Comparison

Sightlines vs Bent Spool

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

Head to head
About

Sightlines

Shape sounds with a playable harmonic filter. Add motion, stereo spread, and unique textures to noise, samples, or synths. Tune it like a resonator or control it with MIDI for endless sonic possibilities.

Highlights
  • Harmonic filter bank
  • MIDI control
  • Sample loading
  • Noise and synth sound sources
  • Modulation capabilities
  • Built-in chorus, delay, and reverb
Features
Read full description

Make noise, texture, and percussion sing. Add motion and stereo spread to basic sounds. Load samples and sculpt them endlessly. Leave your mark on any sound with harmonic filtering. Sightlines is a playable harmonic filter. Built from a collection of resonant bandpass filters tuned to the harmonic series, designed to bring out a customizable set of musical frequencies in any sound. Tune it to a fixed frequency like a resonator, or send it MIDI to make it come alive as an instrument. Sightlines can be loaded as an instrument or an audio effect. As an instrument, use it with samples, noise, or oscillators to construct sounds never heard before. As an effect, add movement and interest to any sound, and even impart tonality onto unpitched input. SOUND SOURCES • Noise – filter variable color noise and random noise bursts for Sightlines’ simplest and quickest output. • Samples – send samples through resonant filters as one-shots or infinite looping versions of themselves, great for found sound and tonal samples alike. • Synth – skip the filters entirely and use Sightlines as a harmonic synth, where you can customize and modulate the proportion of each harmonic in the signal. • Audio effect – use Sightlines as an audio effect on any track. MOVEMENT AND EFFECTS • Manipulate overtones – stretch, bend, and reimagine the harmonic series to retune Sightlines’ output into realistic or indescribable sonic spaces. • Quantize frequencies – snap all of Sightlines’ filters to a scale, to impart that key quality onto any sound. • Balance bands – maneuver through the harmonic space by scanning, tilting, or spreading Sightlines’ bands. • End of chain – make your output shine with a built-in chorus, BBD-style delay, and reverb. FEATURES • Modulation – modify any control in Sightlines with multiple LFOs, sequencers, smooth random sources, and performance effects. • Presets – full preset control over every parameter in Sightlines. Cross-platform preset format for sharing with friends. • Waymaker – connect to Sightlines’ sibling application, Waymaker, for direct sequencing of Sightlines’ without MIDI routing. Also available for macOS and Windows in VST3 / AU / AAX formats from Aqeel Aadam Sound.

About

Bent Spool

This music app offers creative audio effects for live performance or use within other music apps. Explore rhythmic tremolo, pitched repeats, and looping fragments of your audio. It includes built-in overdrive and tape effects for unique sound shaping.

Highlights
  • Rhythmic tremolo effects
  • Pitched repeat sequences
  • Overlapping audio loops
  • Built-in overdrive and fuzz
  • Vintage tape effects
  • Standalone and AUv3 host support
Features
Read full description

Bent Spool is a creative effect that can transform simple musical parts into unexpected rhythms and melodies, played live or as an effect in your favorite host app. Shape a tremolo pulse, turn a note into a run of pitched repeats, or build a moving layer from fragments of what you just played. Drive the input with built-in overdrive or fuzz, add a core effect, then finally layer in vintage analog tape effects. THREE MODES TREM: a pulsing volume effect, from a rounded sine through triangle and sawtooth to a hard square gate. Syncs to your host's tempo or runs free. REPEAT: up to 64 pitched copies with their own decay and feedback, across five pitch stations from two octaves down to two octaves up. LOOPS: up to six overlapping fragments of your recent audio, spread across pitch, direction, read position and the stereo field. CHARACTER CHAOS adds movement that suits each mode: octave jumps in REPEAT, held or stalled pulses in TREM, wandering reversals and pitch drift in LOOPS. WEAR adds tape wear, magnetic saturation and digital crush after the active mode. At the input, OD is a softer clip; FUZZ is a harder distortion that sputters as it decays. PRESETS 48 factory presets: 10 TREM, 15 REPEAT, 15 LOOPS and an 8-preset Fuzz Tremolo pack. Unlock to save your own. FREE TO TRY TREM plays in full on the OD voice with ten presets. No time limit, no interruptions. A single $9.99 in-app purchase unlocks REPEAT, LOOPS, FUZZ, the rest of the presets and preset saving. No subscription. Runs as a standalone app or as an AUv3 effect in AUM, Loopy Pro and other AUv3 hosts, on iPhone and iPad.

Screenshots

Sightlines1 screens
Bent Spool4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Bent Spool at Free against Sightlines's $7.99. Bent Spool also leads on update cadence (daily vs weekly). Sightlines's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On rating, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Bent Spool is free to download; Sightlines costs $7.99 up front. Bent Spool sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Sightlines asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Sightlines against 5.0 for Bent Spool. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 5 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sightlines ships an update weekly, Bent Spool daily. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Sightlines versus Bent Spool: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSightlinesBent Spool
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (9 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings9 — better5
Update frequencyWeeklyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAqeel AadamPlastic Factory LLC

Customer experience

Sightlines

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bent Spool

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Sightlines

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Bent Spool

One-time1
  • Bent Spool Unlock$9.99

Questions

Is Sightlines free?
Sightlines costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bent Spool free?
Bent Spool is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Sightlines or Bent Spool?
Sightlines and Bent Spool are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 9 and 5 ratings respectively.
Do Sightlines or Bent Spool have ads?
Neither Sightlines nor Bent Spool shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sightlines or Bent Spool?
Sightlines ships an update weekly, and Bent Spool daily. Most recently, Sightlines was updated on October 31, 2026 and Bent Spool on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons