Comparison

Sound With Bones vs Sampledex Effect Shift

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

Head to head
About

Sound With Bones

Create unique musical instruments by drawing physical structures. Hear your creations sing, then manipulate their mass and stiffness to shape the sound. Record and edit performances, or export your creations as audio files.

Highlights
  • Draw physical instruments
  • Shape sound by adjusting mass and stiffness
  • Record and edit performances
  • Export audio and editable workshops
  • Two-handed play with damping and pinning
  • Learn physics through sound experiments
  • AUv3 instrument for music apps
Features
Read full description

Draw a structure you can play. Hear it sing, then record how you change it while it rings. Sound With Bones is a physical modeling instrument built from your drawings. A sketch becomes connected joints whose mass and stiffness shape the sound. Pluck a joint, cut a ringing connection, then repair it and hear the structure change. HEAR YOUR DRAWING SING Tap Listen and your drawing plays a whole song, tuned from its own resonances. Change the shape and the same song sounds new. Soft Geometry, an original, and Twinkle, Twinkle are free. SHAPE SOUND BY LISTENING Choose a brighter or less bright sound. The Workshop proposes small changes to a joint's mass or a connection's stiffness. Compare each edit with the same strike, reference pitch, duration and listening level. Keep a version or return to your original. CHANGE THE INSTRUMENT AS IT PLAYS In Workshop > Perform, record the strikes, cuts and repairs you play. Keep the take as editable actions on a beat timeline. Move an action, adjust the tempo and replay it from the drawing captured at the start. A cut changes the sound already ringing. You can also arrange actions by hand. With Plus, export the performance as WAV with its editable workshop. MAKE A FAMILY OF RELATED SOUNDS Create soft, firm, edge and broken variations from one drawing. Edit the strike location, force, softness and connection cut, and hear each one. With Plus, export named 24-bit stereo WAV files at 48 kHz together with the workshop, drawing and recipes. PLAY WITH TWO HANDS Hold one joint while another finger plucks the shape. Damp removes energy where that joint moves. Pin constrains the held joint and changes its resonances. Release it to hear the original structure again. LEARN BY LISTENING Predict what lighter joints will do, hear the natural resonance change, then try an unfamiliar drawing. Isolate one vibration mode or listen to local damping. Save your prediction, measured result and both sounds. Reopen the exact comparison even after changing your current drawing. These experiments use the same physical model as your instrument. BRING YOUR DRAWINGS INTO A MUSIC APP The included AUv3 instrument responds to MIDI notes, velocity and sustain in compatible hosts. Open an exported drawing or workshop in the plug-in. Its drawing is saved with the host project. KEEP YOUR WORK Save instruments, recordings and workshop versions locally. Share editable drawings and workshops through Files. Export recordings as M4A, or import supported audio into your library. Imported recordings remain audio clips; they do not become physical instruments. SOUND WITH BONES PLUS Drawing, playing, cutting, recording, saving, sharing, Workshop comparisons, performances, learning and the AUv3 instrument are free. Plus adds: • 8 more songs, including Für Elise, Canon in D, Bach's Prelude in C and Gymnopédie No. 1 • 8 sculpted shapes: Ribcage, Wishbone, Shell, Bell, Harp, Kalimba, Star and Web • Recordings up to 10 minutes (free recordings stop at 1 minute) • 24-bit WAV export of sound families and Workshop performances • New songs and shapes as they are added Plus is available as a yearly subscription with a 7-day free trial, a monthly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm, or when the free trial ends. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. No account or microphone access is required. Synthesis and recording run on your device. Synthesized sounds come from the drawing's physical model. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://sound-with-bones.netlify.app/privacy

About

Sampledex Effect Shift

Features
Read full description

Give your sound a new direction. Sampledex Effect Shift brings 50 effect choices, seven hands-on macro controls and the seven-band Bender EQ to iPhone and iPad. Add drive to a drum loop, movement to a synth or space around a melody, then shape the result to fit your track. FIND A STARTING POINT Choose from 51 factory presets: Default plus a starting sound for each of the 50 effects. A factory preset recalls a complete sound. Use the separate effect menu when you want to change the algorithm while keeping your other settings. CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER Explore drive, digital textures, filters, chorus, flanging, phasing, tremolo, ring modulation, delay and reverb. Start with an effect, then turn Amount, Tone, Time, Mix, Dimension, Sparkle and Output to make it your own. SHAPE IT WITH BENDER EQ Follow seven colored band curves and their numbered handles. Select a band to adjust frequency, gain and Q directly. Use Fine for smaller graph movements, or lock dragging to frequency or gain. High-pass, low-pass and Prism controls give you more ways to shape the response. COMPARE AND KEEP YOUR IDEAS Use EQ A/B to compare two settings and copy a favorite into the other slot. Save the full sound as a preset and import or export preset documents when moving between your workflows. Each instance keeps its own sound in your host's project state. BUILT FOR TOUCH Move between Effects, Bender EQ and Advanced pages. Scroll to reach every control, enter a precise value or turn a textured macro knob. Switch Light or Dark directly from the touch header, or use the theme menu in Advanced. Your theme and settings return when the instance is restored. BRING IT INTO YOUR MUSIC WORKFLOW The included AUv3 audio effect extension loads in compatible hosts. The containing app also offers live input processing: connect headphones or an audio interface, then enable live input. Microphone permission is requested when you enable input. Your host manages audio when you use the extension. GO FURTHER Explore HoloRune character, spatial modes, EQ routing, parallel mix and Mid/Side levels in Advanced. Sidechain ducking requires a compatible host and a routed sidechain source.

Screenshots

Sound With Bones4 screens
Sampledex Effect Shift4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Sampledex Effect Shift at 15.0 against Sound With Bones's 18.0. On price, 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Sound With Bones versus Sampledex Effect Shift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSound With BonesSampledex Effect Shift
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNo Worries! Lifestyle, LLCRobert Clemons

In-app purchases

None

Sound With Bones

No in-app purchases

None

Sampledex Effect Shift

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sound With Bones free?
Sound With Bones is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sampledex Effect Shift free?
Sampledex Effect Shift is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Sound With Bones or Sampledex Effect Shift have ads?
Neither Sound With Bones nor Sampledex Effect Shift shows ads.

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