touchscaper vs SpaceCraft Granular Synth
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
touchscaper
Create music on your iPad by simply touching the screen. This app offers a semi-generative engine to guide note selection and allows for deep customization of chords, keys, and scales. Explore a variety of built-in sounds and effects to craft unique musical pieces.
- Multi-touch interface with radar, ribbon, and keyboard surfaces
- Semi-generative engine for note selection
- Full control over chords, keys, and scales
- Layerable built-in sounds and effects
- Chord navigator and looper with Ableton Link
- Sequencer for touch, drums, and synth automation
- Inter-App Audio and MIDI out support
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Touchscaper is an instrument designed for anyone who wants to make music on their iPad simply by touching the screen. You don’t have to be a serious musician to enjoy touchscaper, but if you are, touchscaper is highly configureable under the hood. Main features: • Multi-touch based interface with “radar”, “ribbon” and keyboard surfaces • Touch the screen to play a note, move your fingers to change the sound • Semi-generative engine selects the “good notes” for you • Touch movement can control volume and pan for each individual note • Total control over chords, keys and scales (fully chromatic) • Multiple chords can be generated from keys and scales to create “scenes” • Chord "navigator" helps you create inspiring chord progressions • 40 built-in sounds can be combined in 2 layers to create “instruments” • Built-in sounds include samples from moodscaper, pianoscaper, numerous analog synths and guitars • Comes with preset example scenes and instruments • Random instrument generator function with one tap of a button • Hold and orbit modes for hands-free evolving soundscapes • Ribbon style keyboard with touch vibrato • Chord looper with Ableton Link support • Arrangement view for longer / more complex chord progressions • 16 step probability-based sequencer for touch, drums, percussion and synth automation • "jam grid" sequencer view for live performances • Supports file sharing for scenes and instruments • Built-in effects including ping-pong delays, reverb, limiter and EQ • Supports IAA (Inter-App Audio) as a generator • Control other music apps using MIDI out and CCs with optional MPE support There are several demo videos in circulation which should give you a better idea of what touchscaper can do - just search for “touchscaper”. *** Please note that this app is now in maintenance mode / updates for bug fixes only. This is due to the heavy dependency on deprecated technology such as IAA ***
SpaceCraft Granular Synth
Transform any sound into a playable musical instrument using granular synthesis. Create unique textures, soundscapes, and rhythms from your voice, ambient noise, or built-in samples. Record audio, load files, and save your sonic creations.
- Granular synthesis engine
- Record audio via microphone
- Load audio files from storage
- Create textures and soundscapes
- Arpeggiated rhythm generation
- Save and recall presets
- MIDI and MPE support
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With SpaceCraft (MIDI, MPE, AUv3, IAA) you can transform any sound into a playable musical instrument via Granular Synthesis. You can create textures, soundscapes and arpeggiated rhythms from sounds such as your voice, ambient noise or the high quality built-in audio samples. Tap the 'Input' button (top left) to record audio via your device's microphone or load a file from your device (access* to iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, Audioshare*** etc.). Experiment with turning everyday sounds into unusual instruments. Save your creations and corresponding samples via presets. Also, tap the 'rec' button (top right) to record your performance (maximum 20 minutes). This is used in standalone only as the AUv3 host can be used to record the output. Supports AUv3 and IAA (recommended to use in the effects slot to allow live input audio recording). * NOT COMPATIBLE with GarageBand as AUv3 (but can be loaded as Inter App Audio (IAA) or via an effects insert in the GarageBand sampler, with no MIDI capability) ** iOS11 and above provides equivalent folder access to the built-in iOS 'Files' app. Note that iOS10 and below has limited access to folders (no Audioshare folder access for iOS10 and below) *** Access to Audioshare files is done via the iOS files app
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: touchscaper at $4.99 against SpaceCraft Granular Synth's $9.99. touchscaper also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.7) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). SpaceCraft Granular Synth's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (9.3 vs 12.0). On review sentiment, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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
touchscaper costs $4.99 and SpaceCraft Granular Synth $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
touchscaper holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 147 and 151 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 93% of touchscaper's written reviews are positive against 87% of SpaceCraft Granular Synth's.
touchscaper ships an update weekly, SpaceCraft Granular Synth every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | touchscaper | SpaceCraft Granular Synth |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 — better | $9.99 |
| Rating | 4.9 (147 ratings) — better | 4.7 (151 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 93.2% of reviews — better | 87.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 147 | 151 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 9.3 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 359 MB | 103 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rob Jackson | Mark Watt |
Customer experience
touchscaper
SpaceCraft Granular Synth
User reviews
touchscaper
From 147 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✨ Beautiful and inspiring sounds
- 👍 Easy to use, yet deep
- 💡 Innovative and unique instrument
- 🚀 Creates beautiful music easily
- 💰 Great value for the price
Room to improve
- 🐛 MIDI connectivity issues
- 🐛 MPE via MIDI out not working
- 🐛 Pops when adding multiple sounds
- 🐛 Hold Mode design is awkward
- 🐛 App can become unstable after long use
SpaceCraft Granular Synth
From 151 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎨 Intuitive and beautiful user interface design
- 🎵 Exceptional sound quality and musical output
- 👐 Excellent XY pad control system for expressive playing
- 💰 Extremely affordable price point
- 🎹 Easy to use for beginners and professionals alike
Room to improve
- 🔇 No background audio playback capability
- 💾 Cannot save presets or project states
- 🎚️ Limited LFO options and control range
- 🎛️ Small control windows make precise adjustments difficult
- ⚙️ Limited reverb and filter customization options
Bugs and requests
touchscaper
Reported bugs
6 issues- Does not show up as an available audio unit in Logic or GarageBand
- Cannot get any MIDI connectivity to work
- MPE via MIDI out does not work if there is no MIDI out for the app
- Pops when adding more than 2 sounds
- Hold Mode design is awkward, especially for note placement
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- App lost its mind and control animations ran wild after 10 hours of use
Requested features
12 requests- AUv3 version/compatibility
- More sophisticated mixer
- Second bank of patterns
- Panels to tweak oscillators, LFOs, etc.
- Orchestral type sounds
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- Light background theme in UI
- Attack vector like ADSR function
- Variable Release function
- Mixer for each drum line
- MIDI out functionality (mentioned multiple times)
- Toggle on/off for Hold Mode
- Ability to nudge/fine-tune node placements in Hold Mode
SpaceCraft Granular Synth
Reported bugs
13 issues- App crashes when loading files from nested Dropbox folders
- Audio glitches and heavy crackling on older iPad models
- Unexpected background audio drone when app not in use
- AudioShare compatibility issues across different iOS versions
- App resets to factory settings on reopening
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- Live sampling mode latency and unintuitive behavior
- Red playhead sometimes extends beyond range selector
- Inconsistent audio input behavior in live sampling
- No audio output in DAW hosts on some iOS versions
- Crashes when multiple instances launched simultaneously
- File import failures on iOS 9 and 10
- Dropbox access limited to iCloud only on some devices
- Recording duration limitations on iPhone (1 minute vs advertised 20 minutes)
Requested features
20 requests- Background audio playback support
- Preset and project state saving functionality
- Faster and more flexible LFO with additional waveforms
- Wider grain selection windows for precise control
- Built-in delay effect
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- Amplitude envelopes for each oscillator
- Panning and multi-channel routing options
- Sample name display in UI
- Ableton Link support
- Rest notes in sequencer via double-tap
- Ability to feed synth output to another synth in real-time
- More reverb length options
- CC automation recording in DAWs
- Bluetooth MIDI support
- Custom color scheme options
- Broader grain readout curve options
- Wider parameter control ranges
- True IAA instrument support (not just effect)
- Streamlined file import and management
- More included presets
In-app purchases
touchscaper
No in-app purchases
SpaceCraft Granular Synth
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is touchscaper free?
Is SpaceCraft Granular Synth free?
Which has better reviews, touchscaper or SpaceCraft Granular Synth?
Do touchscaper or SpaceCraft Granular Synth have ads?
Which is updated more often, touchscaper or SpaceCraft Granular Synth?
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