Comparison

Anacru vs Nocturne LoFi

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

Head to head
About

Anacru

Build complex rhythms with interlocking meters, tempo changes, and nested tuplets. Visualize and hear intricate polyrhythms and metric modulations. Export your creations as MIDI files for use in digital audio workstations.

Highlights
  • Construct advanced rhythms
  • Interlocking meters and phase shifts
  • Metric modulation with tempo changes
  • Nested tuplets
  • Interactive visual wheel
  • Export MIDI files to DAWs
  • Private by design, no account needed
Features
Read full description

Anacru is a scratchpad for constructing advanced rhythm. Most rhythm apps measure time — Anacru builds it. Instead of tapping along to a click, you assemble the rhythm you're hearing in your head from its parts: interlocking meters, tempo modulations, phase shifts, and tuplets nested inside tuplets. Then you play it back, watch it move, and export it to your DAW. Built for composers, drummers, producers, and teachers who work past 4/4 — and for students trying to finally *feel* how these ideas fit together. WHAT YOU CAN BUILD • Polymeter — stack independent layers, each with its own meter, subdivision, accent pattern, and phase offset. Watch 5/4 drift against 4/4 and snap back into alignment, locked to one shared pulse. • Metric modulation — pick the note value before and after a tempo change and get the exact new BPM instantly, with the direction never ambiguous. Chain modulations into a timeline the playback steps through as it loops. • Nested tuplets — put a quintuplet inside a triplet inside a bar. The engine handles the math; you just stack them. • Phase & accents — tap a pulse to accent it, or drag a layer's ring to rotate its phase. The wheel is the instrument. THE INTERACTIVE WHEEL Every layer is a ring of pulses on a single wheel, color-coded and voiced so you can follow each stream by eye and by ear. A playhead sweeps the cycle so you can see the relationships, not just hear them. HEAR IT PROPERLY Each layer gets its own pitch, stereo position, and selectable voice — woodblock, marimba, pluck, sine, or a kick/hi-hat drum kit — so interlocking parts read as separate instruments instead of one wash. SEE IT NOTATED Each layer is rendered on its own staff with correct meter, beaming, accents, and tuplet brackets. TAKE IT WITH YOU • Save and recall your patterns on-device. • Export a MIDI file — a clean tempo map carrying your modulation timeline, plus one track per layer — and drop it straight into any DAW. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No sign-up. No tracking. No internet required. Everything lives on your device. One purchase, yours to keep.

About

Nocturne LoFi

Create personalized soundscapes for focus, relaxation, or sleep with generative music. Explore diverse immersive worlds and customize your audio experience with real-time controls. Save and share your creations, or use it as an instrument for music production.

Highlights
  • Generative real-time music mixing
  • Immersive sound worlds with distinct identities
  • Customizable mood, rhythm, and tone controls
  • Focus timer and sleep fade functionality
  • Background playback and system controls
  • Save and sync custom sound combinations
  • Export audio as M4A files
  • AUv3 instrument extension for music creators
Features
Read full description

Nocturne LoFi is an immersive generative LoFi and ambient music studio for focus, reading, rest, sleep, and late-night creativity. Choose a scene and let its beats, melodies, and environmental textures evolve in real time. Nocturne does not simply repeat one short recording, so each session feels familiar without sounding exactly the same. 【11 IMMERSIVE SCENES】 Travel from Rainy Desk, Late Night Study, Midnight Café, and Night Train to VHS Memory, Forest Cabin, Space Radio, Harbor Dawn, Sunday Morning, Thunderstorm, and Rainy Day. Every scene has its own musical structure and atmosphere. Shape mood, BPM, tone, space, motion, stereo width, and ambience, or generate a fresh variation. Save favorite combinations and return directly to their scenes in Immersive Mode. 【BUILD YOUR OWN SCENES】 Import audio into the shared library, stack up to three layers, and adjust each layer’s volume, pan, and playback speed. Blend your sounds with a generated Nocturne bed to create a personal atmosphere. Choose a built-in vector cover or import, crop, and preview your own image. Pick a clock position, then enjoy your custom scene alongside the built-in scenes on the Home screen and in Immersive Mode. 【SHIMMER AND SOUND SHAPING】 Built-in Shimmer adds a bright, floating upper tail to the sound. Control Amount, Pitch, Decay, Tone, and Modulation, then combine it with warmth, drift, reverb, and the rest of Nocturne’s sound controls. 【FOCUS, SLEEP, AND BACKGROUND PLAYBACK】 Choose a 25-minute focus session, 45-minute deep-work session, or 60-minute sleep timer. Timers continue on the Lock Screen and in the background, pause playback when complete, and gently fade the volume near the end of Sleep Mode. Control playback from the Lock Screen, Control Center, headphones, and Now Playing. Supported iPhone models also show playback and timer status in Dynamic Island, while the Home Screen widget keeps the current scene and BPM visible. 【AUv3 FOR MUSIC CREATORS】 Nocturne LoFi includes both an AUv3 instrument and the Nocturne LoFi FX audio effect for compatible hosts such as GarageBand and AUM. The instrument supports built-in scenes and shared user audio, MIDI performance, host sync, a variable-length step sequencer, swing, ties, per-step velocity, triplet rates, and host project state restoration. Nocturne LoFi FX processes host input with tape warmth, Drive, Tone, Tape Age, Wow, Flutter, Dust, stereo width, Shimmer, and a tempo-aware sequencer. It also supports automatable parameters and effect bypass. The standalone app can discover and load compatible third-party AUv3 effects—including their custom interfaces—so you can build an effects chain around Nocturne. 【EXPORT AND SHARE YOUR SOUND】 Render the current scene as a stereo M4A file, or add it directly to the shared AUv3 audio library for continued use in the instrument and your custom scenes. 【ONE PURCHASE, COMPLETE EXPERIENCE】 Nocturne LoFi is a one-time purchase with no subscription. One purchase unlocks every scene, generative music, custom scenes, timers, audio export, iCloud sync, and AUv3 features.

Screenshots

Anacru4 screens
Nocturne LoFi4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Anacru at 5.0 against Nocturne LoFi's 3.7. Anacru also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). Nocturne LoFi's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs monthly) and price ($1.99 vs $4.99). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Anacru costs $4.99 and Nocturne LoFi $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Anacru holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 3 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Anacru ships an update monthly, Nocturne LoFi every 2 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Anacru versus Nocturne LoFi: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAnacruNocturne LoFi
Price$4.99$1.99 — better
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better3.7 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews—33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings23 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB114 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEVAN TRACEN POWERS宁 徐

Customer experience

Anacru

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Nocturne LoFi

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

In-app purchases

None

Anacru

No in-app purchases

None

Nocturne LoFi

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Anacru free?
Anacru costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Nocturne LoFi free?
Nocturne LoFi costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Anacru or Nocturne LoFi?
Anacru is rated higher. Anacru averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Nocturne LoFi averages 3.7 from 3 ratings.
Do Anacru or Nocturne LoFi have ads?
Neither Anacru nor Nocturne LoFi shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Anacru or Nocturne LoFi?
Anacru ships an update monthly, and Nocturne LoFi every 2 days. Most recently, Anacru was updated on October 24, 2026 and Nocturne LoFi on October 24, 2026.

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