MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface vs Bodhrán Drum Loops
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface
This app acts as a MIDI control surface for iPad, simulating Irish/Scottish bagpipe fingerings. It allows you to play external MIDI synthesizers or other MIDI apps, offering distinct fingering modes for Uilleann and Highland pipes. It does not produce sound on its own.
- Irish/Scottish bagpipe fingering simulation
- MIDI control surface for external synths
- Uilleann and Highland fingering modes
- Independent MIDI channels for chanter and drones
- Optional finger vibrato
- Adjustable drone transposition
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This app is a Irish/Scottish Bagpipes fingering based MIDI control surface for the iPad that can be used to play your hardware MIDI synthesizer/sampler modules or other MIDI apps. The chanter fingerings are based on either those used for the Irish Uilleann or Scottish Highland bagpipes. The app doesn't produce any sound on its own, it is designed for playing hardware and software VST-style MIDI synthesizers via a CoreMIDI compatible interface connected to the dock connector or virtual MIDI instruments like Roland Sound Canvas for iOS, Universal Piper, or Sonosaurus ThumbJam running on your iPad. The app supports sending data on two independent MIDI channels, one for the chanter and the other for the drones. IMPORTANT: Since this app requires as many as 9 fingers on the screen at the same time, before playing, disable "Multitasking Gestures" on your iPad (in the iPad Settings app, under the General section, turn the Multitasking Gestures switch to the off position). Choose between Uilleann and Highland chanter fingerings using the selector below the drone puck. Touch the '?' on the upper left corner for the on-screen help labels. For Uilleann fingerings, you can choose whether the back-D note plays when the Back-D switch is touched (Open mode) or released (Closed mode). Closed mode matches the real Uilleann chanter. Touch the drone puck to start/stop the drones. For the Highland pipes, you'll want to set the drone transposition two semitones higher than the chanter Using Uilleann Chanter Fingering To play the chanter, touch the three holes of the left side of the chanter starting with the tips of your left index, middle, and ring fingers. Next, touch the four holes on the right side of the chanter with the tips of your right index, middle, ring, and little fingers. Touch the green "Octave" bar on the left side with your left little finger to play the notes one octave higher. Optional finger vibrato may be done by touching holes below the main closed holes used for a note. Using Highland Chanter Fingering Touch the bar at the bottom of the screen with your left thumb. It represents the hole on the back of the chanter for the highest note and must be covered for other lower notes to play. The app uses chanter fingerings based on those for the Highland pipes. Next, touch the left half of the chanter starting with the tips of your left index, middle, and ring fingers. Finally, touch the right half of the chanter with the tips of your right index, middle, ring, and little fingers. Touch the blue "Back-D" bar at the bottom left center with your left thumb to play the second octave "Back-D" selectable on either a press or release. (Uilleann chanter mode only) Touch the red "Stop" bar at the bottom right center with your right thumb to stop the chanter sound for staccato techniques. (Uilleann chanter mode only) Touch the purple "Bend" bar on the lower right with your right little finger to bend the pitch or play finger vibrato. (Uilleann chanter mode only) You may select the MIDI channel, attack velocity and volume for the chanter and drones independently using the sliders at the top of the screen. The entire range may be transposed up or down up to one octaves (zero transpose is "C") in semitone increments using the chanter and drone transpose sliders. Use the "Transmit MIDI Port" switch to choose between "Omni" sending MIDI data to all CoreMIDI apps or "Virtual Port" sending to a named CoreMIDI virtual output port. When the "Virtual Port option is selected, MIDIPIpes will show up as an input option in apps that support virtual ports like Universal Piper, and Sonosaurus ThumbJam. "Omni" mode is selected by default. All MIDI settings are saved when the app quits and restored the next time it is run. Touch the 'Shhh' icon at the lower left to quiet any "stuck" notes if they occur. Be sure to visit the AppCordions.com website for MIDI setup information and demo videos!
Bodhrán Drum Loops
This app provides authentic bodhrán drum loops for musicians. Easily control tempo with a slider and integrate with other music software. Access tutorial videos for guidance.
- Intuitive bodhrán drum looper
- Adjustable tempo slider
- Stop button functionality
- Tutorial video access
- Audiobus and Ableton Link integration
- Demo button for raw sound files
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Ancient beats on modern technology. Single Serving Bodhran drum looper Designed to be intuitive but if you need instructions 1) Press any large button to play the bodhrán drum loop. 2) Move the slider toward the bunny to make the beat go faster 2 /b/ Move the slider toward the turtle the beat goes slower. 3) The Stop button stops the loop. 4)The web button takes you to a tutorial video Connect with Audiobus and Ableton Link for limitless music-making Demo button for tutorial and raw Bodhran sound files. Recorded in Odd time signatures BPM is rounded
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bodhrán Drum Loops at 50% against MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface's 0%. Bodhrán Drum Loops also leads on rating (3.7 vs 2.0) and ratings volume (13 vs 2). MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 33 months). On price, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface costs $4.99 and Bodhrán Drum Loops $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Bodhrán Drum Loops holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bodhrán Drum Loops has 13 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface's written reviews are positive against 50% of Bodhrán Drum Loops's.
MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface ships an update every 3 weeks, Bodhrán Drum Loops every 33 months. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface | Bodhrán Drum Loops |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | $4.99 |
| Rating | 2.0 (2 ratings) | 3.7 (13 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 50.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 13 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 33 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Michael Eskin | Abu Studio Inc |
Customer experience
MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface
Bodhrán Drum Loops
In-app purchases
MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface
No in-app purchases
Bodhrán Drum Loops
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface free?
Is Bodhrán Drum Loops free?
Which has better reviews, MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface or Bodhrán Drum Loops?
Do MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface or Bodhrán Drum Loops have ads?
Which is updated more often, MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface or Bodhrán Drum Loops?
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