touchscaper vs Copperhead
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 ***
Copperhead
This digital synthesizer plugin offers a vintage 80's sound with modern features like multi-note polyphony, an arpeggiator, and integrated audio effects. Design custom waveforms, explore various modulation options, and utilize a powerful sequencer to craft unique sounds.
- AUv3 compatible
- Multi-note polyphony
- Integrated arpeggiator
- Customizable waveforms
- Integrated audio effects
- 32-step sequencer
- Preset Manager
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Copperhead is an AUv3 digital subtractive synthesizer plugin which draws its influence from the vintage synthesizers of the early 80's. Only now we have multi-note polyphony, a build in arpeggiator, and a host of integrated audio effects. Copperhead features a custom String Machine, the ability to design your own custom waveforms, as well as supporting oscillator sync and various cross modulation effects. Cross modulation is a type of FM synthesis which can be used to morph simplistic waveforms into something far more aggressive and interesting. At the heart of Copperhead are its two oscillators, which support all your traditional waveforms (SINE,SQR,SAW,TRI), as well as SuperSaw, Trapezium, and other user definable types. The app features pulse width modulation and supersaw, as well as a customisable string engine and the ability to create your own oscillator types. The Voltage Controller Filter supports the usual LP, HP, BP and Notch filters in series or parallel configuration, as well as a couple of unusual ones like Formant which allows you to sweep your cutoff to create interesting vowel sounds. Copperhead also features twin LFO's with random and one shot functionality. It also supports Cross, Ring and FM modulators, in addition to low and high shelf filters. One of the great features is the integrated audio gate, which allows you to generate stuttering audio right out of the box. Combined with effects such as Chorus, Overdrive, Delay, Reverb and Auto Pan / Tremelo, and the ability to specify effect order, you have a lot of control over your sound. If that wasn't enough, we also include a 32 step sequencer, with various mono and poly modes with direct control control of various synth elements. We have a built in Preset Manager which groups presets into banks and groups, which supports drag and drop for easy import/export of presets. You can also access your favourites from a special popup menu, or via the built in quick search facility. Copperhead now ships with over 550 presets which cover just about every instrument category you would ever need. ○ AUv3 compatible. ○ Up to 16 note polyphony. ○ 7 Oscillator wave types. ○ Sub Oscillator. ○ PW/PWM on SQR and TRP waveforms. ○ Supports SuperSaw with MIX and DETUNE. ○ XMod / Ring and FM modulations. ○ Osc Sync. ○ 6 types of VCF filter. ○ Low and High shelf on output. ○ Built in compressor. ○ Chorus, Delay, Overdrive, Reverb and Auto Pan effects. ○ Built in Audio Gate. ○ Preset Manager with Bank/Group/Preset section. ○ Supports drag and drop to import/export presets, groups and banks. ○ Supports web transfer of presets. ○ 32 step arpeggiator. ○ More than 550 built-in presets. NOTE: This is an AUv3 plugin which was designed to be hosted in DAW's such as AUM, Cubasis, GarageBand, Loopy Pro etc.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: touchscaper at $4.99 against Copperhead's $14.99. touchscaper also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and rating (4.9 vs 4.7). Copperhead's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and iOS requirement 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 Copperhead $14.99 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. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: touchscaper has 147 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 93% of touchscaper's written reviews are positive against 83% of Copperhead's.
touchscaper ships an update weekly, Copperhead every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | touchscaper | Copperhead |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 — better | $14.99 |
| Rating | 4.9 (147 ratings) — better | 4.7 (18 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 93.2% of reviews — better | 83.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 147 — better | 18 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 359 MB | 69 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rob Jackson | 4Pockets.com |
Customer experience
touchscaper
Copperhead
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
Copperhead
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
touchscaper
No in-app purchases
Copperhead
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is touchscaper free?
Is Copperhead free?
Which has better reviews, touchscaper or Copperhead?
Do touchscaper or Copperhead have ads?
Which is updated more often, touchscaper or Copperhead?
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