Comparison

RasterFX vs Scouter Synth

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

Head to head
About

RasterFX

Features
Read full description

Make any sound move. RasterFX is a playable modular multi-effects processor for iPhone and iPad. Use it standalone with a microphone, an imported audio file or built-in signals — or load it as an AUv3 audio effect in AUM, GarageBand, Logic Pro for iPad, Loopy Pro, Cubasis and other Audio Unit hosts. BUILD YOUR EFFECT CHAIN Choose from Filter, Delay, Drive, Reverb, Grain, Repeat, Motion and Dynamics. Arrange up to six plates in series or split them into parallel A/B paths. Reorder the chain and the sound changes with it. MODULATE ANY CONTROL Patch LFOs, envelope followers, random and chaos sources, step sequencers, MIDI, macros, the XY pad or device tilt to any control. Create up to 16 modulation lines, with live arcs showing exactly how the sound is moving. PERFORM THE PATCH Morph between four snapshots on the XY pad. Turn eight macros. Hold four momentary throws for stutter, sweep, reverse and freeze. RasterFX is built to be played with one hand, not programmed and left alone. GENERATE, LOCK, EVOLVE Nudge a patch, reshape it or roll a new one. Lock the parts you want to keep, undo any result and save the seeds worth returning to. Evolve lets the patch drift over time while staying anchored to the sound you chose. SEE WHAT YOU HEAR Every effect has its own live visualizer. The CRT and halftone interface makes filters, delay taps, grains, dynamics and modulation visible without turning the screen into a wall of meters. RECORD THE RESULT Record the processed output to WAV, rename takes and share them from the app. FREE TO START. PRO ONCE. Free includes all eight effects, all modulation sources, every factory preset, three plates, four modulation lines and 60-second recordings. No ads, account, watermark or reduced audio quality. RasterFX Pro is a one-time purchase — not a subscription. It unlocks six plates, 16 modulation lines, split routing, XY snapshot morphing, Evolve, A/B compare, unlimited recording length and your own saved presets. Your saved sound always plays back exactly as created, even if it uses Pro features; Free limits editing, never playback. Made for headphones, late at night.

About

Scouter Synth

Create music with a retro handheld console interface. Compose melodies, add synth sounds or samples, and mix tracks with effects. Perform live with a touch-sensitive pad and punch-in effects.

Highlights
  • Eight-track music composition
  • Multiple synth voices and sample playback
  • On-board effects and mixing console
  • Performance pad for live parameter control
  • MIDI and Bluetooth controller support
  • Import and record audio samples
Features
Read full description

ScouterSynth is a music tracker built like a handheld console. Eight tracks, a D-pad, two buttons, and no menus — every operation is a chord you can play with your thumbs. WRITE Phrases of sixteen rows, chains of phrases, and a song made of chains. Write a bassline once and place it four times with different transposes; change it later and every one of those places changes with it. Phrases can be shorter than sixteen rows, so six-eight is as easy as four-four. SOUND A synth voice per track — saw, pulse with PWM, triangle and sine, through a resonant filter and an envelope — or a sample, played whole or sliced. Wavetables for the sounds a plain oscillator cannot make. Per-tick tables for automation that runs faster than a row. SAMPLE Import from anywhere on your phone, or record straight into a slot from the microphone. MP3, AAC, M4A, AIFF and WAV are all converted on the way in. Whatever you choose is copied into your project, so a saved song carries its audio with it. MIX Ten lanes on one screen — eight tracks and two send buses — with level, pan, mute and solo, and three effect slots on each: filter, bitcrush and a tempo-synced delay. Watch the desk as a set of numbers or as ten live traces. PLAY A performance pad wires any two parameters to an X and a Y axis and moves every track at once. A grid of twelve pads holds six punch-in effects — an octave down, tape slow, a stutter, a bitcrush, a high pass and a low pass — held rather than latched, so nothing can be left on by accident, and six one-shot samples to fire over the top. SEE A radar sweep that reads the mix by frequency, a scope on the output, and six palettes to put it all in. INTEGRATE MIDI in and out with clock. A Bluetooth game controller, mapped button by button to whatever pad you own. Export the whole arrangement to a WAV. Songs, samples and exports all sit in the Files app where you can reach them. No accounts. No subscriptions. No network. The manual is inside the app — press SELECT and B on any screen.

Screenshots

RasterFX4 screens
Scouter Synth4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Scouter Synth at none against RasterFX's 1. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. RasterFX sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Scouter Synth asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference · 7 level
RasterFX versus Scouter Synth: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRasterFXScouter Synth
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChih Han LinAndrew Scott

In-app purchases

1 purchases

RasterFX

One-time1
  • RasterFX Pro$3.99
None

Scouter Synth

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is RasterFX free?
RasterFX is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Scouter Synth free?
Scouter Synth is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do RasterFX or Scouter Synth have ads?
Neither RasterFX nor Scouter Synth shows ads.

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