StepLoom vs Roostbox
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
StepLoom
Create electronic music with a touch-friendly groovebox. Quickly sketch beats, basslines, and melodies using a step sequencer, piano-roll editing, and arrangement views. Supports AUv3 plugins for expanded sound design.
- Touch-friendly beat and melody workflow
- Step sequencer and piano-roll editing
- Timeline, Session, and Flow arrangement views
- AUv3 instrument and effect plugin support
- Mixer controls for sound shaping
- MIDI input and external clock sync
- Export audio, stems, or MIDI
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StepLoom is a fast, touch-first electronic music sketchpad for making beats, loops, basslines, and melody ideas on iPhone and iPad. It gives you the focus of a compact groovebox without the weight of a full DAW, so you can start a rhythm, shape a synth line, try an AUv3 instrument, arrange patterns, and keep moving while the idea is fresh. Create drum patterns with a step sequencer, write melodic parts with piano-roll style editing, stack chords, add legato, adjust BPM, mix tracks, and switch sounds. Add Sample tracks by importing audio or recording directly in the Tracks view, then use the waveform editor to trim, reverse, normalize, tune, and shape One-shot or Loop playback. The project Media Library keeps custom audio available for reuse and arrangement. Turn loops into songs with three complementary arrangement views: shape Patterns and audio clips on the Timeline, launch quantized Patterns and Scenes in Session, or build visual paths and probability rules in Flow. Draw or record automation for mixer controls and supported AUv3 parameters. When you want to go beyond the built-in sounds, add AUv3 instrument or effect plugins, choose exposed plugin presets, open compatible plugin interfaces, and activate Plugin Sound directly from the sound picker. Optional iCloud sync keeps compatible projects and project media available across your Apple devices. StepLoom continues to work locally when sync is disabled. StepLoom is built for quick electronic music drafts: open the app, tap a grid, hear the result, and turn a loop into a structured idea. Main features: - Touch-friendly beat and melody workflow - Drum, melody, and custom Sample tracks - Step sequencer with playback highlight and loop control - Piano-roll style melody editing with chords and legato - Audio import and microphone sample recording - Waveform sample editor with trim, reverse, normalize, gain, tuning, One-shot, and Loop controls - Project Media Library for reusable custom audio - Timeline editing with drag, resize, layers, sections, loop ranges, and multi-selection - Quantized Pattern and Scene launching with Session performance recording - Blueprint-style Flow rules with Next, Jump, Random, Stop, and probability - AUv3 instrument and effect plugin slots - Plugin preset reading for AUv3s that expose factory presets - Plugin Sound option for playing tracks through AUv3 instruments - Mixer and AUv3 parameter automation - Mixer controls for volume, pan, EQ, filter, drive, meters, master gain, and limiter - MIDI input and external clock sync options - Optional iCloud project and media synchronization - Export full songs or the current pattern as audio, stems, or MIDI - Adaptive iPhone and iPad layouts StepLoom is for producers, beatmakers, songwriters, and electronic music learners who want a focused place to capture musical ideas before moving into a larger DAW.
Roostbox
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Roostbox is a groovebox that looks like a retro arcade cabinet and plays like one. It makes techno and other electronic music live, by hand: fly a ship through a beat, ride the faders, flick the stick, and every gesture you make is recorded and loops with the beat. It is a different way to play electronic music live. There is no step grid to program and no timeline to edit. Everything on screen is a control, you play it with two thumbs, and the loop keeps what you played. Two kits are in the box, and everything is free: both kits, the whole performance surface and the AUv3 plugin. No purchase, no account, no ads. Play it standalone on iPhone or iPad, or load it as an instrument inside AUM, Loopy Pro, Cubasis, Drambo or Logic Pro for iPad. TWO KITS IN THE BOX SPACE: fly a ship through a beat. Where the ship goes picks the groove: four-on-the-floor, backbeat, offbeat, broken, sixteenths. The cockpit page holds the mixer, a stick for filter and grit, overdrive, pump, tape, delay, reverb, crush and a DJ filter. A 303-style acid bass and a drum synth make the sound. PLIVKA: a four-track techno box. Kick, bass, snare and hat, each with a pattern control and a hit control, laid out over five pages: Rhythm, Sound, Perform, FX and Mix. The bass line is a Turing machine that mutates as much or as little as you let it. UNDER THE HOOD - Euclidean rhythm generators, a Turing machine sequencer and a trigger sequencer drive the patterns. - A drum synth and a 303-style acid bass synth make the sound. No samples. - Every fader move is recorded as motion and loops with the beat. Undo and redo if you change your mind. - Scenes: snapshot the whole kit and switch on the next sixteenth, beat, bar or pattern. - Master effects: delay and reverb sends, filter, crush, tape, compressor, sidechain pump and a limiter. - MIDI learn: map any control to a hardware controller. - Landscape only. Made for two thumbs. AUv3 The plugin is the same instrument as the app, with the same two kits, and it is free. It follows the host tempo and transport. Jam in the standalone app; record into your DAW with the plugin. WHAT 1.0 IS Two kits, built to be played. Building your own kits is not part of this version. Roostbox is made by one person. If something is broken, tell me: reach.freefall.studio@gmail.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Roostbox at Free against StepLoom's $3.99. Roostbox also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On ads, in-app purchases 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
Roostbox is free to download; StepLoom costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | StepLoom | Roostbox |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 70 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 宁 徐 | ARTEM VOVSIA |
In-app purchases
StepLoom
No in-app purchases
Roostbox
No in-app purchases









