Comparison

STEM vs SL Tymra

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

Head to head
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 — or what is coming in from your mixer — 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 — a turntable through your mixer, a booth output, an instrument — 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 — vocals to 3-4, drums to 5-6 — 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 — 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 — 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 “Rooted In Peace” by Admiral Bob (ccMixter), with “In Peace” by snowflake. CC BY 3.0. Excerpted and processed by STEM. ccmixter.org/files/admiralbob77/33646 · creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

About

SL Tymra

This app offers a versatile two-layer keyboard instrument combining sampled sounds and synthesis. Explore a vast library of instruments, customize their parameters, and add effects. It supports MIDI input and can be used as a standalone app or an AUv3 instrument.

Highlights
  • Two-layer keyboard instrument
  • Sampled instruments and synthesis
  • 448 sounds in 15 categories
  • Adjustable sound parameters (attack, release, cutoff, resonance)
  • Chorus, delay, and reverb effects
  • Mono, Legato, and Glide support
  • AI Match sound search
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SL Tymra combines sampled instruments and synthesis in a two-layer keyboard instrument. The included library has 448 sounds in 15 categories, including pianos, organs, basses, leads, pads, strings, winds, mallets, plucks and textures. Set the source, octave and level of each layer, then blend them. Adjust attack, release, cutoff and resonance. Add chorus, delay and reverb. Mono and Legato support connected lead and bass lines. Glide controls the pitch transition between notes, from 0 to 500 ms. Browse by name or category, mark favourites and save edited sounds. AI Match searches the included bank locally using the sound character you select. It works offline. Play the on-screen keyboard or connect MIDI. Use Tymra on its own or as an AUv3 instrument in a compatible host. iPhone and iPad support portrait and landscape layouts. The library is included. No subscription, additional sound-pack purchase or account is required. The Mac edition is sold separately.

Screenshots

STEM4 screens
SL Tymra3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: STEM at $14.99 against SL Tymra's $19.99. SL Tymra's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On ads, in-app purchases 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

STEM costs $14.99 and SL Tymra $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
STEM versus SL Tymra: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSTEMSL Tymra
Price$14.99 — better$19.99
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyMonthly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Paid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size283 MB665 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMichael IvertowskiVIACHESLAV ZHILTSOV

In-app purchases

None

STEM

No in-app purchases

None

SL Tymra

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is STEM free?
STEM costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is SL Tymra free?
SL Tymra costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do STEM or SL Tymra have ads?
Neither STEM nor SL Tymra shows ads.

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