Comparison

SimpleSampler vs 88 Synthwave

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

Head to head
About

SimpleSampler

Features
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SimpleSampler turns any sound into an instrument. Record a piano note, a clap, your voice or a glass you tap with a spoon. The app detects the pitch and puts the sound on a keyboard, so you can play it across several octaves right away. RECORDING Press record and the app shows you what it hears before the take starts. The recording begins with your first sound, not with the button press, so there is no silence or click at the start. If you don't like the take, cancel it and nothing is saved. KEYBOARD AND DRUM PADS The keyboard shows two octaves at a time and scrolls. It is fully multitouch, so chords and glissandos work. Eight drum pads hold eight different samples for beats. Pitch and length are independent: higher notes last as long as lower ones. If you prefer the classic tape sound, where higher also means faster, switch it on with one tap. LOOP STATION Tap a loop slot, play something and tap again to close the loop. Every new layer stays in time with the first one. You can also record a loop straight from the microphone. Your loops are still there the next time you open the app. RECORD YOUR SONG One button records everything you play: keyboard, pads and loops. It records what the app outputs, not what the microphone picks up, so the result is clean. Share it via AirDrop, Messages or any other app. PORTRAIT AND LANDSCAPE On iPhone, hold it upright to record and edit samples and turn it sideways to play. On iPad you get pads and keyboard on one screen. No account, no subscription, no tracking. Your recordings stay on your device unless you share them.

About

88 Synthwave

Features
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88 Synthwave writes complete synthwave tracks and plays them on its own synths. Press write and you get the whole track: an intro, verses, builds with a riser and a snare roll, choruses with the hook lifted over a pumping mix, a breakdown, solo or bridge in the middle, a final chorus an octave up, and an ending. That can be the arp left running, a fade, or one hit and silence. Everything is synthesized, so there is nothing to download. An analog-style polysynth with up to five detuned oscillators per voice, where no two notes are quite in tune, plays the pads, saw leads, arps and basses. A four-operator FM engine plays the bells, electric piano, brass and sax. Four classic drum machines sit behind a gated-room reverb and a sidechain pump. The tracks come from chaos maths. A Lorenz attractor draws the melody and the hook's rhythm, and a logistic map picks which steps the arpeggiator plays and where the ghost notes fall. Chaos on its own is noise, so a small model filters it: it is rewarded for consonant intervals and learns as it writes. The CHAOS / TASTE slider decides how much say each one gets. There are eleven styles, and each one sets its own scale, drum machine, rack and effects: Outrun, Night Drive, Darksynth, Dreamwave, Disco, Synthpop, Cyberpunk, Horror Synth, Space Disco, Miami Nights and Vaporwave. Tick STYLE LOADS RACK and each style brings its own sound. The sound is half the record. There are four channels (bass, pads and stabs, arp and keys, lead), each with a preamp or amp, a tone stack and a speaker: a studio monitor, a guitar cabinet, a bass cabinet or a car door. Eight one-click racks set a whole sound at once. The effects are the production: sidechain pump, gated room, chorus, tape, bit crush, phaser, width and tape hiss, with a plate, a hall, a spring and a tempo-synced delay on the master. Every track is built from its seed. Write the seed down and you can have that exact track again, note for note. A seed from the browser version rebuilds the same track here. You can play over it, too. The pads are the notes of the track's key rather than a piano keyboard, so nothing you touch is wrong. The sixteen-step lane stays in key when the writer picks a new track, and it follows your host. Both play any of 22 voices through that voice's own channel and out on its MIDI channel. Turn on RADIO and it keeps playing, picking a new style, key, scale and tempo for every track. You also get: β€’ 11 styles, 21 scales, 12 keys, tempo and density β€’ 22 voices: pads, leads, brass, FM bells and keys, arps and basses β€’ 4 drum machines, 14 channel voicings, 6 speakers, 8 racks and 8 effects β€’ Seven-part mixer with a meter on every part β€’ MIDI in, so your keyboard plays whichever voice you have selected β€’ Export a MIDI file, a WAV mix, or stems, one WAV per part (in the app; in a host you record the audio there) β€’ A note and a MIDI channel for every drum and every riser and impact β€’ UI scale, so the panel is not tiny on a big iPad β€’ Live spectrum and waveform, and the chaos engine drawn as it runs There are two Audio Units, an instrument and a MIDI processor. Each part sends on its own MIDI channel and every drum has its own note and channel, so one instance can drive a whole rack of synths. The MIDI version passes your keyboard through. Both follow your host's tempo and transport, and one install registers both. The app is free and nothing in it is held back. Using the Audio Units inside other apps is a one-time purchase, and each AUv3 session plays for two minutes first so you can try them properly. No account, no ads, no subscription. Works offline.

Screenshots

SimpleSampler4 screens
88 Synthwave4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SimpleSampler at none against 88 Synthwave's 1. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Both are free to download. 88 Synthwave sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. SimpleSampler asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 4 level
SimpleSampler versus 88 Synthwave: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimpleSampler88 Synthwave
PriceFreeFree
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo β€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod β€” better
Requires iOS16.415.0 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size49 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMax NowackSoft Brew Mobile

In-app purchases

None

SimpleSampler

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

88 Synthwave

One-time1
  • AUv3 Unlock$2.99

Questions

Is SimpleSampler free?
SimpleSampler is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is 88 Synthwave free?
88 Synthwave is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do SimpleSampler or 88 Synthwave have ads?
Neither SimpleSampler nor 88 Synthwave shows ads.

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