C.ARP vs Midnight Plaza
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
C.ARP
This app offers a unique approach to music creation, inspired by vintage instruments. It allows users to play chords and melodies with intuitive touch controls, apply real-time audio effects, and utilize a dynamic rhythm section. Advanced features include sampling, MIDI output via Bluetooth, and an iPad-optimized interface.
- Chord and melody playing
- Real-time audio effects
- Dynamic rhythm section
- Sampling and looping
- MIDI output via Bluetooth
- iPad optimized interface
- In-app tutorial
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C.ARP is a totally different keyboard. Inspired by old keyboards, omnichords and tape effects, it lets you play chords and melodies as well. Its design makes everything easier for a musician who just wants to play on mobile. Just hold on a button and then swipe or tap on the right section. But if you prefer, you can access chords and notes directly on the notes grid. Pitch them, harmonize, use mod wheel and apply real-time audio effects too. Rhythm section follows you every chord you choose: pick up the style you prefer, adjust BPMs, mute other instrument, change different midi settings, change drums and play them with drum pads. Do arpeggios with different sounds and rhythmic fractions, create different sound environments with delay, reverb and rotation. The design has also been updated for iPads, so you can enjoy the buttons and sections rearranged for the screen size. Record your voice or everything else as a sample, adjust its length, reverse or loop it, make chords and melodies with it and explore other cool features on this 4th version. There's also a tutorial inside! And finally: we added bluetooth out. It means you can connect your iPhone to your Mac and send midi notes right in your preferred DAW. Just follow the guide inside. Thanks to everyone who helped me: Giacomo, Virginia, Mattia, Andrea, Giulia, Cristiano, and the others. Thanks to the masters Suriani, Frankie and Calcutta. For every question or suggestion don't hesitate to write to me
Midnight Plaza
Transform your audio into a nostalgic, degraded soundscape with this AUv3 effect. Designed for genres like vaporwave and lo-fi, it adds a unique tape-style slowdown, age, and dreamy reverb to your sounds.
- AUv3 audio effect plugin
- Vaporwave, mallsoft, lo-fi sound design
- Tape-style slowdown
- Degraded character effect
- Dreamy reverb
- Works on iPhone and iPad
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Midnight Plaza is an AUv3 audio effect that turns clean sound into faded memory, slow neon reflections, and worn-out late-night atmosphere. Built for vaporwave, mallsoft, ambient, lo-fi, and nostalgic sound design, Midnight Plaza gives you three simple controls: Time - Slows playback (tape style) Memory - Adds age, wear, and degraded character Place - Surrounds your sound with a dreamy reverb Use it on drums, synths, samples, keys, vocals, or full mixes to create blurred, emotional spaces that feel like memories. Features: - AUv3 effect plugin - Designed for vaporwave, mallsoft, lo-fi, ambient, and degraded textures - Simple three-dial workflow - Great for sound design and resampling - Works with compatible AUv3 hosts on iPhone and iPad Important: Midnight Plaza does not make sound on its own. It is an audio effect, not a standalone instrument or standalone app. A compatible AUv3 host app is required, such as Logic Pro, GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis, or another app that supports Audio Unit v3 plugins.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Midnight Plaza at Free against C.ARP's $9.99. Midnight Plaza also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (100% vs 74%). C.ARP's advantage is ratings volume (114 vs 8) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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
Midnight Plaza is free to download; C.ARP costs $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Midnight Plaza holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: C.ARP has 114 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of C.ARP's written reviews are positive against 100% of Midnight Plaza's.
C.ARP ships an update every 4 weeks, Midnight Plaza every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | C.ARP | Midnight Plaza |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (114 ratings) | 5.0 (8 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 74.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 114 — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 45 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Paolo Giorgi | LEWIS GARETH K LE VAL |
Customer experience
C.ARP
Midnight Plaza
Bugs and requests
C.ARP
Reported bugs
40 issues- Sound doesn't work
- No sound
- App crashes when opening
- App crashes when trying to open
- App auto-quits on start
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- Chord panel smaller after update
- System setting always out
- App crashes after using only once
- App crashes when pressing a button
- MIDI Send is broken
- Can't open the app on Mac
- Can't close the menu
- App crashes if sample button is pressed
- Sample button crashes the app
- Strumming doesn't work
- App crashes when sample or reverse is pressed
- App is not stable / crashy
- Sampling function is DOA
- Sampler doesn't work / crashes
- Crash problem
- Send midi function greyed out
- App crashes when pressing the red sample button
- Sampler crashes the app 100%
- App crashes when attempting to use record feature
- Sample button keeps crashing the app
- Record, loop, or reverse buttons cause crash
- Bugs related to recording/sampling
- Sampler may crash
- Audio panel covers gear button
- E chord is extremely low octave and sounds muddled
- App crashes when trying to start an audio recording
- Certain audio glitches with recording and looping
- Buttons crash the app
- App crashes when pressing the sample button
- Sample and reverse buttons crash the app
- MIDI out doesn't seem to work
- Latency is a killer
- Chord doesn't trigger if not hit perfectly
- Sliding finger doesn't sound chord
- Sound can be tinny/harsh
Requested features
18 requests- Rearrange layout to be chromatic
- AUV3 support
- Inter-app-audio / GarageBand integration
- MIDI out functionality
- Save last state
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- Contextual help menus
- More sound design options
- Make it an Auv3 midi controller
- Support iPad
- Add "midi out" option
- Make it an audio app extension for GarageBand
- Add a way to use this app as a Bluetooth midi controller
- Add a visual distinction for individual buttons
- Add velocity on the strum bar
- Allow autoplay chord to hold like a drone
- Transpose reverb of strummed notes
- Add midi connectivity with external devices and other apps
- Add custom colors for themes
Midnight Plaza
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
C.ARP
No in-app purchases
Midnight Plaza
No in-app purchases





