Comparison

Contour vs TurboBeast

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

Head to head
About

Contour

This app is a unique musical instrument played by touch. It uses a visual interface where your finger's position determines the sound, offering a novel way to create drones, textures, and pads. It also functions as an AUv3 plugin for use in other music production apps.

Highlights
  • Touch-based sound generation
  • Perceptual distance mapping
  • Eleven distinct sound sheets
  • MIDI input and ribbon controller
  • AUv3 plugin support
  • Recording functionality (Pro)
  • Customizable sound sheets (Pro)
Features
Read full description

Contour is an instrument you play by walking. Four neural decoders sit at the corners of a square. Your finger somewhere in the middle is a blend of all four, and the square is drawn as a survey sheet. The contour lines are not decoration. They come from what those four decoders actually produce, laid out so that equal distances on screen are equal perceptual distances in sound. Cross a line and the sound has changed by a measured amount. THE SHEETS Eleven of them, each a different set of four corners, each chosen by measuring the whole library rather than by ear. They are grouped by what the measurement found: BRIGHT — HEHUAN, the brightest, where all four corners hold their own. CONTRAST — BEIYIDUAN, the widest corner spread at 8.2 times. BREATH — NENGGAO, the breathiest. DEPTH — MABO, the deepest at 53 dB. RANGE — YUSHAN, the widest at 66 semitones; JIAMING, the most focused at 17. They are named after Taiwan's high mountain traverses. PLAYING IT Touch the sheet to sound it. The ribbon underneath sets pitch, or send MIDI and play it from a keyboard. Press harder and the note opens up — the contact patch of your finger is the dynamic. Hold on empty ground to drop a mark you can come back to. The readout above the ribbon tells you where you are while you are there: brightness, noise, the grid reference, the frequency. IN A HOST Contour is also an AUv3 plug-in. It runs in AUM, GarageBand, Cubasis, Logic for iPad and anything else that hosts Audio Units, with the position automatable as two parameters and the sheet recallable with your session. The plug-in draws the same map the app does, laid out for the window a host gives it. WHAT IS FREE Three sheets — BEIYIDUAN, NENGGAO and YUSHAN — with the whole instrument: the map, the ribbon, MIDI, reverb, marks, and the plug-in. No time limit and no account. CONTOUR PRO A single purchase, once, unlocks: • All eleven sheets • Recording, straight to a file • The envelope panel — attack, decay, sustain, release • Composing sheets of your own from the library, 4,845 combinations of four corners, with the map baked for the pitches they share Requires iOS 16 or later. iPhone and iPad.

About

TurboBeast

Read full description

TurboBeast is an engine you play: a drift synth with a gas pedal instead of a keyboard. Every rev is synthesized live from a combustion pulse train -- no samples, no loops. Pick a machine, start the engine, and drive the sound: squeeze the gas, stab the brake, bang through the gears, and slide the rear end until the tires sing. SIX MACHINES -- 2 FREE, ALL 6 WITH PRO - 2ST RACER -- ringing two-stroke bike (free) - SUPERSPORT -- screaming inline-four - CRUISER -- lazy V-twin thump - DRIFT SEDAN -- turbo four built to slide (free) - ROTARY COUPE -- high-strung rotary - V8 MUSCLE -- heavy eight-cylinder rumble REAL DRIVING CONTROLS - ENGINE START, gas pedal with LATCH, brake and steering - Sequential or H-pattern shifting, gears 1-6 with real ratios - Gas + brake together breaks the rear loose: drift, tire squeal, backfire - Rev limiter stutter when you pin it SET THE SCENE - 6 tires x 5 road surfaces x 4 exhausts x 4 stages (highway overpass echo, local street, rural road, warehouse) - SUB layer for chest-deep low end, adjustable brake BITE and FADE PLAY IT LIKE AN INSTRUMENT - MIDI notes pitch the engine, so you can write riffs with it - 12 ready-made MIDI controller maps, pitch bend rides the gas - On iPhone and iPad it also runs as an AUv3 plugin in GarageBand, Logic Pro, AUM, Cubasis and more - A guided first-launch tour points at the controls that matter FREE VERSION Free to drive: 2ST RACER and DRIFT SEDAN with every control, every tire, road, exhaust and stage. Tap any locked machine for a short test drive before you decide. TURBOBEAST PRO -- ONE-TIME PURCHASE, NO SUBSCRIPTION - All six machines - Record, export and share your runs For iPhone, iPad and Mac. One purchase unlocks Pro on all of them. Support: https://www.tomocreateinc.com/en/support/turbobeast Privacy Policy: https://www.tomocreateinc.com/en/privacy

Screenshots

Contour4 screens
TurboBeast4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Contour at weekly against TurboBeast's every 3 weeks. On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Contour sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and TurboBeast sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Contour ships an update weekly, TurboBeast every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Contour versus TurboBeast: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterContourTurboBeast
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS16.016.0
Further details — not scored
Size108 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChih Han LinTomocreate, Inc.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Contour

One-time1
  • Contour Pro$3.99
1 purchases

TurboBeast

One-time1
  • TurboBeast Pro$9.99

Questions

Is Contour free?
Contour is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is TurboBeast free?
TurboBeast is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Contour or TurboBeast have ads?
Neither Contour nor TurboBeast shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Contour or TurboBeast?
Contour ships an update weekly, and TurboBeast every 3 weeks. Most recently, Contour was updated on October 29, 2026 and TurboBeast on October 25, 2026.

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