Comparison

SL VYCE vs STEM

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

Head to head
About

SL VYCE

Features
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SL VYCE is a focused vocal character engine for iPhone and iPad. Shape a finished vocal sound from one interface: β€’ Gate and de-ess controls β€’ Compression and punch β€’ Body and air β€’ Formant shaping β€’ Doubler, slap and space β€’ Width, drive, mix and output β€’ 24 production-ready presets Use SL VYCE as a standalone app or load it as an AUv3 audio effect in a compatible host such as GarageBand, Logic Pro for iPad, AUM or Cubasis. No account. No subscription.

About

STEM

Features
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Plug in your audio interface, start the record, and the vocal is on its own fader. STEM splits what is playing β€” or what is coming in from your mixer β€” into vocals, drums, bass and everything else, live, on your iPad or iPhone. Each stem lands on its own pair of hardware outputs, so your desk does the mixing. No upload. No render queue. No waiting for a track to be analysed before you can play it. LIVE IN, STEMS OUT Feed STEM from your interface β€” a turntable through your mixer, a booth output, an instrument β€” and it separates what is coming in, with the engine aimed at a live source instead of a file. The mix you did not make, taken apart. EVERY STEM ITS OWN OUTPUTS Each stem takes its own pair of hardware channels β€” vocals to 3-4, drums to 5-6 β€” up to 16 channels, assigned in a routing matrix that remembers each interface. Outputs start muted until you confirm the routing, because a misrouted stem into a PA is the mistake worth preventing. On a device alone the four stems fold down to stereo, and the console says so. TWO DECKS, ONE CROSSFADER One setting runs a second deck: its own separation engine, its own four stems, its own routing. A crossfader between them, constant-power or cut. HANDS ON THE HARDWARE Map any MIDI CC by tapping a control and moving the knob. Soft takeover means a hardware fader never makes the mix jump, and positions are sent back, so motorised faders and LED rings follow the console. A CONSOLE, NOT A DIALOG Long-throw faders with a 0 dB detent, mute and solo per stem, LED metering, a master strip with BS.1770 loudness. Per-stem three-band EQ and a resonant filter β€” ladder or state-variable, your choice. Cue any stem to a headphone pair before you bring it up. Save the whole desk as a scene and recall it. SENDS, INSIDE OR OUT Up to four stereo sends, each per stem and post-fader. Send one to a hardware pair for your outboard, or to the built-in tempo-synced delay or plate reverb. STEMS WHILE IT PLAYS Load a track and it comes apart as it plays. Seek anywhere and the stems follow, because the separation is happening now rather than being read from a file somebody prepared earlier. TAKE THE STEMS WITH YOU Write a loaded track back out as four 24-bit WAV files, latency-compensated so they sit at zero in a DAW, rendered by the larger offline model. MEASURED, NOT QUOTED Latency, load and real-time margin are read from the running session and shown while you work. The app never displays a number it has not measured. iPad, iPhone AND Mac Use the console in portrait or landscape on iPad and iPhone. The same app also runs on Apple-silicon Macs. Real-time performance depends on your device and session settings. PRIVACY No accounts, no analytics, no network. Your music never leaves the device. AUV3 PLUG-IN β€” Load STEM as an effect in AUM: audio in, the remix on the first bus and each stem on its own bus. In a host with one output, such as GarageBand, the first bus plays the remix. PREVIEW AUDIO β€œRooted In Peace” by Admiral Bob (ccMixter), with β€œIn Peace” by snowflake. CC BY 3.0. Excerpted and processed by STEM. ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/33646 Β· creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Screenshots

SL VYCE3 screens
STEM4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: SL VYCE at every 9 days against STEM's monthly. SL VYCE also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

SL VYCE costs $14.99 and STEM $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SL VYCE ships an update every 9 days, STEM monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
SL VYCE versus STEM: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSL VYCESTEM
Price$14.99$14.99
Update frequencyEvery 9 days β€” betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod β€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 β€” better26.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size19 MB283 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVIACHESLAV ZHILTSOVMichael Ivertowski

In-app purchases

None

SL VYCE

No in-app purchases

None

STEM

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SL VYCE free?
SL VYCE costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is STEM free?
STEM costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do SL VYCE or STEM have ads?
Neither SL VYCE nor STEM shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SL VYCE or STEM?
SL VYCE ships an update every 9 days, and STEM monthly. Most recently, SL VYCE was updated on November 10, 2026 and STEM on October 31, 2026.

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