Strange Loop vs MicroLag
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Strange Loop
This app generates unique melodies using chaos theory and music theory principles. Save your creations as MIDI files or use them as an AUV3 plugin. You can influence the sound by interacting directly with the visual representation of the attractors.
- Melody generation using Lorenz attractors
- Markov policy for taste customization
- Save melodies as MIDI
- AUV3 plugin for instruments/MIDI processing
- Interactive attractor influence via painting
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Strange Loop writes its own music. Three coupled Lorenz attractors drive the piece — one proposes pitch, one shapes rhythm, one wanders the emotional plane. A Markov policy then decides what actually plays, learning from its own output and rewarding intervals that sound consonant. Chaos proposes, the policy disposes. Slide BLEND to choose who wins. Nothing is pre-recorded and nothing loops. Every run is new. PAINT ON THE MATHS Both scopes are paintable. Draw on the attractor and the trajectory bends toward what you drew and lingers there, pulling the melody into those pitches. Draw on the mood pad and the feeling follows your strokes — brightening the harmony, lifting the register, pushing the tempo. Set how hard the ink leans, how big the brush is, and how long it lasts before it fades. WHAT YOU GET • 26 scales — major and minor modes, pentatonics, blues, whole tone, harmonic and melodic minor, altered, both octatonics, and folk scales from Japan, China, Egypt, Spain, Arabia and Hungary • 7 accompaniment styles — chaos grooves, jazz comping with walking bass, stride piano, Alberti bass, classical, arpeggios, ambient rolls • A sampled grand piano plus synthesised voices: soft piano, glass, strings, FM bell, AM organ, pluck, fat saw and more • 6 moods on a valence/arousal plane, from serene to tense, driving chord quality, register, tempo and note length • Live scopes — the attractors, the note-probability distribution the engine is sampling from, and the mood point, all drawn in real time • Deep control: key, scale, tempo, chaos rho, rhythm spread, grace notes, chord-tone pull, softmax temperature, per-track mixer • Record a take and export it as a standard MIDI file to the Files app — melody, chords and bass on separate tracks TWO AUDIO UNITS Strange Loop ships as an instrument AUv3 and as a MIDI processor AUv3, so it can either play its own sounds or sequence any other instrument in your host. Melody, chords and bass each send on their own MIDI channel, so one instance can drive three different instruments. Both Audio Units follow your host's transport and tempo — hit play in AUM, GarageBand, Logic, Cubasis or Zenbeats and it locks to the grid. One install registers both. CREDITS Sampled piano: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0).
MicroLag
This audio processor allows precise delay time adjustments in exact sample counts. It offers long delay times and smooth toggling between dry and delayed signals, displaying the delay in milliseconds.
- Set delay time in exact samples
- Long delay times (up to 1 second at 48KHz)
- Smoothly toggle between dry and delayed signal
- Displays actual delay time in milliseconds
- AUv3 effects plugin
- Standalone or host compatible
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MicroLag is a delay audio processor that allows you to set the delay time in an exact number of samples. While there are already quite a few sample delay plugins available, I couldn’t find one that quite fit my needs, so I made one. MicroLag allows you to set relatively long delay times, e.g. up to around 1 second at 48KHz sampling rate. You can also smoothly toggle between the delayed and bypassed / dry signal. Finally, the actual delay time in milliseconds (depending on the host sample rate) is displayed. That’s basically it! MicroLag is an AUv3 effects plugin that can run standalone, or in any AUv3 compatible host such as Logic Pro, GarageBand or AUM. MicroLag currently runs on iPadOS / iOS (iPad & iPhone) and macOS (Intel & Silicon) and is available as a Universal Purchase from the Apple App Store. If you’re planning on using MicroLag on Mac / desktop, please ensure that your favourite DAW / host supports AUv3 (not just AU).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Strange Loop at Free against MicroLag's $1.99. Strange Loop also leads on ratings volume (9 vs 1). MicroLag's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On rating, 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
Strange Loop is free to download; MicroLag costs $1.99 up front. Strange Loop sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. MicroLag asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Strange Loop against 5.0 for MicroLag. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Strange Loop has 9 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | Strange Loop | MicroLag |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (9 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 9 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Soft Brew Mobile | Rob Jackson |
Customer experience
Strange Loop
MicroLag
In-app purchases
Strange Loop
- Unlock AUV3 Plugin$1.99
MicroLag
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Strange Loop free?
Is MicroLag free?
Which has better reviews, Strange Loop or MicroLag?
Do Strange Loop or MicroLag have ads?
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