Comparison

XPad vs Broken Place AR

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

XPad

This app provides professional pad sounds for keyboardists, aiming to replicate warm analog synth tones with advanced digital features. It offers intuitive glissando control, real-time sound morphing, and extensive MIDI compatibility for a dynamic playing experience.

Highlights
  • Modern pad sounds
  • Realistic glissando control
  • Tone Width morphing
  • Sensible sound controls
  • MIDI remote control
  • Extensive sound library search
Features
Read full description

XPad is a professional sound module app and Audio Unit v3 plugin with focus on modern pad sounds for iPad. Goal was to get the warm and vibrant sound of analogue synths onto the convenient platform of an iPad and combining those sounds with the benefits of state of the art digital features while still preserving that analogue tone and feeling. Glissando XPad introduces a new way that we were developing for our apps to achieve realistic large interval Glissando. You can glide a tone continuously e.g. from the lowest octave up to the highest octave and vice versa, in any desirable speed and without causing an artificial impression to the listener. We were also thinking about how to improve the usability aspects for playing Glissando in a much more intuitive & convenient way for a keyboard player, while still preserving the player's full control. Foremost this app allows you to mix Glissando with regular polyphonic notes (e.g. chords) simultaneously or switch between these playing styles quickly at any time without leaving your hands off the keyboard. For instance you might be playing and holding a chord with your right hand while playing a Glissando slide with your left hand and punching through the right hand's chord from an octave lower than the chord, up to some octave higher than the chord. Tone Width Replicating some analogue boutique pad synthesizers is nice, but what about having a huge stack of them? That's where "Tone Width" control comes into play. Especially the important pad sounds of this app allow you to morph the sound with the "Tone Width" knob in real-time steplessly between a very thin and clean sound up to a huge and fat tonal sound as if an army of pad synths was working under your finger tips. Sensible Control Controls for the individual sound aspects is good. But it should be in a sensible way. Nothing is hard wired here. Every sound of this app presents controls that make sense for the individual sound. All controls presented are always fine tuned to the individual elements of that sound. You can alter all controls remotely by MIDI e.g. with sliders at your keyboard. The most important controls for each sound are mapped to things that you are most likely using anyway at your keyboard. For instance all sounds use the Aftertouch information of your keyboard to bring more dynamic behaviour into the sound even while just holding some notes. And just grab your modulation wheel at your keyboard to bring in some more variance. Never Lost XPad offers up to 462 sounds, but don't worry, it never lets you down and always assists you finding just the sound you need in a glimpse. You can quickly search for sounds with any combination of several criteria like sound characteristics, articulations, controls and more. Connectivity Like all our apps, XPad is very easy to use and start with. Just connect your keyboard with your iPad and you are ready to go. And of course if needed, you can simply tweak the setup, e.g. use a Bluetooth MIDI wireless connection to your keyboard instead of a cabled one, restrict MIDI input to certain devices or apps, connect to other apps with Inter-App Audio or use the sounds of this app as Audio Unit v3 plugin directly in the DAW app of your choice. Recorder The app comes with a built-in MIDI recorder that allows you to quickly record your musical ideas. You can share them as audio files with other people or transfer them as MIDI files for further work e.g. on your Mac. Sound Sets XPad is divided into 14 optional sound sets of different sound categories and provide up to 462 sounds in total. Even though the app is focused on pad sounds, this is not all this app has to offer sound-wise. The "Atmo" pack for instance contains atmospheric sounds for generating very emotional sound bases and backgrounds e.g. for film and entertainment. The "Perc" sound set contains drums and percussive sounds. The "Silicon" sound set covers synthesizers also offside the pad field, and much more.

About

Broken Place AR

Experience music in a new dimension with this augmented reality application. Manipulate synthesizer and groove box interfaces through your device, creating unique and generative soundscapes with simple gestures. It's designed for intuitive, one-handed play.

Highlights
  • Augmented reality music interface
  • Generative sound manipulation
  • One-handed control
  • Save and recall patterns
  • Multiple song patches
Features
Read full description

Broken Place AR is an augmented reality music app. Surround yourself in synthesizer and groove box interfaces using your phone as a window into the virtual music space. Broken Place AR brings a new and exciting way to interact with music. Sound manipulation is generative making every experience unique. Even the slightest user input wildly randomizes the groove of sound on every interaction. Be sure you are using an iOS device iPhone 6s or newer. If you’re on iPad, just ensure you have a more recent chip that can handle AR. The music interface mechanics have been designed with great care to ensure that only one hand is needed to play. With a click/hold/rotate gesture, users are able to manipulate music parameters mapped to the sound patch. Many more improvements in this pursuit will be released as time goes on. Version 1.1 brings 3 song patches and a new save/recall feature for your patterns. Much more is in the works. Stay tuned for updates!

Screenshots

Broken Place AR4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Broken Place AR at 4.6 against XPad's 3.8. Broken Place AR also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 14) and review sentiment (75% vs 50%). XPad's advantage is update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 8 months) and ratings volume (24 vs 8). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. XPad sells 14 one-off in-app purchases. Broken Place AR asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Broken Place AR holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 8 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of XPad's written reviews are positive against 75% of Broken Place AR's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

XPad ships an update every 4 weeks, Broken Place AR every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
XPad versus Broken Place AR: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterXPadBroken Place AR
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (24 ratings)4.6 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews75.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings24 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeks — betterEvery 8 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS12.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.2 GB170 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChristian Schoenebeck d/b/a Crudebyteanthony burchell

Customer experience

XPad

All ratings23 ratings
Positive73.9%
Neutral4.3%
Negative21.7%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral16.7%
Negative33.3%

Broken Place AR

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

In-app purchases

14 purchases

XPad

One-time14
  • Weirdo Sound Set$2.99
  • Pluck Sound Set$2.99
  • Metal Sound Set$3.99
Show 11 more
  • Bass Sound Set$3.99
  • Choir Sound Set$3.99
  • Altro Sound Set$3.99
  • Organ Sound Set$3.99
  • Percussive Sound Set$3.99
  • Silicon Sound Set$4.99
  • Vintage Sound Set$4.99
  • Atmo Sound Set$5.99
  • Space Sound Set$5.99
  • Nature Sound Set$5.99
  • Sequence Sound Set$5.99
None

Broken Place AR

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is XPad free?
XPad is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Broken Place AR free?
Broken Place AR is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, XPad or Broken Place AR?
Broken Place AR is rated higher. XPad averages 3.8 out of 5 from 24 ratings, while Broken Place AR averages 4.6 from 8 ratings.
Do XPad or Broken Place AR have ads?
Neither XPad nor Broken Place AR shows ads.
Which is updated more often, XPad or Broken Place AR?
XPad ships an update every 4 weeks, and Broken Place AR every 8 months. Most recently, XPad was updated on October 14, 2026 and Broken Place AR on October 24, 2026.

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