Comparison

The Orb 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

The Orb

Features
Read full description

The Orb is a formant filter plugin that simulates the characteristics of the human voice. Featuring a set of three band pass filters, The Orb can transform any sound into a vowel-like formant-filtered sound. With the three LFOs you can modulate the Vowel, the Emphasis/Resonance of the formants, and the Drift, which can shift up or down the frequencies of each formant. You can also create your own set of vowels by changing the name and frequency for each vowel/formant.

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

The Orb1 screens
Bent Spool4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Bent Spool at Free against The Orb's $14.99. The Orb's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). On 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; The Orb costs $14.99 up front. Bent Spool sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. The Orb asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
The Orb versus Bent Spool: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe OrbBent Spool
Price$14.99Free — better
Rating—5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—5 — better
Update frequency—Daily
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAudioThing Ltd.Plastic Factory LLC

In-app purchases

None

The Orb

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Bent Spool

One-time1
  • Bent Spool Unlock$9.99

Questions

Is The Orb free?
The Orb costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bent Spool free?
Bent Spool is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do The Orb or Bent Spool have ads?
Neither The Orb nor Bent Spool shows ads.

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