LOOPS and an 8-preset Fuzz Tremolo pack. Unlock to save your own. FREE TO TRY TREM plays in full on the OD voice with ten presets. No time limit, no interruptions. A single $9.99 in-app purchase unlocks REPEAT, LOOPS, FUZZ, the rest of the presets and preset saving. No subscription. Runs as a standalone app or as an AUv3 effect in AUM, Loopy Pro and other AUv3 hosts, on iPhone and iPad.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Bent Spool at Free against Braindance's $4.99. Bent Spool also leads on update cadence (daily vs weekly). Braindance's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On rating, ratings volume, ads and device support 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
Bent Spool is free to download; Braindance costs $4.99 up front. Bent Spool sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Braindance asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Braindance against 5.0 for Bent Spool. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 5 respectively.
Braindance ships an update weekly, Bent Spool daily. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Braindance | Bent Spool |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (5 ratings) | 5.0 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 5 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 53 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | fourtrack.fm LLC | Plastic Factory LLC |
Customer experience
Braindance
Bent Spool
In-app purchases
Braindance
No in-app purchases
Bent Spool
- Bent Spool Unlock$9.99







