# Sound Byte Cart Machine App — Sound files at your fingertips

> Mobile digital cart machine for playing sound clips at live events. (iPhone/iPad app by Black Cat Systems.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sound-byte-cart-machine-app/id399788078 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Black Cat Systems](https://appshunter.io/developer/301047032)
- Category: Music, Utilities
- Price: $5.99
- Rating: 4.10/5 from 158 App Store ratings · 140 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 9.0 · 3 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2010-10-30
- Data updated: 2026-08-19
- Monetization: paid
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sound-byte-cart-machine-app/id399788078/reviews.md

## What is Sound Byte Cart Machine App?

Looking for a way to play sound clips at a theater or sporting events, as a DJ, or at other events? Don’t want to lug a computer around with you? With Sound Byte, the so-called "cart machine" used at radio stations in the past is now available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.  

Whether you're programming a radio show or amateur podcast, adding spice to the commentary at a local sporting event, controlling sound effects for a theater production, or simply organizing your personal playlist, Sound Byte lets you manage and control playback of your audio files. 

Sound Byte is perfect for: 

Radio, podcast and TV productions - have ads, announcements, songs and sound effects 
at your fingertips. 
Theater Productions - play any sound effect on cue. 
Sports Events - jazz up the commentary for your home team with sound effects each time they score. 

Sound Byte supports up to 20 racks of carts, or up to 1500 recordings total (420 on the iPhone/iPod). You can set the number of racks in use, so you don’t have to deal with empty, unused racks. 

Using Sound Byte is easy - just tap a cart, and playback of the audio file begins. 

You can set the title of each cart, as well as the background color. Optionally, you can have the app automatically change cart colors based on their state: empty, loaded, playing, and already played. Carts can also be numbered if you wish, and you can mark carts with a bright red border to make them easier to find, to play next.

Fade in and out times can be set, as well as the cut in and cut out times, the playback volume, stereo pan, and rate. The volume of carts can be set while they are playing, and you can set the volume up to 200%, in case you have some recordings that are at too low of a level for normal playback.
 
Carts can be set to loop a specified number of times - great for sound effects! 

Carts can be set to flash a user configured number of seconds before they finish playing, so you can get ready to play the next one.

Interactions between carts can also be controlled - touching a cart to start it can optionally cause currently playing carts to stop playback or fade out. You can even set carts up to play sequentially, so once one ends, the next one starts playing.

Carts that have been played can be marked as such, as well as disabled, if you only want to play a cart once. You can also log the name and time of played carts to a text file that you can copy back to your computer to view.  This log can also be viewed from within the app.

Several sizes of carts are supported, so you can display fewer larger carts to make playback control even easier. 

Sound Byte plays sound files from your Music Library. Note that sound files stored on iCloud cannot be played, they must be stored on your device. 

Sound Byte also plays sound files that you have installed in the Documents folder, which you can access via the iTunes app.  

Note that the screenshots are for illustration only, so you can see how the app works. Sound Byte does not come with any sound files, you'll need to supply your own.

Please see http://www.blackcatsystems.com/ipad/iPad_SoundByte_FAQ.html for a full description of how to use the app.

Buy your copy of Sound Byte now, and get complete control over playback of your sound effects and other files.

## Key features

- Digital cart machine for audio playback
- Manage and control sound files
- Ideal for live events and productions
- Customizable cart appearance and behavior
- Adjustable playback settings (fade, volume, rate)
- Looping and sequential playback options
- Logging of played carts

## Chart rankings

- #175 in Top Paid · Music (US App Store)

## What do users think of Sound Byte Cart Machine App?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 👍 Intuitive and easy-to-use interface
- 🎵 Excellent for sports events, radio, and theatre productions
- 🎨 Customizable cart colors and rack configurations
- ⚡ Reliable performance when working properly
- 💰 Affordable price point
- 🎛️ Flexible sound control with fade in/out options
- 📱 Works well on iPad and iPhone
- 🔧 Versatile functionality for multiple use cases
- ⏱️ Ability to set custom start/stop times in tracks

**Cons**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes when adding music to library
- ❌ Incompatible with streaming services (Apple Music, Spotify)
- 📁 Files not sorted alphabetically in music library
- ⚠️ Lacks support for modern iOS versions
- 🔌 Requires iTunes for file management (outdated workflow)
- 😞 No developer support or updates
- 📱 iPad-specific issues with file importing
- 🎨 Outdated user interface design
- 💾 No backup or restore functionality
- 🔄 Cannot transfer settings between devices

**Commonly reported bugs**

- App crashes when accessing music library (iOS 13+)
- Crashes when tapping Setup or Music Library on iPhone 13
- Blank screen display on iOS 26.1
- Cart setup crashes after recent updates
- Crashes when loading song list
- Sound files not displaying in alphabetical order
- App hangs and becomes unresponsive
- Crashes on iPad when importing tracks
- Sound distortion with cart rate feature
- Music not playing on iPad despite files being present
- App crashes when adding new music
- Crashes on iOS 13.6.1 and later versions
- Sound fades in and out unexpectedly
- App freezes during live use
- Performance lag after linking multiple buttons
- Cart colors not persisting after selection
- Files disappearing from cart buttons
- Incompatibility with Catalina macOS update

**Most requested features**

- Mac OS version
- Exportable rack setups for multiple devices
- Alphabetical sorting of music library
- Backup and restore functionality
- Cloud sync across devices (iCloud)
- Dropbox and Google Drive integration
- Split-screen iPad support
- Interapp Audio (IAA) and Audiobus support
- Larger stop button to prevent accidental triggers
- Volume slider control
- Pause, rewind, and fast-forward controls
- Ability to duplicate entire carts
- Default cart color settings
- Improved color picker (grid instead of wheel)
- Direct iPad file importing without PC/Mac
- Support for .wav files
- Ability to load ringtones
- Sequential track triggering (one track starts next)
- Improved cart rate feature quality
- Adaptive resolution for modern iPhones
- Larger buttons for iPhone version
- Better documentation and updated FAQ

## Recent user reviews (10 of 140)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sound-byte-cart-machine-app/id399788078/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Incredible App

*2026-04-11, version 2.2*

This app is great for playing music and sound effects.

I wish there was a Mac OS version.

### 1/5 — Not working.

*2025-11-30*

Not working on ios26.1. All I get is a blank screen.

### 5/5 — Great at its task

*2025-11-18*

I truly love this app and have been using it for 13 years or so. Relatively easy to use with some great functionality. If there was one thing I would change it would be to make a rack setup exportable so that once I have it built I can add it to a second device. But I have probably used this app longer than almost any other on my phone—like a dj sound pad, for ceremonies, and as the FX bank in my parade vehicle—and it has never let me down. There aren’t many apps that you can say that about.

### 2/5 — (Have always)  Love(d) this app

*2025-10-09, version 2.2*

I have been using this app for years. It has always been rock solid.  

Recently updated … oops crashes constantly when going to cart setup. 

Recently updated again (today 13-Jul-2022) in hopes that bug was resolved…. 

Oops crashed instantly. 

Just to confirm I uninstalled and reinstalled the app.  C R A S H. 

Please resolve.     

Note - my current rating is for this (current version) I’d give the pre-updates app 5 stars.

### 3/5 — Great to Use, Difficult to Setup

*2025-10-05*

Love using this app, but setting up a new show is extremely difficult.  You can’t import tracks while on an iPad.  You have to connect to a PC or Mac in order to get the files where you can actually import them.  If there was a way to use this on the iPad alone, it would be 5 stars.

### 5/5 — O melhor

*2025-04-21*

Poderia editar tb

### 2/5 — Bug Not Fix

*2024-12-25*

As for the previous opinion from 3 years ago, selecting sounds in the music library does not work (I’m on IPhone 13 Pro). 
The playback progress is invisible because it is the same color as the cart. I regret my purchase.

### 1/5 — Disappointing

*2024-12-13*

I’ve been using this app for years for my podcast. The file structure broke when Apple updated to APFS in iOS 10. As of writing, the latest iPadOS is 18.2. It’s unbearable to add clips to the app when they don’t show in alphabetical order. Sorting the contents of a directory is Coding 101. It’s even more embarrassing to think this developer had access to the dev betas and still failed to update such a rudimentary feature.

My podcast ends today, and while it’s bittersweet, I’m very happy to be free from this app.

### 1/5 — Horrivel

*2024-07-26*

Simplesmente não funciona. Não consigo adicionar música o app crash o tempo todo. 30 reais jogados no lixo. Sequer tem uma versão para teste. Última atualização há 2 anos atrás.

### 2/5 — App no longer supported by developer

*2024-01-04*

I’ve been using this app since it was developed, and there’s been some major improvements and I absolutely love it for live music for sporting games. However, since the release of iOS 15, it has huge bugs with it, the biggest is the sound files are not listed alphabetically, and also crashing periodically. The app developer is no longer supporting it - I’ve contacted them several times by email to try and fix the issue, and release an update, and have received no response. Don’t bother purchasing this until it’s updated.

## Frequently asked questions about Sound Byte Cart Machine App

### What does the Sound Byte Cart Machine App do?

This app functions as a digital cart machine, allowing users to play sound clips directly from their mobile device. It's designed for scenarios like live theater productions, sporting events, DJ sets, or podcasting, where quick and easy access to audio files is needed.

### What are the key features of this app?

Key features include managing and controlling playback of audio files, supporting up to 20 racks of carts (or 1500 recordings), customizable cart titles and colors, adjustable fade in/out times, volume control up to 200%, looping, sequential playback, and logging of played carts.

### How much does the Sound Byte Cart Machine App cost?

Based on the provided information, this app is a paid application. It does not appear to have in-app purchases or a subscription model, indicating a one-time purchase for full functionality.

### What devices is the Sound Byte Cart Machine App compatible with?

The app is available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. It plays sound files from your device's Music Library or the Documents folder accessible via iTunes. Sound files stored on iCloud cannot be played directly.

### Who would benefit from using this app?

This app is ideal for professionals and hobbyists in radio, podcasting, and TV production for ads and sound effects. It's also perfect for theater productions to play sound cues, and for sports events to add commentary flair with sound effects.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.2 — 2022-07-20

Updates to fix a possible crash when viewing the Setup.

### 2.1 — 2022-07-08

Fixed a bug that could cause a crash when opening the rack settings.

### 2.0 — 2022-07-04

Bug fixes related to selecting sound files from the music library.

### 1.6.0 — 2016-04-06

This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.

- Fixed a problem with the user interface slowing down when many carts have been loaded from the device music library.
- Cart volume can now be set above 100%.
- The cut out time can be set.
- Carts can be numbered.
- The log file can be viewed from within the app, as well as cleared.
- Carts can be set to flash N seconds before they finish, to alert the operator they are almost done playing.
- Carts can be set to play sequentially, when one finishes, the next to the right will start playing.
- The volume of playing carts can be changed by swiping up or down on the screen.
- Up to 20 racks now, and the number of racks can be configured. 
- Carts can be marked with a bright red border by tapping twice with two fingers - to make carts that will be played shortly easier to find.
- The cart background color can optionally be set by state: grey when unassigned, yellow when assigned, green when playing, blue when previously played.

### 1.5.3 — 2016-01-08

Updates for iOS 9.2
Increased the number of racks to ten.

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All apps by Black Cat Systems: https://appshunter.io/developer/301047032

## Related topics

[sound machine effect](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sound-machine-effect)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-19.*