Comparison

Radio Unit vs MIDI Tape Recorder

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

Head to head
About

Radio Unit

Stream over 35,000 internet radio stations with this app. Enhance your audio experience by using it as an AUv3 plugin with other compatible music apps. Discover new music and save your favorites.

Highlights
  • Access 35,000+ radio stations
  • Enhance audio with AUv3 plugins
  • Intuitive interface
  • Song discovery and saving
  • Favorites sync across devices
  • MIDI control for AUv3 plugin
Currently charting
Read full description

Discover a world of music with Radio Unit, a sleek and powerful Internet radio player with a built-in Audio Unit (AUv3) plugin.  Elevate your listening experience by enhancing streaming audio in real time using your favorite third-party audio processing plugins (not included) within AUv3-compatible hosts like Drambo or GarageBand. Features: • Intuitive Interface: Enjoy a clean, user-friendly design for effortless navigation. • Song Discovery: Tap to add the currently playing song to your favorites, then open it in the Apple Music app or search for it on Google. • Massive Station Library: Access over 35,000 radio stations—search by name, browse by genre or location, and sort by popularity. • Favorites Sync: Save stations and songs to your favorites list, seamlessly synced across your devices. • AUv3 Integration: Use Radio Unit as a standalone app or as an AUv3 plugin in hosts like Drambo, GarageBand, and more, with support for multiple plugin instances. • MIDI Mapping: Control buttons can be triggered by MIDI Note events (C3 to F3). (AUv3 only) • Battery Efficient: Stream music without draining your device. The app requires internet connection.

About

MIDI Tape Recorder

This app offers a unique approach to MIDI recording, capturing performances with audio-like precision. It focuses on preserving the nuances of your playing without altering timing, ideal for expressive MPE performances. Simple controls make it fun to record, play back, and loop MIDI.

Highlights
  • Sample accurate MIDI recording
  • MPE support
  • Four independent MIDI tracks
  • Overdub and punch-in recording
  • MIDI file import/export
  • Undo/redo functionality
Features
Read full description

MIDI Tape Recorder takes a radically different approach to MIDI recording. Now in version 2.0, it runs both as an Audio Unit v3 plugin inside your favorite host and as a standalone app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. MIDI messages are recorded and played back with the same accuracy and precision as audio recordings. Most modern DAWs, even at their highest resolution, still change the timing of MIDI messages to accommodate their editing features. These changes impact the playback of your performance as MIDI messages get reordered and delayed, altering how they influence sound, sometimes in very significant ways. MIDI Tape Recorder records your performance exactly as you play it, just like an audio recorder, accurately reproducing every nuance. It purposefully has no MIDI note editing, no quantization, no individual CC tweaking, nothing you wouldn't do with audio. Instead, very expressive and ultra-dense MIDI streams are perfectly stored and reproduced. It excels at capturing and playing back expressive performances with MPE controllers and MPE plugins. The controls are purposefully simple and intuitive, like a traditional four-track tape recorder, making it fun to record, play back, and loop your MIDI performance. Even with non-MPE MIDI, it keeps you in the flow and creative, without being interrupted by the technical nature of most DAWs. New in the standalone app: run MIDI Tape Recorder on its own, with CoreMIDI input and output to route your performance to any of your MIDI apps, synths, and hardware. Sessions are autosaved and can be saved, opened, and shared as documents. Recording keeps running in the background and with the screen locked, so you never lose a take. MIDI Tape Recorder makes no sound on its own: as a plugin it records inside your host; as a standalone app it routes MIDI to your instruments. Features: • Runs as an AUv3 plugin or as a standalone app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac • Four independent tracks for recording MIDI channel voice messages • Sample-accurate MIDI recording and playback • Real-time display of active recorded notes and other received messages • Full MPE support • Continuous loop recording that re-records over the loop on each cycle instead of stopping at the loop end • Multi-level undo and redo • Overdub recording, with punch-in/punch-out for automated regional overdubbing • CoreMIDI input and output routing in the standalone app • Autosaved, shareable session documents in the standalone app • Background and screen-locked recording in the standalone app • Automated storage and recall of all recordings inside the AUv3 host project • MIDI file import and export, for the whole project or each individual track • Repeated playback with start and stop locators • AUv3 parameters for all controls • Snap-to-beat positioning for the playhead and locators • Per-track MPE configuration (MCM) detection and envoy • Host transport and host tempo sync • Clear all recordings or a single track, and crop the session to a new duration • Fully resizable UI with per-track input/output activity indicators • Optional per-track record enable, input monitoring, and mute • Four virtual MIDI cable inputs, with optional routing of the first cable to all tracks • AUv3 user presets when the host supports them • Open source, freely distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Screenshots

Radio Unit2 screens
MIDI Tape Recorder4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: MIDI Tape Recorder at every 2 weeks against Radio Unit's every 2 months. Radio Unit's advantage is price ($6.99 vs $9.99) and chart position (#189 vs unranked). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Radio Unit costs $6.99 and MIDI Tape Recorder $9.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Radio Unit against 4.7 for MIDI Tape Recorder. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 60 and 61 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 81% of Radio Unit's written reviews are positive against 79% of MIDI Tape Recorder's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Radio Unit ships an update every 2 months, MIDI Tape Recorder every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 30, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Radio Unit versus MIDI Tape Recorder: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRadio UnitMIDI Tape Recorder
Price$6.99 — better$9.99
Rating4.6 (60 ratings)4.7 (61 ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.5% of reviews — better79.4% of reviews
Number of ratings6061 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#189 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBeepStreetUwyn, LLC

Customer experience

Radio Unit

All ratings59 ratings
Positive89.8%
Neutral3.4%
Negative6.8%
Written reviews54 reviews
Positive81.5%
Neutral9.3%
Negative9.3%

MIDI Tape Recorder

All ratings62 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral3.2%
Negative3.2%
Written reviews34 reviews
Positive79.4%
Neutral5.9%
Negative14.7%

Bugs and requests

Radio Unit

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • Cannot remove recognized songs
  • Cannot remove favorite saved songs (Mac)
  • Last update ruined experience with loading times and connection issues
  • Sadé channel frequently disconnects
  • Some stations don’t connect at all
Show 12 more
  • Cannot see song title/artist
  • Seamless integration with GarageBand and Logic Pro doesn't work
  • Cannot change station with MIDI, LFOs etc. after update
  • Cubasis 3 can’t find app
  • BBC streams no longer play
  • Cannot edit user slots after adding of link
  • Links not working
  • Cannot add user slots ('see the developer to unlock slots')
  • Adding stations near impossible
  • Failed URL slot flashes red and is inaccessible
  • Cannot paste other URLs
  • Cannot record and sample the feed into DAW

Requested features

13 requests
  • Option to remove or filter hostile nations
  • Add more stations (Golha radio, IRIB radio)
  • Ability to organize, tag, and edit stream specifications
  • Ability to use with CarPlay
  • Pitch slider within the app to slow down radio in real time
Show 8 more
  • More user presets/slots
  • iCloud sync for recently played stations and discovered pieces
  • Ability to change station with MIDI, LFOs etc. (post-update issue)
  • More exposed parameters for tweaking
  • Greater resources for slots (folders/sections)
  • Import/export presets list
  • Assign MIDI CC to volume knob and channel switch buttons
  • Support for streams in OGG container format

MIDI Tape Recorder

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Radio Unit

No in-app purchases

None

MIDI Tape Recorder

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Radio Unit free?
Radio Unit costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is MIDI Tape Recorder free?
MIDI Tape Recorder costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Radio Unit or MIDI Tape Recorder?
MIDI Tape Recorder is rated higher. Radio Unit averages 4.6 out of 5 from 60 ratings, while MIDI Tape Recorder averages 4.7 from 61 ratings.
Do Radio Unit or MIDI Tape Recorder have ads?
Neither Radio Unit nor MIDI Tape Recorder shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Radio Unit or MIDI Tape Recorder?
Radio Unit ships an update every 2 months, and MIDI Tape Recorder every 2 weeks. Most recently, Radio Unit was updated on October 30, 2026 and MIDI Tape Recorder on October 30, 2026.

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