Comparison

TouchBells vs SampleTank

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

Head to head
About

TouchBells

This app is a virtual carillon instrument for iPad, offering xylophone, vibraphone, and tubular bell sounds. Users can play freely, record and share songs, and learn to play through a teach mode. It's designed for musical exploration and early childhood education.

Highlights
  • Virtual carillon instrument
  • Xylophone, Vibraphone, Tubular Bells sounds
  • Song recording and playback
  • Song sharing with other users
  • Teach mode for learning songs
  • Adjustable stereo effect
  • Tunable instrument pitch
Read full description

TouchBells is an easy and fun to use carillon music instrument (Glockenspiel) for the Apple iPad. The instrument covers a range of 1 1/2 octaves (from C3 to F#4). Classic Xylophone sounds, Vibraphone sounds and Tubular Bells sounds are available. With TouchBells, you can just freely play along or record and play back your songs. You can also share the songs you recorded with other TouchBells users. By using the TouchBells teach mode,  you can learn how to play the songs other TouchBells users share with you. TouchBells is also great for kids early musical education. TouchBells has several unique features: - Xylophone or Vibraphone sounds. - Adjustable Stereo effect. - Its tunable, you can alter the instrument pitch. - Song recording and song management. - Share you songs with other TouchBells users by eMail. - Export your songs for iTunes. - Learn how to play using the Teach Mode. - Play dynamically using TouchBells touch-sensitivity feature. - Choose from four different bar captions (None, German-, American- and Solmisation-Style). Furthermore, TouchBells includes 25 demo songs: - Cradlesong (Wiegenlied) - Frere Jacques - Muss i denn, muss i denn zum Staedtele naus - Silent Night - My Bonny Is Over The Ocean - Ode to Joy - The moon as risen - Rondo all Turka (Turkish March) - When the Saints Go Marching In - Matilda - What shall we do with the trunken sailor? - Kojo no Tsuki - The Song of the Volga Boatmen - La Cucaracha - O Christmas Tree - Jingle Bells - Happy Birthday To You - Schneewalzer - Auld Lang Syne - Row, Row, Row Your Boat - Für Elise - Michael Row the Boat Ashore - She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain - Hänschen Klein - Old Mac Donald With the demo songs and the TouchBells Teach Mode, you can start directly with the learning how to play!

About

SampleTank

This professional mobile workstation offers a vast collection of world-class instruments, sounds, and patterns for live performance and composition. Layer or split instruments across 8 multitimbral slots, with an expandable library and a powerful new sound engine.

Highlights
  • 8-part multitimbral sound module
  • Expandable sound library with 2300+ instruments
  • Over 1,200 melodic and rhythmic patterns
  • 8-track MIDI recorder with audio export
  • Intuitive interface
  • New sound engine
  • Zones feature for splits & layers
Read full description

SampleTank 2 for iOS is a professional, fully featured mobile sound and groove workstation that brings the sound, power and features of desktop virtual instruments to your iPad and iPhone — without compromise. It is designed for professional live performance, song composition and puts a comprehensive array of world-class instruments, sounds and patterns right at your fingertips. SampleTank gives you 8 multitimbral instrument slots that you can easily layer or split. Choose from a comprehensive, expandable sound collection that covers virtually every acoustic and electronic sound imaginable. Plus, each instrument category includes instrument riffs and grooves so you can start composing and playing in no time. The included instruments and the new sound engine are derived from the desktop version of SampleTank, IK's flagship workstation, offering you unmatched realism, variety of sound and audio performance. For the first time on iOS, thousands of professional sample-based sounds and patterns can be easily accessed, layered and used for playing live or in the studio. SampleTank 2 comes with over 140 instruments and 1,000 patterns including pianos, electric pianos, synths, organs, drums, basses, guitars, strings, brass, woodwinds, voices, ethnic instruments, percussion and sound FX. What’s more, SampleTank offers an ever-growing library of sounds and are available via in-app purchase: • Elektronika - a series of electronica and EDM-oriented groove libraries and sound collections that make it easy to create hits in today’s most popular styles • Miroslav Philharmonik — the legendary orchestral libraries, now available on your mobile device! Stunningly realistic and expressive samples of a wide range of orchestra and percussion instruments. • SampleTank PRO - the latest and most high-end sounds and grooves available, letting you create professional-grade compositions on your mobile device • Plus additional libraries covering cinematic sounds, the finest pianos, drum libraries from iconic drummers and much more! SampleTank for iOS offers over 2,300 instruments and over 1,200 MIDI patterns — the largest collection of sounds available for any virtual instrument for iOS. Features: • 8-part multitimbral professional quality sound and groove module • Expandable sound library with 2300+ instrument • Over 1,200 melodic and rhythmic patterns • 8-track MIDI recorder with audio export • Totally redesigned intuitive interface • New sound engine derived from SampleTank 3 for Mac/PC • Zones feature lets you easily create splits & layers on your controller • Song and Live environments for composing and playing • Built-in insert effects and master reverb • MIDI learn feature makes programming external controllers easy • Plug-and-play compatibility with iRig interfaces and controller • Polyphony: up to 64 voices on new Apple devices

Screenshots

SampleTank4 screens

Verdict

The call

TouchBells and SampleTank both sit at 2.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 78% of TouchBells's written reviews are positive against 30% of SampleTank's. TouchBells also leads on price ($1.99 vs $24.99) and in-app purchases (none vs 13). SampleTank's advantage is ratings volume (109 vs 2) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months). On rating 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

TouchBells costs $1.99 and SampleTank $24.99 up front. SampleTank sells 13 one-off in-app purchases. TouchBells asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SampleTank holds the better App Store score, 2.7 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SampleTank has 109 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 78% of TouchBells's written reviews are positive against 30% of SampleTank's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TouchBells ships an update every 5 months, SampleTank every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
TouchBells versus SampleTank: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTouchBellsSampleTank
Price$1.99 — better$24.99
Rating2.5 (2 ratings)2.7 (109 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.8% of reviews — better29.8% of reviews
Number of ratings2109 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size66 MB1.5 GB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperThomas BraunIK Multimedia US, LLC

Customer experience

TouchBells

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive77.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative22.2%

SampleTank

All ratings107 ratings
Positive33.6%
Neutral16.8%
Negative49.5%
Written reviews305 reviews
Positive29.8%
Neutral13.4%
Negative56.7%

Bugs and requests

TouchBells

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

SampleTank

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Freezes when adjusting parameters
  • Crashes on launch for some users
  • Incompatible with certain iOS versions
  • Issues with downloading and restoring in-app purchases

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for Audio Unit (AUv3)
  • Improve MIDI integration and control
  • Implement a more robust sequencer
  • Allow user-defined pitch bend range
  • Add ability to back up and restore custom presets

In-app purchases

None

TouchBells

No in-app purchases

13 purchases

SampleTank

One-time13
  • Organ$4.99
  • Strings$4.99
  • Brass$4.99
Show 10 more
  • Synth Pads$4.99
  • Synth Leads$4.99
  • Electric Piano$7.99
  • The Grid$14.99
  • Miroslav Philharmonik - Mobile Edition$24.99
  • Sample Moog - Mobile Edition$24.99
  • Sonik Synth - Mobile Edition$24.99
  • All Sounds$64.99
  • SampleTank PRO - All Sounds Pack$64.99
  • Miroslav Philarmonik 2 - All Sounds Pack$64.99

Questions

Is TouchBells free?
TouchBells costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is SampleTank free?
SampleTank costs $24.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, TouchBells or SampleTank?
SampleTank is rated higher. TouchBells averages 2.5 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while SampleTank averages 2.7 from 109 ratings.
Do TouchBells or SampleTank have ads?
Neither TouchBells nor SampleTank shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TouchBells or SampleTank?
TouchBells ships an update every 5 months, and SampleTank every 2 months. Most recently, TouchBells was updated on October 29, 2026 and SampleTank on October 30, 2026.

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