Comparison

Geography 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

Geography

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Geography turns a sound into a landscape. The sample is drawn as a cross-section of the Earth, from the burning core to outer space, and every grain of sound is a particle with weight that falls, bounces and sounds according to the layer it crosses. PLAY THE MATTER • Tap the terrain to drop grains, draw strings that ring when they're hit, and tilt your iPad or iPhone to change gravity. • Eight string materials: metal, wood, glass, skin, gut, bronze, bamboo and stone. • An on-screen keyboard of up to five octaves, or a continuous ribbon for gliding pitch. • MIDI: play from your keyboard and map its knobs to the app's with MIDI learn (endless encoders too, like the Akai MPK mini's). Program Change switches sounds. A WORLD WITH A LIFE OF ITS OWN • Six strata, each with its own weather: fire in the core, earthquakes in the geosphere, plants that bloom and release tuned spores, swell and bubbles in the water, wind in the atmosphere, satellites and comets in space. • Rituals: a sequencer of world events. The Moon, in its real phase, and the planets sing too. • Life: the instrument improvises, arpeggiates or mutates the sequence on its own. SEE IT IN 3D • Flat, Ridges, Living ridges, Surface, Point cloud, Planet and Sphere: seven ways to look at the same sound, with aurora, clouds and a free camera. THE LAB • Envelope, filter, two LFOs, echo, reverb, modulation (flanger, phaser, ensemble), scales and a 16-step sequencer/arpeggiator. • A mixer with one channel per sound source in the world, and a Space tab to place each source around your head, with scenes that morph on their own. THE REAL EARTH • Pick a place on the map and its live weather flows into the sound. Earthquakes from the last 24 hours shake the landscape. SAMPLER AND PRESETS • Sampler: record with the microphone or open a file, then trim, normalize, reverse and add fades. Up to 45 seconds, which become a landscape; it exports WAV too. • Save your sound under a name, with its settings and rituals, and export it as a file to move it between devices or share it. ON IPHONE • The world in full screen and a hidden dock with the essentials: play, draw, gyroscope, Life and the Ribbon. In landscape, Rituals, Earth, the Lab and the Mixer float over the world. FOR YOUR STUDIO • Audio Unit (AUv3) for Logic Pro, GarageBand, AUM and more: every setting can be automated and is saved with your project. Stereo output, binaural spatial audio with head tracking, or 7.1.4, plus separate stems by source or by stratum. • Thirteen synthesized factory landscapes. You can also open your own sounds, or an image, which you hear as a landscape. Try it free (5 minutes per session). A one-time purchase unlocks everything on iPhone, iPad and Mac. No subscription. No accounts, no ads, no data collected.

About

Sampledex Effect Shift

Features
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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

Geography4 screens
Sampledex Effect Shift4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sampledex Effect Shift at none against Geography's 1. Sampledex Effect Shift also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

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

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

Both are free to download. Geography sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Sampledex Effect Shift asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
Geography versus Sampledex Effect Shift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGeographySampledex Effect Shift
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyDaily—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLuis Diaz-FaesRobert Clemons

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Geography

One-time1
  • Full Geography$22.99
None

Sampledex Effect Shift

No in-app purchases

Questions

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

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