Waves Nx vs WiDI MIDI Studio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Waves Nx
Experience truly immersive 3D sound with any headphones. This technology uses head tracking and scientific models to recreate the acoustics of a room and speaker system, transforming your listening experience for music, concerts, and local media.
- Immersive 3D sound
- Head tracking technology
- Recreates room acoustics
- Enhances local media playback
- Supports Spotify Premium
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Waves Nx is a ground breaking audio technology that finally bridges the gap between speakers and headphones. With the Waves Nx App and the Waves Nx Head Tracker device you can use any headphones and listen to all of your content in truly immersive 3D sound, everywhere you go! The perception of spatial sound in the real world is a complex phenomenon. It combines the interactions between the acoustic sound waves and the room or space, the interaction with our head and ears, the reaction of our middle and inner ear and the audio nerve, and finally our brain’s cognition and interpretation of the acoustic scene. The perception of sound over headphones is a completely different experience. If we take listening to stereo headphones vs. listening to speakers as our example, there are several major differences: Waves Nx uses head tracking and scientific models of the way our brains and ears perceive audio to create an amazing sounding fully immersive 3D audio experience that turns any pair of headphones into a high quality Speaker Setup, it not only models the speakers, it models the entire room! • With Waves Nx any pair of headphones will deliver the same listening experience a GREAT speaker system does. • Get the ideal acoustics of a recording studio– inside your headphones! • Spotify Support - stream music directly from Spotify using Spotify Premium service with Waves Nx – enjoy a wealth of content in immersive 3D audio using Waves Nx. • Live Concerts and Music all sound more authentic with Waves Nx! Experience all of your favorite content the way it was meant to be heard! • Reduces the inconvenience caused by listening through headphones over extended periods of time. The Waves Nx Head Tracker can also be used with the Waves Nx applications for Windows and Mac and even with the Waves Nx – Virtual Mix Room plug-in for professional audio workstations, check www.waves.com/nx for more information! Currently Waves Nx App only supports playing back local media files, check back soon for updates adding support to popular streaming services!
WiDI MIDI Studio
Create custom MIDI control surfaces and sequences for your music production. Map buttons, pads, knobs, and faders to send MIDI events and control instruments or DAWs. Features an integrated step sequencer for composing musical ideas.
- Customizable MIDI control surface
- Integrated step sequencer
- MIDI CC and Note generation
- MIDI network session support
- Automate CC values
- Group sequences for synchronized playback
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WiDI is a control surface with an integrated step sequencer in which you create controls such as buttons, pads, knobs and faders to send MIDI events and play sequences. • CONTROL SURFACE AND SEQUENCER: A control is bound to a channel and a specific MIDI Control Change. You can either specify the CC number if you know it, or let the app learn it. Once placed on the surface, use this control to interact with your MIDI device. Alternatively, any CC event sent by your device will be shown live by the control(s) bound to this CC. Pads are special controls: they can either produce MIDI CC events, Notes or Program changes. If bound to a CC, the pad can act as an on/off switch (you specify the values for each state.) If bound to a note, each tap produces the specified MIDI note. This is especially useful to operate MIDI instruments without keyboards such as synthesizer modules or drum machines. A sequence can hold as many tracks as you wish, and send notes to different MIDI channels. Sequences can play in sync or running freely. You may also group sequences together to start or pause them at the same time. • MIDI: To interface WiDI with any MIDI instruments/devices connected to your Mac or PC, connect to a MIDI Network Session on your Mac or your PC. On a Mac, this is natively supported by macOS, and you do not need to install third party software (use Audio MIDI Setup.) On a PC running Windows, you might want to install rtpMIDI. As an alternative to MIDI Network Sessions, you may use the WiDI Desktop Application. It acts as a MIDI bridge between the network and your MIDI hardware. You can install the desktop application on as many computers as you want (it's free!). It's a very lightweight package that doesn't need to perform any installation procedure whatsoever. You may download the WiDI Desktop Application for macOS on the Mac App Store, or go to : https://www.hypertide.com/widi/ for both macOS and Windows archives. Additionally, any class-compliant MIDI interface natively supported by iOS can also be used directly by WiDI without the need of a network connection. • FEATURES: ○ Use any CoreMIDI-supported MIDI interface connected to your device ○ MIDI network session: use WiDI as an external control surface for any DAW such as Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Cubase, ... ○ Multiple iPhone and iPad can connect to your computer, allowing different control surfaces simultaneously ○ Integrated step sequencer: create sequences, each one holding as many tracks as needed ○ Sequences can run freely or in sync and start simultaneously if grouped together in fire groups ○ Auto discover MIDI CC : you don't need to know each one to add controls, WiDI learns CC numbers sent by your devices ○ Automate CC : sweep ranges or use the step modulator to design patterns to modulate controls values, supporting various advanced options like step-by-step or smooth variations, bouncing, repeating, changing speed ○ Add as many pads as you want to generate MIDI Notes, Control Changes or Program Changes ○ Flexible control surface : set layout and grid size for both portrait and landscape orientations ○ Re-arranging controls is as simple as drag & drop ○ Fully customizable user interface : themes, colors, display of values and labels, aspect ratios, grid spacing, grid coloring, background, ... ○ Integrated File Manager to load and save your surfaces, which are also accessible in the iOS Files app and your computer's iTunes connection ○ Exchange surfaces between devices with the integrated QR code generator and scanner ○ Or use the share feature, so you may import them on any device. We'd love to hear from you! Should you be in need of support or eager to request a new feature, please contact us at support+widi@hypertide.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: WiDI MIDI Studio at 5.0 against Waves Nx's 3.4. WiDI MIDI Studio also leads on update cadence (every 3 months vs every 10 months). Waves Nx's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (29 vs 2). On price, ads, monetization model 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
Both are free to download. WiDI MIDI Studio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Waves Nx asks for nothing beyond the download.
WiDI MIDI Studio holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Waves Nx has 29 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Waves Nx ships an update every 10 months, WiDI MIDI Studio every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Waves Nx | WiDI MIDI Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (29 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 47.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 29 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Waves Inc. | HYPERTIDE SAS |
Customer experience
Waves Nx
WiDI MIDI Studio
In-app purchases
Waves Nx
No in-app purchases
WiDI MIDI Studio
- WiDI Fully Unlocked Version$1.99
Questions
Is Waves Nx free?
Is WiDI MIDI Studio free?
Which has better reviews, Waves Nx or WiDI MIDI Studio?
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Which is updated more often, Waves Nx or WiDI MIDI Studio?
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