Mixet vs SAND
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mixet
This app helps musicians manage their live performances by organizing songs into sets, controlling backing tracks, and synchronizing tempo with other devices. It offers advanced features like MIDI messaging for app control and output routing for individual instruments.
- Organize songs into sets and tracks
- Route tracks to specific audio outputs
- Control MIDI-enabled apps with virtual messaging
- Synchronize tempo with Ableton Link
- Metronome and countdown with audio accuracy
- Remote control via Apple Watch and widgets
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Mixet is a multichannel setlist player for bands and solo musicians who want to preprogram their show with presets and tempos and support their live performance with prerecorded backing tracks. Like many musicians, I play in a band where some members (mostly bassists and drummers) miss rehearsals. Sometimes we play a small venue or an art opening where drums are impossible. Or maybe you're the drummer and want to practice at home as if the band were there. Backing tracks are a great solution, but a standard music player isn't enough. We need control over how one song leads into the next. We need a metronome, a countdown, and a way to push the tempo to our plug-ins and bandmates. We need to send tracks to specific audio interface outputs to recreate the presence of a missing member: a bass track through a real bass amp sounds very different from a stereo mix through the PA. And most importantly, when we use plug-ins in apps like AUM, we need a simple way to load the right presets for each song. Mixet does all of this with a single gesture on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It's built for simplicity. MAIN FEATURES • Sets, songs, and tracks: organize songs into sets, add tracks to songs, and send any track to any audio interface output or bus • Buses: change a bus's settings once to apply them to every track assigned to it • Virtual MIDI: send Program Change, Control Change, or Note messages when a song is selected, played, or stopped to load presets or adjust parameters in other apps • "MIDI Sent" notice confirms each send and warns if one fails • Sample-accurate metronome and countdown • Ableton Link to push the tempo to your plug-ins and bandmates • Visualizer that reflects the song's dynamics • Import tracks from Files, GarageBand, or other audio apps • Click tracks for practice, plus a built-in Mixet Tempos set from Larghissimo to Prestissimo • A large Play button you can't miss in the heat of the show • Change songs with one touch using the unique song picker • Auto-rewind, auto-progress, countdown, repeat, and more, set per setlist or per song • Keyboard shortcuts: Space to play or stop, arrow keys to move between songs • Remote control from Apple Watch and the Lock Screen • Home Screen widget with a play/stop button and playback status • Keep the screen awake always, while charging, or while playing • Back up and restore your entire library • Designed for every device size and orientation • No accounts, no uploads: your tracks stay yours ALL ACCESS Mixet is free to download. Hardware outputs, buses, song and track settings, playback options, and Ableton Link sync extras require an All Access subscription (monthly or yearly). Ableton Link tempo sync itself is free. VIRTUAL MIDI MESSAGING Mixet can send MIDI messages to other apps, so they react when you select, play, or stop a song. In AUM, for example, you can load sessions with presets, toggle effects, or change parameters. To set it up, choose Mixet as a MIDI source in the other app, then choose what each Mixet message should trigger. ABLETON LINK Auto-push tempo Mixet uses Ableton Link to push the current song's tempo to the Link session. Turn on Automatic Push to send the tempo automatically when playback starts. Mixet doesn't follow other peers' tempo changes. It's a great way to sync effects like delay and vibrato to your backing tracks and keep your show at its planned tempos. Start/Stop Sync Turn on Start/Stop Sync in Ableton Link settings (the Link icon in the Sets view) so every peer that supports it plays along with Mixet. Turn off Stop Sync to make sure no peer can accidentally stop your show. EXTRA SYNC OPTIONS Start-only sync: start all peers together, then stop any one of them while Mixet keeps playing. When to push: choose whether to push the tempo when you select a song or when you press Play. Terms of Use The standard Apple Terms of Use (EULA) apply: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Enjoy!
SAND
This app is a grid-based music sequencer that allows users to create compositions using AUv3 plugins and external MIDI devices. It offers extensive tools for arranging clips, editing notes, automating parameters, and routing MIDI.
- Grid-based MIDI sequencing
- AUv3 plugin hosting
- External MIDI device support
- Advanced clip editing
- Track and effect management
- Song mode for arrangement
- MIDI routing and mapping
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Have SAND in your pocket. Create music anywhere. Sketch your ideas, compose with MIDI and audio clips, host your favorite plugins. All designed for creative flow, whether you're at home or on the go. SAND is a music sketchpad for AUv3, MIDI, and audio clips—built so you can try ideas quickly, without setup getting in the way. Please note: SAND does not generate sound on its own—it relies on AUv3 plugins you can find on the App Store. Try SAND free for 14 days; in-app purchases unlock features after the trial. GRID SEQUENCER Arrange MIDI and audio clips on a grid to build your ideas. Copy, duplicate, merge, combine, and drag-and-drop clips to shape your project. Quick clip tools: quantize, length, legato, transpose from the clip menu. Render MIDI clips as audio by dropping them onto an audio track. MIDI TRACKS Work with instrument and MIDI tracks in your projects. Load an instrument and unlimited audio and MIDI effects on each track. Hide tracks and assign custom icons to keep sessions organized. Save tracks as templates for future projects. Edit MIDI in a piano-roll clip editor: quantize, legato, split, duplicate, copy, and paste. Build chords with the chord selector. Adjust note position, pitch, duration, and velocity. Handle bars edit position and pitch on the note. Use an adjustable grid or free placement. Scale highlighting helps you stay in key. Record with an optional count-in or from the first note. Quantize recordings for tighter timing. AUDIO TRACKS Add dedicated audio tracks alongside your MIDI material. Import audio into clips from other apps or the clip import flow, with preview before committing. Record audio into clips with per-track input settings and track arming. Set loop or one-shot playback, beat-aligned or immediate start, and optional clip BPM. Looping clips follow project tempo. The audio editor supports copy, paste, crop, gain adjustment, normalize, silence, fades, reverse, pitch, stretch, and split. With automatic or manual preview. PLUGIN HOST Host AUv3 instruments, audio effects, and MIDI processors. Control parameters and presets, and save default states for new instances. Record notes and MIDI from plugin interfaces, and capture output from MIDI plugins. Mark plugins as favorites for faster access. SONG MODE Arrange clips in sections with independent lengths, played back seamlessly in order. Launch every clip in a section at once, sections work as scene launchers. Set a different time signature per section when needed. AUTOMATION Automate volume, pan, effect parameters, and MIDI for dynamic changes across your tracks. MASTER TRACK Apply effects globally across the project. Use the master track's clip to generate bass lines and chord progressions. MIDI ROUTING Record from external MIDI devices, including hardware synths. Send MIDI out for real-time playback and route MIDI between tracks. Use SAND as a virtual MIDI input and output. MIDI MAPPING Map a MIDI controller to control the app with a flexible, customizable layout. "Shift" mappings extend what a single controller surface can do. PROJECT VERSIONS Save and restore named snapshots of a project—experiment freely, then return to an earlier state. PROJECT MANAGEMENT Rename projects and branch copies with Save As…. (iOS 18+) Start new work from project templates. (iOS 18+) SYNC Sync with other apps and DAWs using Ableton Link. ON-SCREEN KEYBOARD AND PADS Record with a velocity-sensitive on-screen keyboard. Choose scale and root to limit keys to a scale, and adjust visible keys to match how you play. Play and record beats with on-screen drum pads. IMPORT / EXPORT Export clips as audio or MIDI. Export projects as Ableton Live sets. Record performances and export audio, including stems for separate processing.
Screenshots
Verdict
Mixet and SAND both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Mixet's written reviews are positive against 79% of SAND's. Mixet also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). SAND's advantage is ratings volume (89 vs 13) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Mixet sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and SAND sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Mixet holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SAND has 89 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Mixet's written reviews are positive against 79% of SAND's.
Mixet ships an update every 3 weeks, SAND every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Mixet | SAND |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (13 ratings) — better | 4.6 (89 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 79.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 13 | 89 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gennadii Dudarek | Matteo Caldari |
Customer experience
Mixet
SAND
Bugs and requests
Mixet
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
SAND
Reported bugs
27 issues- Record function always starts when entering Midi Instrument or FX
- Sand not opening in overview
- Integration with other apps seems off
- Record does not pick up data
- Cannot save ideas from one app to another
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- Auv3 interfaces don't scale well
- Note editing, snapping/quantization awkward and buggy
- Sand won't run within AUM anymore
- Sand not recognized within AUM
- Sand wouldn't recognize other apps as host
- Rendering issues
- Editing notes in pitch grid flies up
- Entering note values difficult
- Changing note length has issues
- Bugs not worked out, more brought in
- Clips out of sync when manually triggered
- Unpredictability for creating new notes
- Selecting notes for editing difficult
- Synchronizing between tracks problematic
- Occasional crashes
- Notes editing/selection/moving process is a pain
- No BT headphone support
- Less than 50% of synths/plugins show up
- Many plugins don't work properly
- App prompts for purchase again after buying
- Pattern length adjustment by 1 is crazy
- No snapping for note length stretch
Requested features
58 requests- Sand always open in overview
- Long press in sequence track window
- Random/chance abilities in clips (Polyend Play style)
- Semi-generative function or scale-based patterns/sequences
- Save AUv3 presets
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- Audio integration with audio quantization
- Audio clips
- Return to zero button
- More clip actions for performance (fire clip/scene, count in, repeat, single shot)
- Trigger sequences not just on bars
- Packaged as a MIDI AUv3 processor
- Sequencer for patterns and automation curves
- Triplet time signatures (3/4, 6/8)
- MIDI channels for instruments
- Export to MIDI file
- Deep piano roll note editing
- Song mode
- Stem support
- Automation
- Lower OS requirement
- Selection of multiple notes in sequencer
- Separate lane for MIDI control of FX plugins
- Proper mixer view
- Support for Bluetooth headphones
- More clip actions for performance
- MIDI AUv3 processor
- Sequencer for patterns and automation curves
- Triplet Time Signatures
- MIDI channels for instruments
- Export to MIDI file
- Deep piano roll note editing
- Song mode
- Stem support
- Automation
- Lower OS requirement
- Selection of multiple notes in sequencer
- Separate lane for MIDI control of FX plugins
- Proper mixer view
- Support for Bluetooth headphones
- Pattern length adjustment in note editor
- Snapping for note length stretch
- More clip actions for performance
- MIDI AUv3 processor
- Sequencer for patterns and automation curves
- Triplet Time Signatures
- MIDI channels for instruments
- Export to MIDI file
- Deep piano roll note editing
- Song mode
- Stem support
- Automation
- Lower OS requirement
- Selection of multiple notes in sequencer
- Separate lane for MIDI control of FX plugins
- Proper mixer view
- Support for Bluetooth headphones
- Pattern length adjustment in note editor
- Snapping for note length stretch
In-app purchases
Mixet
- All Access Monthly$1.991 Month
- All Access Yearly1 Month trial$19.991 Year
SAND
- 14-day trialFree
- 14 Days TrialFree
- Unlock$9.99
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- Audio Tracks$9.99








