Scouter Synth vs SWAY
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Scouter Synth
Create music with a retro handheld console interface. Compose melodies, add synth sounds or samples, and mix tracks with effects. Perform live with a touch-sensitive pad and punch-in effects.
- Eight-track music composition
- Multiple synth voices and sample playback
- On-board effects and mixing console
- Performance pad for live parameter control
- MIDI and Bluetooth controller support
- Import and record audio samples
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ScouterSynth is a music tracker built like a handheld console. Eight tracks, a D-pad, two buttons, and no menus — every operation is a chord you can play with your thumbs. WRITE Phrases of sixteen rows, chains of phrases, and a song made of chains. Write a bassline once and place it four times with different transposes; change it later and every one of those places changes with it. Phrases can be shorter than sixteen rows, so six-eight is as easy as four-four. SOUND A synth voice per track — saw, pulse with PWM, triangle and sine, through a resonant filter and an envelope — or a sample, played whole or sliced. Wavetables for the sounds a plain oscillator cannot make. Per-tick tables for automation that runs faster than a row. SAMPLE Import from anywhere on your phone, or record straight into a slot from the microphone. MP3, AAC, M4A, AIFF and WAV are all converted on the way in. Whatever you choose is copied into your project, so a saved song carries its audio with it. MIX Ten lanes on one screen — eight tracks and two send buses — with level, pan, mute and solo, and three effect slots on each: filter, bitcrush and a tempo-synced delay. Watch the desk as a set of numbers or as ten live traces. PLAY A performance pad wires any two parameters to an X and a Y axis and moves every track at once. A grid of twelve pads holds six punch-in effects — an octave down, tape slow, a stutter, a bitcrush, a high pass and a low pass — held rather than latched, so nothing can be left on by accident, and six one-shot samples to fire over the top. SEE A radar sweep that reads the mix by frequency, a scope on the output, and six palettes to put it all in. INTEGRATE MIDI in and out with clock. A Bluetooth game controller, mapped button by button to whatever pad you own. Export the whole arrangement to a WAV. Songs, samples and exports all sit in the Files app where you can reach them. No accounts. No subscriptions. No network. The manual is inside the app — press SELECT and B on any screen.
SWAY
Create synthesized rhythms using touch and motion. Build complex patterns with independent track lengths, parameter locks, and live recording. Shape your sound with LFOs, effects, and vinyl textures. Export your creations as WAV or MP3.
- 16 synthesized tracks
- Independent track lengths
- Parameter locks and live recording
- Swipe-to-paint sequencing
- Independent track effects
- Device motion control
- Export WAV/MP3
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Move the sound. SWAY is a synthesized rhythm instrument for iPhone and iPad. Build patterns, shape sounds, and perform with touch and motion. • 16 synthesized tracks and four patterns. • Independent track lengths from 1 to 16 steps for shifting rhythms. • Per-step parameter locks, live recording, and swipe-to-paint sequencing. • Live pads, track mutes and solo. • Eight momentary punch-in effects: Repeat, Filter, Brake, Echo, Reverse, Crush, Gate and Pitch. Stack effects with multi-touch and release each pad to restore the sound. • Hold TRIG / YES for temporary rhythmic fills, with slide-controlled density. • Three independent LFOs per track with synthesis and effect destinations. • Independent track effects and a shared effects bus: delay, reverb, DJ filter and tape loops. • Vinyl texture with warmth, drift and dust. • MIDI input and output, including Bluetooth MIDI connections to compatible hardware and virtual MIDI routing to other music apps. • Per-track MIDI channels, notes and gate lengths, with per-step Note and Gate locks. Choose internal sound, MIDI output, or both for each track. • Keep performing across apps with background playback when MIDI is enabled. • Bind a display parameter to device motion, then rotate your device to play it. • Export stereo WAV or MP3, or aligned WAV stems for your DAW. • Save and delete projects locally, and import or export editable project files. • A portrait instrument on iPhone and a wide landscape console on iPad. Sound generation and project storage work locally. Bluetooth MIDI requires a compatible device or adapter.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Scouter Synth at Free against SWAY's $3.99. Scouter Synth also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.0). On ratings volume, 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
Scouter Synth is free to download; SWAY costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Scouter Synth holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively.
| Parameter | Scouter Synth | SWAY |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 3.0 (2 ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Andrew Scott | 弢 张 |
Customer experience
Scouter Synth
SWAY
In-app purchases
Scouter Synth
No in-app purchases
SWAY
No in-app purchases









