Comparison

Hive vs Pulse16

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

Head to head
About

Hive

Features
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Hive is a honeycomb loop mixer. Pick a hive, tap a hex, and the loop locks to the beat. Every loop in a pack lives in the same key and tempo, so whatever you light up plays together. No timeline. No tracks. No menus. Just a wall of glowing hexes and a heartbeat that keeps the jam honest. Tap mid-cycle and the loop waits for the next downbeat, then drops in on time. Seven hives, seven moods. Tape Haze and Break Slice are free, forever. Pocket Groove, Stingray, Warehouse Pulse, Neon Current, and Crate Digger unlock with Hive Pro. Light up a mix you love and share it as a hive code. Anyone with Hive opens the same loops, on the same downbeat. Hive Pro is $4.99/month or $39.99/year. It unlocks every hive, all future packs, unlimited downloads, and mix recording. Cancel anytime in Settings. Works on iPhone and iPad, portrait or landscape. Pinch to zoom the bigger hives.

About

Pulse16

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Pulse16 is a beat maker and step sequencer for making beats anywhere: a drum machine with 16 pads, a deep 808 bass, a punchy synth and acid lines with 303-style slides. READY TO PLAY • Six built-in grooves – Acid Drive, Peak Time, Neon Nights, Midnight Run, Kit Jam, French Filter: drums, bass line and tempo in one tap • Built-in techno and synthwave drum sounds (kick, clap, gated snare, hats, rim, tom) BUILD A BEAT IN SECONDS • Tap the 4x4 drum pads to switch steps on and off — the playing step lights up as the beat runs • Three drum tracks for samples, a kit, the 808 or a mono synth, plus one synth track • Velocity per step from 5 to 100 % for groove and dynamics • Set each track's length from 1 to 16 steps for polyrhythms • Tempo from 20 to 300 BPM, with tap tempo • Eight patterns A–H: switch live, right on the next bar; copy, paste and clear patterns, copy and shift single tracks • Duplicate a track: its steps repeat and the length doubles – build one beat, then vary it KIT MODE: 16 SOUNDS ON THE PADS • Turn any drum track into a kit: 16 sounds on the pads, like a groovebox • Play the pads live and record them into the pattern with Rec – in time, with erase and undo • Volume, pan, tune, distortion and choke groups per pad • The pads of your MIDI controller play and record the kit too, with their velocity 808 KICK AND BASS • Turn any drum track into an 808: a booming kick or a tuned bass line with a note per step • Shape it with decay, punch, click and drive • Slide per step: the 808 glides into the next note, like a classic acid bass line; the glide knob sets the slide time • Four 808 presets, from Classic Kick and Long 808 to Trap Slide and Distorted MONO SYNTH ON ANY TRACK • Turn any drum track into a second synth: the full synth with all its sounds, one note at a time • Slide per step: notes glide into each other like a TB-303; the glide knob sets the time AUTOMATION • Draw curves right over the pads of the synth track: cutoff, resonance, drive, distortion and reverb change from step to step • Every pattern keeps its own curves YOUR OWN SOUNDS • Load WAV, AIFF, MP3 or FLAC files • Record your own samples with the microphone • Trim each sample right on its waveform and preview it instantly • Tune every sample up or down by two octaves, with fine tuning • Distortion (soft, hard, fuzz, overdrive) and a low-pass or high-pass filter on every sample track and kit pad A BASS SYNTH WITH CHARACTER • Sine, square, saw and triangle waveforms • Low-pass and high-pass filter with resonance and envelope • Attack, decay, sustain and release • Distortion, drive, sub oscillator, unison and reverb • Four LFOs, free or synced to the tempo, one of them can sweep the filter • Nine factory sounds, from Berlin Minimal and Acid 303 to the synthwave Outrun Bass • Arpeggiator: every note becomes an arpeggio – major, minor, sus4, 7th, power or octave chord, up, down, up-down or random, 1/8 to 1/32 triplets, over 1–3 octaves PLAY IT WITH HARDWARE • Connect a USB MIDI controller and assign its knobs, faders and pads with MIDI learn: synth, mixer, tempo, play/stop, tracks, patterns and steps • MIDI clock over USB: follow a drum machine or DAW, or send the clock and start your gear in time SAVE YOUR WORK (ONE-TIME PURCHASE) • Save and load whole projects: patterns, samples, sounds and mixer • Save your own synth and 808 presets • One purchase, no subscription; everything else is free MIX LIKE A PRODUCER • Volume and pan for every track, plus master volume • Sidechain pump on every track: the beat breathes with the kick, like French house • Boost: multiband compression on the master for a louder, denser mix, with low, mid and high • Reverb send for drums, samples and vocals; the synth has its own stereo reverb MADE FOR PHONE AND TABLET • On tablets, sound, mixer and presets stay open next to the pads • Low-latency audio engine No account, no ads, no tracking. Works offline.

Screenshots

Hive4 screens
Pulse164 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Pulse16 at every 3 days against Hive's every 2 weeks. Pulse16 also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Hive sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Pulse16 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hive ships an update every 2 weeks, Pulse16 every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
Hive versus Pulse16: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHivePulse16
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperENAMIC (PTY) LTDNavid Anzalichi

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Hive

Subscriptions2
  • Hive Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Hive Pro Yearly$39.991 Year
1 purchases

Pulse16

One-time1
  • Unlock saving$0.29

Questions

Is Hive free?
Hive is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pulse16 free?
Pulse16 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Hive or Pulse16 have ads?
Neither Hive nor Pulse16 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hive or Pulse16?
Hive ships an update every 2 weeks, and Pulse16 every 3 days. Most recently, Hive was updated on October 28, 2026 and Pulse16 on October 29, 2026.

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