Comparison

Guide Track vs Aether Synth

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

Head to head
About

Guide Track

This tool helps musicians quickly create precise guide tracks for recording. It allows users to input song structure, chords, and beat styles to generate smart click tracks, chord charts, and even basic drum and bass lines.

Highlights
  • Create precise guide tracks
  • Input song structure, chords, and beat styles
  • Generate smart click tracks
  • Create chord sheets
  • Automated bass track
  • Over 35 stock drum patterns
  • Supports Inter-app audio and Audiobus 2
Features
Read full description

From the US Store: Songwriter's pre-production tool extraordinaire ! ***** by Mythmongrel - Version - 1.2.0 - Oct 31, 2014 The best app for easily laying out the form of a composition. It's does exactly what it's meant to do and it keeps getting better. Highly recommend it. Accept No Substitutes. ***** by Focusking - Version - 1.2.0 - Oct 9, 2014 Get this app, and you are in for a pleasant surprise; it's versatile, it's multi-purpose, and it knocks the competition out of the game. And, unlike other developers, this dev responds promptly, and positively. Are you a songwriter, electronic composer or are you in a band? Do you record your music and sometimes have trouble getting started or laying down tracks to record on top of? If the answer to either of these questions is yes then you owe it to yourself to own Guide Track! Guide Track is the primary go-to tool when you want to quickly create a precise guide track for recording when you know the song structure and the style. Simply enter in the time signature (which you can change at any time during the song), which chords (or rests) for how many beats and the beat style—Guide Track does the rest for you! Use inter-app audio or AudioBus 2 or save your track to file and you are ready to start recording for real with a perfect smart click track and guide chords, drums and bass. Save hours of messing around and get to what matters—your creativity. Once done you can mute the guide track to reveal your perfectly structured recording. It's like a sculptor using a mold when casting, except instead of bronze, you end up with perfectly structured music. You may want to even keep your guide track in there or record one of the parts such as bass or arpeggios as a real track, especially if you use a professional synth via MIDI out. You can also use Guide Track to print out chord sheets for your band or to capture song ideas or for recording aid. Features • Records stereo WAV file that can be copied and pasted, saved to Dropbox or emailed • Supports Inter-app recording and Audiobus 2 • Saves 5-track Type 1 MIDI files • Direct output to any MIDI device • All major chord families covered with chord inversions with choice of accidentals • Independent automated bass track with separate octave and sound controls • Change bass note to any desired value for a given chord change • Over 35 stock drum patterns • Click and Count-in • Add lyrics to your score • 128 GM Sounds on two different synths • Several chord play styles including 6 arpeggio patterns • Instant chord sheet which can be printed or emailed as PDF • Add various rests or chords as needed • Transpose songs any time • Time signatures that readjust beat structures for you • Preview chords before inserting • Undo and Redo • Automate changes to tempo, time signature, volume, play style and more during playback • Define up to 6 reusable named sections for ultra fast song creation • Innovative section navigator helps you move around your song • Rearrange or insert chords, rests or sections • Looping playback

About

Aether Synth

This music creation app offers a professional synthesizer engine with dual-layer sound design and rhythmic motion. It can be used as a standalone workstation or as an AUv3 instrument within compatible iOS hosts for recording and production.

Highlights
  • AUv3 instrument support
  • Standalone synth workstation
  • Dual preset layering
  • Melodic and drum sequencers
  • Sampler tools
  • Multitrack audio workspace
  • Arpeggiator and motion controls
Read full description

Aether Synth is an AUv3 synthesizer, sequencer and sampler for iPhone and iPad, built for creating expressive sounds that move. Start with a sound, combine two sounds into something new, introduce motion, build a pattern, capture a sample, or simply play. Aether brings synthesis, sequencing, sampling and performance together in one instrument designed to keep ideas moving. CREATE YOUR OWN SOUND Build rich synth patches for pads, basses, leads, textures, atmospheres and evolving sounds. Aether is designed to make sound creation immediate. Shape a patch directly, explore presets for inspiration, or use Random Sound to discover combinations you might not have reached manually. The result can become a finished sound or the starting point for something completely different. DUAL — TWO SOUNDS BECOME ONE Dual lets you combine two independent sounds into a new composite instrument. Choose a sound for A. Choose another for B. Blend between them and shape the result. The two sides can complement each other, contrast with each other, or create something that neither patch produces alone. Save your favorite Blends and return to them later. MAKE SOUNDS MOVE Aether is built around motion as part of the instrument. Use Motion and Random Motion to animate sound over time and create patches that evolve rather than remain static. Movement can be subtle and organic or become a major rhythmic part of the sound. This makes Aether especially suited to evolving pads, shifting textures, rhythmic sounds and patches that respond like performances rather than snapshots. SEQUENCE IDEAS Turn sounds into patterns with Aether's built-in sequencer. Create melodic and rhythmic phrases, experiment with different rates and musical feels, and develop ideas without leaving the instrument. The arpeggiator provides another immediate way to transform held notes and chords into movement, while tempo synchronization keeps rhythmic material locked to the music. SAMPLING Capture and work with audio directly inside Aether. Use sampling alongside synthesis to bring recorded material into the same creative environment as your patches, patterns and performances. A sample can become part of a larger musical idea instead of living in a separate workflow. PERFORM Aether is designed to be played. Use the keyboard and performance controls to shape sounds in real time, then connect a MIDI controller when you want a more traditional playing experience. Velocity, sustain and expressive controls allow patches to respond dynamically instead of behaving like static presets. DISCOVER INSTEAD OF SEARCHING Sometimes you know exactly what sound you want. Sometimes you don't. Random Sound and Random Motion make exploration part of the workflow. Generate a new direction, keep what works, reshape it, combine it with another sound in Dual, and continue from there. The goal is not randomness for its own sake. It is getting from a blank idea to something musically useful quickly. STANDALONE OR AUV3 Use Aether as a standalone instrument on iPhone and iPad, or load it as an AUv3 instrument inside compatible hosts and DAWs. That means the same sound-design environment can work as an instrument on its own or become part of a larger mobile production setup. BUILT FOR MUSICIANS Aether brings together: • Synthesizer sound design • Dual layered instruments and saved Blends • Motion and evolving sound • Random Sound and Random Motion • Preset exploration • Sequencing • Arpeggiation • Sampling • Performance controls • MIDI • Standalone operation • AUv3 plugin support Whether you're designing an evolving ambient texture, building a bass or lead, creating a rhythmic patch, experimenting with layered sounds, or starting a new musical idea from scratch, Aether is designed to keep the distance between inspiration and sound as short as possible. Create a sound. Make it move. Turn it into music.

Screenshots

Aether Synth4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Aether Synth at 4.7 against Guide Track's 3.9. Aether Synth also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (67% vs 50%). Guide Track's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Guide Track costs $3.99 and Aether Synth $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Aether Synth holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 9 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Guide Track's written reviews are positive against 67% of Aether Synth's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Guide Track ships an update every 2 months, Aether Synth every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Guide Track versus Aether Synth: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGuide TrackAether Synth
Price$3.99$2.99 — better
Rating3.9 (8 ratings)4.7 (9 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings89 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTechné MediaJacob Kirk

Customer experience

Guide Track

All ratings8 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Aether Synth

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral16.7%
Negative16.7%

In-app purchases

None

Guide Track

No in-app purchases

None

Aether Synth

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Guide Track free?
Guide Track costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Aether Synth free?
Aether Synth costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Guide Track or Aether Synth?
Aether Synth is rated higher. Guide Track averages 3.9 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Aether Synth averages 4.7 from 9 ratings.
Do Guide Track or Aether Synth have ads?
Neither Guide Track nor Aether Synth shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Guide Track or Aether Synth?
Guide Track ships an update every 2 months, and Aether Synth every 6 days. Most recently, Guide Track was updated on October 3, 2026 and Aether Synth on October 2, 2026.

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