Comparison

Pixelsynth vs SL Radio Mini

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

Head to head
About

Pixelsynth

This app transforms musical input into a vibrant visual experience, allowing users to see and shape their sound in real-time. It offers a playful and immediate way to create music, with all controls and feedback displayed on a single screen. Designed by a Deaf musician, it prioritizes visual feedback as an integral part of the instrument.

Highlights
  • Real-time visual sound shaping
  • Interactive 16-pad grid
  • Adjustable waveforms, filters, and envelopes
  • LFO, delay, and reverb effects
  • AUv3 instrument compatibility
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

Make a sound in seconds—and shape it while it plays. Pixelsynth turns taps, drags, melodies, and chords into a colorful instrument you can understand by watching it. Everything you play lives on one screen. Touch a note and start exploring. FROM THE DEVELOPER OF PIXELBOOP Pixelsynth is a new visual instrument from the maker of Pixelboop. Both apps share a love of playful grids, immediate feedback, and musical ideas that begin with one touch. PLAY FIRST. LEARN BY WATCHING. Sixteen pads invite you to find a melody, hold a chord, or strum across the screen. Notes light up as you play, and every sound control moves in front of you. You can see what each gesture is doing while you hear the result. SHAPE THE SOUND LIVE • Switch waveforms to change the character of your sound. • Sweep the filter from bright and open to soft and focused. • Shape attack, decay, sustain, and release for crisp plucks, swelling notes, and long tails. • Add motion with LFO, repeating echoes with delay, and depth with reverb. Each control is a colorful tank. Touch higher or lower inside it to set the value directly. Values in the upper half stay where you leave them; notes in the lower half drain away after you lift. It feels immediate because the picture and the sound follow the same gesture. MADE TO BE SEEN Created by a Deaf musician, Pixelsynth treats visual feedback as part of the instrument. The entire musical surface is drawn on a 40 by 24 pixel grid—just 960 pixels—so every control stays visible and every change has a visual response. PLAY IT YOUR WAY Open Pixelsynth as a standalone instrument on iPhone or iPad, or load the included AUv3 instrument in a compatible iOS music host. Your host can send MIDI notes and save the instrument state with your project. A compatible host is available separately. FREE TO EXPLORE No account. No in-app purchases. No third-party ads. The instrument works offline. The standalone app may occasionally show developer news or an introduction to Pixelboop, which you can close immediately. Pixelsynth does not track you or collect the music you play. Open it. Touch a note. See where it takes you.

About

SL Radio Mini

This audio effect plugin transforms vocals, drums, and loops into a radio-style sound. It features a touch-draggable FM tuner and local AI for realistic radio character, offering control over interference and signal mix. It functions as both a standalone app and an AUv3 audio effect for music production.

Highlights
  • Touch-draggable FM tuner
  • Local AI radio character
  • Signal and Mix controls
  • Animated tuner glitches
  • Standalone app and AUv3 effect
  • Runs fully on device
Features
Read full description

SL Radio Mini is an AUv3 audio effect for music-making apps, not an internet radio player. Insert it on an audio track in a compatible AUv3 host to give vocals, drums and loops a radio-style tone. Drag across 88-108 MHz to move between cleaner station lock, narrow radio tone, flutter and interference. Signal controls reception character. Mix blends the result with the original sound. Radio Match v2 is a compact trained neural model embedded in the app. It runs entirely on your device. Audio is not sent to a server, and no processing account is required. Features: - Touch-draggable FM tuner - Local AI radio character - Signal and Mix controls - Animated tuner glitches and grille smoke - Standalone app and AUv3 audio effect - Runs fully on device The standalone app does not automatically monitor the built-in microphone through the speaker. Use AUv3 inside a compatible host for live audio processing.

Screenshots

Pixelsynth4 screens
SL Radio Mini2 screens

Verdict

The call

Pixelsynth and SL Radio Mini are too close to call on the numbers: across 9 compared parameters — price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. 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 Pixelsynth against 5.0 for SL Radio Mini. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 3 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixelsynth ships an update every 9 days, SL Radio Mini fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Pixelsynth versus SL Radio Mini: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixelsynthSL Radio Mini
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews—0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings4 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerde Bastion, IncVIACHESLAV ZHILTSOV

Customer experience

Pixelsynth

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

SL Radio Mini

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

None

Pixelsynth

No in-app purchases

None

SL Radio Mini

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pixelsynth free?
Pixelsynth is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SL Radio Mini free?
SL Radio Mini is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pixelsynth or SL Radio Mini?
Pixelsynth and SL Radio Mini are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4 and 3 ratings respectively.
Do Pixelsynth or SL Radio Mini have ads?
Neither Pixelsynth nor SL Radio Mini shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pixelsynth or SL Radio Mini?
Pixelsynth ships an update every 9 days, and SL Radio Mini fortnightly. Most recently, Pixelsynth was updated on October 29, 2026 and SL Radio Mini on October 29, 2026.

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