MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface vs MESA Synth AUv3
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!
MESA Synth AUv3
This music creation tool transforms visuals into sound by rendering shaders and images into wavetables. It offers a powerful synthesis engine, extensive sound-shaping capabilities, and a full effects rack, all controllable through light and visual input.
- Visual-to-audio wavetable synthesis
- Unison oscillator stack with sub-oscillator
- Zero-delay-feedback filter
- Vision panel for sound shaping with light
- 26 stackable visual modifiers as audio effects
- 8-stage stereo FX rack
- Sampler mode with auto pitch-tracking
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MESA is a wavetable synthesizer unlike any other — it turns visuals into sound. Drop in a shader or a .vkograph and MESA renders it offscreen, reads the light across the image, and turns that into a wavetable you play. The picture literally becomes the oscillator — and the same visual keeps living behind your keys, reacting to every note. No other synth works like this. Behind the magic is a complete, serious instrument: THE ENGINE • 64-frame wavetables, FFT mip-banked for clean, alias-free playback everywhere • Unison oscillator stack with detune, spread, and a sub-oscillator • Zero-delay-feedback filter — cutoff, resonance, drive, self-oscillating • Full ADSR envelope, portamento glide, and a dedicated pitch envelope SHAPE THE SOUND WITH LIGHT • Vision panel: choose the scanline, weight color channels, bend the brightness curve, sweep time — one shader, a thousand timbres • 33 color palettes that reshape the tone, not just the look • VFX chain: 26 stackable visual modifiers, each one also an audio effect A FULL STUDIO • 3-slot modulation matrix with 2 LFOs, velocity, and mod wheel • 8-stage stereo FX rack: tape, wow & flutter, chorus, delay, reverb, lo-fi, tape-stop • Sampler mode — load any audio, auto pitch-tracked across the keys • Arpeggiator, Ableton Link, and MIDI Learn on nearly every control BUILT FOR YOUR WORKFLOW • AUv3 plug-in AND standalone app — one purchase, iOS + macOS • iCloud sync — build a patch on your Mac, it's ready on your iPhone • Categorized preset browser with import/export and full patch recall
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: MESA Synth AUv3 at 100% against MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface's 0%. MESA Synth AUv3 also leads on rating (3.0 vs 2.0) and device support (3 vs 1). MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface's advantage is price ($4.99 vs $8.99) and iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.4). On ratings volume, update cadence, 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
MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface costs $4.99 and MESA Synth AUv3 $8.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
MESA Synth AUv3 holds the better App Store score, 3.0 against 2.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface's written reviews are positive against 100% of MESA Synth AUv3's.
MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface ships an update every 3 weeks, MESA Synth AUv3 every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface | MESA Synth AUv3 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 — better | $8.99 |
| Rating | 2.0 (2 ratings) | 3.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 — better | 18.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Michael Eskin | Juan Maguid |
Customer experience
MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface
MESA Synth AUv3
In-app purchases
MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface
No in-app purchases
MESA Synth AUv3
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface free?
Is MESA Synth AUv3 free?
Which has better reviews, MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface or MESA Synth AUv3?
Do MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface or MESA Synth AUv3 have ads?
Which is updated more often, MIDI Bagpipes Control Surface or MESA Synth AUv3?
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