touchscaper vs Otoo
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 ***
Otoo
This music creation app offers a unique free-form sequencer for building beats and melodies. It supports built-in sounds, sampling, and AUv3 instruments, with live performance effects and song arrangement tools.
- Free-form step sequencer
- Single-screen workflow
- Built-in sounds and sampler
- AUv3 instrument support
- Performance Mode effects
- Export WAV, MP3, and MIDI
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Otoo is a streamlined, one-screen groovebox designed for frictionless music production. Built around an innovative free-form step sequencer, Otoo breaks away from rigid grids, allowing you to place, drag, and stack notes freely across independent rows. Whether you are sketching out ideas using the native built-in engine and sampler or hosting your favorite third-party AUv3 plugins, Otoo delivers a distraction-free environment that prioritizes speed and musical flow. On iPhone, the interface dynamically scales to give your AUv3 instruments a near-fullscreen home, paired with a compact, highly responsive keyboard for immediate creation on the go. Otoo also includes Otoo MIDI, an AUv3 MIDI processor version of the app. It brings Otoo’s pattern-based sequencing into compatible AUv3 hosts, where playback follows the host timeline and instruments are routed as MIDI Out destinations instead of audio instruments. Distraction-Free Workflow • The single-screen layout keeps your sequence, arrangement and mixer visible at all times so you never have to dive into menus. • A free-form step sequencer lets you place, drag, and stack notes across any row without rigid instrument or track restrictions. • Step editing mode gives you precise control over note length, velocity, and timing subdivisions. • The gesture-driven mixer allows for quick volume adjustments, muting, and soloing directly from the main grid. • 4 rows on iPhone and 5 on iPad, with multiple instruments available in each row at different steps • 2-octave keyboard for playing and learning real notes Sounds and plug-ins • Up to 8 instruments per project • Built-in sounds and sampler • Use any installed AUv3 instruments in a large, near-fullscreen view with a compact keyboard • Up to 2 AUv3 effects per instrument • Sampler with instant key-by-key recording and chromatic mapping Patterns to full songs • Build songs from simple patterns • Draggable loop markers for quick arrangement changes Performance mode • Live sequencer and audio effects such as reverse, beat repeat, randomize, swing, triplet, tape, and more • Play the pattern like a keyboard by tapping steps directly Other features • Main output with built-in level protection • Automatic metronome when recording live into empty patterns • Export patterns or full songs as WAV or MP3 for easy sharing • Export performances as perfect loops • MIDI export • Supported time signatures: 4/4, 3/4, 4/4T and sequencer swing.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: touchscaper at 147 against Otoo's 28. touchscaper also leads on price ($4.99 vs $6.99) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.6). Otoo's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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 Otoo $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for touchscaper against 5.0 for Otoo. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: touchscaper has 147 ratings behind it against 28, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 93% of touchscaper's written reviews are positive against 100% of Otoo's.
touchscaper ships an update weekly, Otoo every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | touchscaper | Otoo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 — better | $6.99 |
| Rating | 4.9 (147 ratings) | 5.0 (28 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 93.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 147 — better | 28 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 359 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rob Jackson | BeepStreet |
Customer experience
touchscaper
Otoo
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
Otoo
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
touchscaper
No in-app purchases
Otoo
No in-app purchases









