Comparison

VisualSound vs Tonic FX

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

Head to head
About

VisualSound

This app is a modular instrument that synthesizes sound and visuals using a unified patching system. Explore over 140 modules for audio, control, and graphics, and even generate custom effects with AI. It's designed for performance and integrates with your existing studio setup.

Highlights
  • Unified sound and visual patching
  • Over 140 modules (sound, control, visuals, code)
  • AI-powered module creation
  • GPU-native visuals
  • Performance-oriented features
  • AUv3 integration and hosting
  • Cross-device functionality (iPad, Mac, iPhone)
Read full description

---- Launch offer — introductory pricing for a limited time. The price goes up after launch week: now is the moment to patch in --- VisualSound is a modular instrument where sound and image are made of the same material. One canvas, one cable language: patch an oscillator into a filter, then patch the same signal into light, liquid and geometry. Nothing is a visualizer bolted on top — the picture IS the patch. ONE CANVAS, FIVE REALMS More than 140 modules across sound, control, visuals, geometry and code. Drag a cable and anything can play anything: an envelope strikes a fluid simulation, a sequencer bends a shader, a camera feed becomes an oscillator. INSTRUMENTS WITH OPINIONS • VYPER — a snarling acid bassline machine with slides, accents and pattern morphing. • KINETIC — a step-sequenced drum machine built on lovingly recorded classic analog kits. • KEYS — a playable polyphonic keyboard panel; on Mac, your QWERTY becomes the keybed. • SEQ, LFO, ENV, granular engines, a looper, a tape-stop, reels you can scrub like vinyl. LIGHT AS SIGNAL GPU-native visuals: shaders, feedback, bloom, fluid dynamics, sculpted 3D geometry. Point the camera at the world and use it as a texture. OCULUS tracks your hands and face so you can play parameters by moving. WRITE YOUR OWN MODULES — OR JUST ASK GRAIN is VisualSound's per-sample DSP language: code your own audio and visual processors right on the canvas. Tap the wand, describe the effect in plain English — "a dark tape echo that wobbles" — and an AI running entirely ON YOUR DEVICE writes the code, compiles it, and tells you honestly when something isn't possible. No cloud, no account. It works in airplane mode. (The AI brain is a free one-time download.) BUILT TO PERFORM Eight scenes with beat-synced morphing, motion loops, MIDI learn on everything, a timeline that can bend the tempo itself. Record your performance — audio and video — straight out of the app. PLAYS WELL WITH YOUR STUDIO Runs as an AUv3 instrument inside your DAW, and HOSTS your AUv3 synths and effects inside the canvas. MIDI in and out. Background audio. Files in, stems out. YOUR IPHONE IS THE REMOTE Install VisualSound on iPhone and it becomes VS Remote: a wireless control surface for the instrument running on your iPad or Mac, over your local network. No setup, no cloud. ONE PURCHASE, EVERY SCREEN Buy once and VisualSound is yours on iPad, Mac and iPhone. Same patches, same engine — the Mac gets QWERTY keys and plugin hosting depth, the iPad gets ten fingers on glass. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts, no analytics, no ads. Your patches, recordings and prompts never leave your device. Privacy policy: https://visualsound.app/privacy/ Open the app and you land on Welcome — a living patch, already playing, wired for you to pull apart. That's the whole philosophy: understanding by unscrewing. Sound and light, patched together.

About

Tonic FX

Create custom audio effect chains for your music. This app allows you to build and reorder a variety of effects, from distortion and modulation to time-based and dynamic processors, for use in standalone mode or with compatible music production hosts.

Highlights
  • Customizable effect rack
  • Reorderable effect chain
  • 24 built-in effects
  • Standalone app and AUv3 plugin
  • MIDI Learn for hardware control
  • Tempo sync for time-based effects
  • Preset library
Features
Read full description

Thirty-four effects. One tap to add each one — and the order of the chain is yours. Tonic FX is the Tonic effects rack in an app of its own, focused and affordable — an Audio Unit (AU and AUv3) effect in GarageBand, Logic, AUM, Cubasis, Drambo and any host, and a standalone app that processes your microphone or line input. A RACK YOU BUILD — AND REORDER Every effect has its own on/off, grouped by category: add one with a tap, then drag the cards to rearrange the chain. The order is saved with the preset. THIRTY-FOUR EFFECTS • Drive — Overdrive, Distortion (hard, asymmetric and fuzz), Amp Sim with 6 models and cabinet, Wavefolder/Fuzz, Bitcrush, Ring Modulator and Lo-Fi/Vinyl. • Modulation — an 8-mode Chorus (vintage through string ensemble), a Phaser with four voicings, from the gentle 4-stage pedal to a slow 10-stage pad sweep, Flanger, Vibrato, Detune, Pitch Shifter/Harmonizer, Throb (the pulsing vibrato of the sixties) and Frequency Shifter. • Motion — a two-rotor Rotary cabinet, Auto-Pan, Tremolo, a Stereo Widener with a mono maker that keeps the bass centred, a Pedal Wah you can put under an expression pedal, and the Trance Gate, with a draw-your-own-rhythm mode. • Time — a tempo-syncable ping-pong Delay, with Wow and Sat for tape character; a Reverb with nine spaces: room, hall, cathedral, plate, spring, shimmer, cloud, gated and swell — plus Freeze, to hold a chord and play over it; Reverse, which plays back what you just played backwards; and Call & Response, which listens to your phrase and answers in the gap. • Dynamics & EQ — Compressor, Limiter, Noise Gate, De-esser, a musical 5-band EQ and a 12-band graphic EQ, each with eight one-tap starting points you can overwrite with your own. Compressor, gate, de-esser and limiter show how much they are holding, in dB. • Vocal — Voice, a whole vocal channel behind one knob: low cut, gate, de-esser, compressor and sheen, all in the right measure; and the Doubler, which simulates two or four voices singing along. • Filter — an Auto-Wah that breathes with your playing, always first in the chain. BUILT FOR PLAYING Full MIDI Learn maps any hardware knob to any control, including the from–to range for an expression pedal. Tempo sync from your host keeps delay and modulation in time. Colour-coded scenes A–F, a preset library with favourites, and factory presets to get started fast. A tactile "pro hardware" interface, native on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Thanks for playing with RSJB — made by musicians, for musicians! Follow what's new at www.rsjb.com.br

Screenshots

VisualSound2 screens
Tonic FX4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Tonic FX at $9.99 against VisualSound's $19.99. Tonic FX also leads on ratings volume (3 vs 1). VisualSound's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs weekly). On rating, 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

VisualSound costs $19.99 and Tonic FX $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for VisualSound against 5.0 for Tonic FX. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 3 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

VisualSound ships an update every 2 days, Tonic FX weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
VisualSound versus Tonic FX: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisualSoundTonic FX
Price$19.99$9.99 — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings13 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size40 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMike GazzarusoRubens Felicio

Customer experience

VisualSound

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Tonic FX

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

VisualSound

No in-app purchases

None

Tonic FX

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is VisualSound free?
VisualSound costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tonic FX free?
Tonic FX costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, VisualSound or Tonic FX?
VisualSound and Tonic FX are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 3 ratings respectively.
Do VisualSound or Tonic FX have ads?
Neither VisualSound nor Tonic FX shows ads.
Which is updated more often, VisualSound or Tonic FX?
VisualSound ships an update every 2 days, and Tonic FX weekly. Most recently, VisualSound was updated on September 30, 2026 and Tonic FX on October 10, 2026.

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