Comparison

Oh a Chord vs EffectDeck

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

Head to head
About

Oh a Chord

This app generates full chords by pressing a single key, offering various chord types and modifiers. It features a synthesizer engine with adjustable parameters and performance controls for creative musical expression.

Highlights
  • Single-key chord generation
  • Multiple chord types and modifiers
  • Key Mode for harmonic context
  • Strum, Harp, and Arp playback modes
  • Six-voice polyphonic synthesizer
  • Adjustable synth parameters
  • Voicing and performance controls
Features
Read full description

Oh a Chord is an iPad and iPhone instrument built around one idea: press a single key, and get a full chord. No music theory required. Pick a Chord Type — major, minor, diminished, augmented, sus2, or sus4 — and every key on the keyboard becomes the root of a chord in that quality. Hold a Modifier to add color: a sixth, a flat seven, a major seven, a ninth, an eleventh, or a thirteenth, stacked on top of whatever you're already playing. KEY MODE Turn on Key Mode and press any key — that note becomes your song's key, and the keyboard lights up with the chords that belong to it. You can still play outside those chords any time; borrowed and passing chords are always available, they just won't be lit for you. STRUM, HARP, ARP A held chord doesn't have to stay static. Strum spreads the notes out like a guitar strum. Harp rolls them across one or two octaves. Arp turns a chord into a moving arpeggio, up or up-and-down. Combine them, or turn them all off for a plain block chord. A REAL SYNTH UNDERNEATH Every chord is voiced through a full six-voice polyphonic synthesizer — oscillators, a sub, noise, a resonant filter, an LFO, and an amp envelope — reachable from an advanced settings panel without ever stopping the music. Start from a built-in factory preset, or tweak any parameter and save your own. VOICING AND PERFORMANCE Two voicing controls slide a chord through the register without retriggering it, so a progression can move and breathe instead of jumping between fixed positions. Latch holds a chord after you lift your finger; an octave stepper and pitch bend round out the performance controls. WHO IT'S FOR Songwriters sketching progressions, keyboard players who want fast harmonic ideas, guitarists and producers without formal keyboard training, and anyone who wants to hear a chord change before committing to it on paper. PRIVACY Oh a Chord collects nothing. No account, no analytics, no network requests of any kind. Anything you save stays on your iPad.

About

EffectDeck

Process audio from any app with a customizable chain of effects. Add built-in, AUv3, or custom JSFX plugins. Share your audio chains and scripts easily.

Highlights
  • 100+ built-in audio effects
  • JSFX script support
  • AUv3 plugin integration
  • Custom impulse responses
  • Audio analysis tools
  • Preset management
  • Chain and script sharing
Features
Read full description

EffectDeck puts an effect chain on the audio other apps are already playing, and the effects you can put in it are not limited to the ones it ships with. Pick EffectDeck as the output in Control Center, then open the app and build a chain. No virtual cable, no routing to set up, nothing to configure first. Start from over 100 of EffeTune's effects, running unmodified: the same DSP code EffeTune runs on the desktop and on the web. Add the AUv3 plug-ins already on your device and your own impulse responses. When the effect you want does not exist, write it as a JSFX script, and it goes into the chain like any other effect. WHAT YOU GET - Over 100 built-in effects: EQ, dynamics, saturation, modulation, reverb, delay, spatial, lo-fi and restoration - JSFX effects: import a script from Files, a link or the clipboard. Each gets its own sliders and, if it draws, its own display - AUv3 effect plug-ins installed on your iPhone or iPad - Convolution reverb with your own impulse responses, and AutoEQ profiles for the 15-band EQ - Analyzers you can drop into the chain: spectrum, spectrogram, oscilloscope, level and stereo meters - Presets from EffeTune, plus your own presets in folders - Share a chain or a JSFX script as a link, and open the links others send you - A two-column layout on iPad - Oversampling at 48, 96 or 192 kHz, with latency and CPU shown while it runs HOW IT WORKS iOS 27 lets an app present itself as an audio output device. EffectDeck appears in Control Center next to your speaker and headphones. Choose it, and the audio from the player you are using is handed over, processed, and played back on the same device. Apps that never report themselves as playing, most games among them, keep going straight to the speaker. The audio never leaves the device, and nothing is collected. If you are signed in to iCloud, your presets and chain follow you to your other devices. The effects are EffeTune by Yoshiyuki Kobayashi (MIT). This app is a separate project and is not affiliated with EffeTune. The name was changed at the upstream author's request.

Screenshots

Oh a Chord3 screens
EffectDeck4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: EffectDeck at every 2 days against Oh a Chord's fortnightly. EffectDeck also leads on ratings volume (9 vs 2). Oh a Chord's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 75%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Oh a Chord holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 9 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Oh a Chord's written reviews are positive against 75% of EffectDeck's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Oh a Chord ships an update fortnightly, EffectDeck every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Oh a Chord versus EffectDeck: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOh a ChordEffectDeck
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.8 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better75.0% of reviews
Number of ratings29 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNATHAN ROSS MUELLERMasahiro Sato

Customer experience

Oh a Chord

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

EffectDeck

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral11.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Oh a Chord

No in-app purchases

None

EffectDeck

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Oh a Chord free?
Oh a Chord is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is EffectDeck free?
EffectDeck is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Oh a Chord or EffectDeck?
Oh a Chord is rated higher. Oh a Chord averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while EffectDeck averages 4.8 from 9 ratings.
Do Oh a Chord or EffectDeck have ads?
Neither Oh a Chord nor EffectDeck shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Oh a Chord or EffectDeck?
Oh a Chord ships an update fortnightly, and EffectDeck every 2 days. Most recently, Oh a Chord was updated on October 7, 2026 and EffectDeck on October 10, 2026.

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