Comparison

Ableton Note vs ABLooplay

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

Head to head
About

Ableton Note

Create musical ideas with curated sounds and effects. Build beats, melodies, and sample your surroundings. Seamlessly transfer your projects to Ableton Live for further development.

Highlights
  • Create beats and melodies
  • Sample sounds with phone microphone
  • MIDI Editor for sequencing
  • Transfer projects to Ableton Live
  • 76 Drum Sampler kits
  • 317 synth sounds
Read full description

Start new musical ideas with a curated selection of sounds and effects. Create beats and melodic parts, sample your world, and continue your tracks in Ableton Live. Note is a place to form ideas, explore new sounds and find direction. Get your ideas out or just experiment until inspiration hits, using a selection of Ableton Live’s drum kits, synths and melodic instruments. Create your own sound palette by sampling with your phone’s built-in microphone. And use Note’s built-in MIDI Editor to sequence notes, beats and chords or make tweaks as you listen back Follow your ideas wherever they lead by sending your projects to Live without leaving the app with the help of Ableton Cloud. Open projects from Live’s browser and keep working – you can edit all your MIDI notes, and all your samples and sounds from Note are exactly the same. Ableton Note users get a free license for Ableton Live Lite – simple, intuitive software used by musicians, producers and DJs around the world to write, record, and perform. For Ableton Move users, Note also offers the chance to keep working on a Set from your phone. Begin with a beat: • Choose from 76 Drum Sampler kits • Tap out a beat using the 16-pad grid, or sequence one with the MIDI Editor • Play each drum hit melodically using 16 Pitches mode • Quantize your beat or nudge notes to fix loose timing or mistakes • Add more layers of rhythm • Create beat repetitions with Note Repeat • Change parameters to shape your sound • Experiment with effects or apply swing for variations Start with a melody: • Choose from 317 synth sounds and 60 Melodic Sampler instruments • Play or program your melody or chord progression with the 25-pad grid, piano roll or MIDI Editor • Set a key and scale to get instantly harmonic results • Add more layers of harmony • Change parameters to shape your sound • Add effects to experiment with sound design Sample your environment: • Create your own kits by recording percussive sounds into Note’s Drum Sampler • Record tonal sounds to create your own Melodic Sampler instruments • Manipulate your samples by cutting, filtering or repitching them • Sequence samples into beats, melodies and chords using the MIDI Editor • Shape or transform your sounds with effects • Import your own samples or audio directly from videos Work with Audio • Add audio clips from the library • Warp tempo or adjust pitch of your clips • Record audio directly using your phone’s built-in microphone • Connect an audio interface to record external sources • Combine recorded and imported audio with your beats and melodies Capture improvisations: • Play something, then tap the Capture button to keep it • Play at a tempo that feels comfortable and Note will detect it • Note will recognize the length of the phrase and create a loop • Quantize it, add to it, or change the sound • Connect MIDI hardware to play keys and change the sound of your instruments Create variations: • Note features a grid-based Session View layout • Double your loops to create variation within clips • Duplicate your clips and create different versions of your ideas • Add, delete or adjust multiple notes at once with the MIDI Editor • Create eight tracks with up to eight clips on eight scenes • Try different clip combinations and song structures • Export your work as an audio file to listen and share

About

ABLooplay

Features
Read full description

Loop any part of a track and slow it down without changing the pitch. Loop the sentence you can’t catch and compare your voice, or learn a song by ear at half speed in any key. It works with videos too, and as an everyday music player. ■ From here to there, again and again Watch the waveform and tap A and B — only that part repeats. Pause to pick the gaps by eye, and add a pause between repeats to say it back. Missed a sentence? Tap “Loop This Sentence”: it finds the pauses around it and loops it, no A or B needed. ■ Auto-split by sentence (Pro) Auto-split › By sentence cuts wherever the sound stops for 1 second or more, making a section for every sentence at once. Set “Plays before moving on” to 3 and long lessons play through on their own. Pro also adds unlimited sections and an equalizer to bring bass, vocals, drums, guitar or piano forward. ■ Compare with your voice Record yourself with “Record Voice”, then tap “Original → You” to hear both back to back and catch differences in pronunciation and intonation. ■ Half speed, same pitch From 0.5× to 2× without changing the pitch. “Speed up a little each loop” adds 0.05× per play up to 1×, and the key shifts up to ±6 semitones to match your instrument. Zoom to 3 s and slide the waveform to land on the first word or note, or nudge A and B by ±0.1 s. ■ A–B loops for videos, too In the Videos tab, paste a video link and it plays in the app; tap “A Start” and “B End” to loop the part in between. Your own videos (MP4, MOV) from the Files app are listed by folder, with a waveform for setting sections. Play counts, pauses, speed and voice comparison work as for songs. Videos from a link have no waveform or Auto-split, and videos stop when you leave the app. ■ Practice log and favorites Each day you practice 1 minute or more in AB Repeat gets a stamp on the Log tab’s calendar (a star on goal days). Tap a day to see your time and loops, and set a practice reminder there. Tap the star next to “Section 1 of 3” to save a section to a folder, then loop it right away from “Favorite Sections”. ■ An everyday music player, too Tap a song in the Music tab and a large player slides up; swipe down to browse while it plays. ≡ gives you up next, shuffle, repeat, speed and a sleep timer, and the speech bubble shows lyrics. Search by title, artist or album, and control it from the Lock Screen. ■ Adding audio Import MP3s from the Files app, singly or by folder, or copy them in from a computer. m4a, wav, aiff, unprotected songs from your music library, podcast episodes and audio from videos in Photos work too. Tracks are sorted by editable ID3 tags (artist → album → song), and empty tags are filled from file and folder names. ■ Also • LRC scripts and subtitles (SRT, VTT) show each sentence and check your dictation • A hands-on tutorial with 8 English sentences • Two columns and keyboard control on iPad; a vertical tab strip on the foldable iPhone Duo • Speed, sections and key are saved per song • No ads. Your files and recordings stay on your device; the app only goes online for podcasts and videos from a link ■ Without Pro, and Pro Without Pro you get the basics: up to 3 sections per song or video, Loop This Sentence, ±0.1 s, speed, key, speed-up, pauses, repeat counts, voice comparison, the practice log, favorites, 2 playlists, and unlimited videos, both your own and from a link. ABLooplay Pro adds auto-split, unlimited sections, the equalizer and unlimited playlists. Choose an auto-renewing subscription or a purchase that never renews. • Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase • Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the period • Manage or cancel in Settings > [your name] > Subscriptions • Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ • Privacy Policy: https://tatsu456.github.io/ablooplay/privacy.html

Screenshots

Ableton Note4 screens
ABLooplay4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: ABLooplay at Free against Ableton Note's $6.99. ABLooplay also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 5 weeks). Ableton Note's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and chart position (#7 vs unranked). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

ABLooplay is free to download; Ableton Note costs $6.99 up front. Ableton Note sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ABLooplay asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ableton Note ships an update every 5 weeks, ABLooplay every 9 days. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Ableton Note versus ABLooplay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAbleton NoteABLooplay
Price$6.99Free — better
Rating4.2 (695 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews72.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings695 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#7 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size1010 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAbleton AGTAKAYUKI TAKEMOTO

Bugs and requests

Ableton Note

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Occasional loss of unsaved work
  • Freezing issues when editing clips

Requested features

6 requests
  • Audio track support
  • Expanded note editing tools
  • Midi controller support
  • More effects and synth options
  • Time signature flexibility
Show 1 more
  • Ability to import samples from Ableton Live

ABLooplay

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Ableton Note

One-time1
  • Drift In-App Purchase$3.99
None

ABLooplay

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Ableton Note free?
Ableton Note costs $6.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is ABLooplay free?
ABLooplay is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Ableton Note or ABLooplay have ads?
ABLooplay shows ads; Ableton Note does not.
Which is updated more often, Ableton Note or ABLooplay?
Ableton Note ships an update every 5 weeks, and ABLooplay every 9 days. Most recently, Ableton Note was updated on October 14, 2026 and ABLooplay on October 14, 2026.

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