Comparison

Sound Byte Cart Machine App vs Show|Ready

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

Head to head
About

Sound Byte Cart Machine App

This app provides a digital cart machine for playing sound clips on mobile devices. It's ideal for live events like theater, sports, or DJing, allowing easy management and playback of audio files without needing a computer.

Highlights
  • Digital cart machine for audio playback
  • Manage and control sound files
  • Ideal for live events and productions
  • Customizable cart appearance and behavior
  • Adjustable playback settings (fade, volume, rate)
  • Looping and sequential playback options
  • Logging of played carts
Features
Read full description

Looking for a way to play sound clips at a theater or sporting events, as a DJ, or at other events? Don’t want to lug a computer around with you? With Sound Byte, the so-called "cart machine" used at radio stations in the past is now available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Whether you're programming a radio show or amateur podcast, adding spice to the commentary at a local sporting event, controlling sound effects for a theater production, or simply organizing your personal playlist, Sound Byte lets you manage and control playback of your audio files. Sound Byte is perfect for: Radio, podcast and TV productions - have ads, announcements, songs and sound effects at your fingertips. Theater Productions - play any sound effect on cue. Sports Events - jazz up the commentary for your home team with sound effects each time they score. Sound Byte supports up to 20 racks of carts, or up to 1500 recordings total (420 on the iPhone/iPod). You can set the number of racks in use, so you don’t have to deal with empty, unused racks. Using Sound Byte is easy - just tap a cart, and playback of the audio file begins. You can set the title of each cart, as well as the background color. Optionally, you can have the app automatically change cart colors based on their state: empty, loaded, playing, and already played. Carts can also be numbered if you wish, and you can mark carts with a bright red border to make them easier to find, to play next. Fade in and out times can be set, as well as the cut in and cut out times, the playback volume, stereo pan, and rate. The volume of carts can be set while they are playing, and you can set the volume up to 200%, in case you have some recordings that are at too low of a level for normal playback. Carts can be set to loop a specified number of times - great for sound effects! Carts can be set to flash a user configured number of seconds before they finish playing, so you can get ready to play the next one. Interactions between carts can also be controlled - touching a cart to start it can optionally cause currently playing carts to stop playback or fade out. You can even set carts up to play sequentially, so once one ends, the next one starts playing. Carts that have been played can be marked as such, as well as disabled, if you only want to play a cart once. You can also log the name and time of played carts to a text file that you can copy back to your computer to view. This log can also be viewed from within the app. Several sizes of carts are supported, so you can display fewer larger carts to make playback control even easier. Sound Byte plays sound files from your Music Library. Note that sound files stored on iCloud cannot be played, they must be stored on your device. Sound Byte also plays sound files that you have installed in the Documents folder, which you can access via the iTunes app. Note that the screenshots are for illustration only, so you can see how the app works. Sound Byte does not come with any sound files, you'll need to supply your own. Please see http://www.blackcatsystems.com/ipad/iPad_SoundByte_FAQ.html for a full description of how to use the app. Buy your copy of Sound Byte now, and get complete control over playback of your sound effects and other files.

About

Show|Ready

This app provides essential music rehearsal tools for musical theater productions. It offers playback features on iOS devices and director's editing on iPads. A license from a theatrical publisher is required to use the app.

Highlights
  • Music playback
  • Director's editing (iPad)
  • iOS compatibility
  • License integration
Features
Read full description

Show|Ready Mobile is the ultimate music rehearsal solution for musical theater. Show|Ready Mobile gives you all the playback features of the desktop Show|Ready on your iOS device. Additionally The director's editing features are available only on the iPad. A valid license of Show|Ready must be purchased first from Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Samuel French, Steele Spring or Plays for Young Audiences before you can use Show|Ready Mobile. Show|Ready Mobile only needs to be purchased once and then can be used with multiple Show|Ready licenses.

Screenshots

Sound Byte Cart Machine App4 screens
Show|Ready3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Show|Ready at Free against Sound Byte Cart Machine App's $5.99. Sound Byte Cart Machine App's advantage is rating (4.1 vs 2.7) and review sentiment (64% vs 26%). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Show|Ready is free to download; Sound Byte Cart Machine App costs $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sound Byte Cart Machine App holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 2.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 158 and 84 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of Sound Byte Cart Machine App's written reviews are positive against 26% of Show|Ready's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sound Byte Cart Machine App ships an update every 3 months, Show|Ready every 4 months. Both last shipped on October 26, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Sound Byte Cart Machine App versus Show|Ready: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSound Byte Cart Machine AppShow|Ready
Price$5.99Free — better
Rating4.1 (158 ratings) — better2.7 (84 ratings)
Positive reviews64.4% of reviews — better26.4% of reviews
Number of ratings158 — better84
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB12 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperBlack Cat SystemsRight On Cue Services, LLC

Customer experience

Sound Byte Cart Machine App

All ratings158 ratings
Positive77.8%
Neutral4.4%
Negative17.7%
Written reviews149 reviews
Positive64.4%
Neutral6.0%
Negative29.5%

Show|Ready

All ratings81 ratings
Positive37.0%
Neutral11.1%
Negative51.9%
Written reviews72 reviews
Positive26.4%
Neutral15.3%
Negative58.3%

User reviews

Sound Byte Cart Machine App

From 158 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Intuitive and easy-to-use interface
  • 🎵 Excellent for sports events, radio, and theatre productions
  • 🎨 Customizable cart colors and rack configurations
  • ⚡ Reliable performance when working properly
  • 💰 Affordable price point

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes when adding music to library
  • ❌ Incompatible with streaming services (Apple Music, Spotify)
  • 📁 Files not sorted alphabetically in music library
  • ⚠️ Lacks support for modern iOS versions
  • 🔌 Requires iTunes for file management (outdated workflow)

Show|Ready

From 84 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Handy tool for learning parts
  • 👍 Useful for theater kids
  • 👍 Good for practicing songs
  • 👍 Helpful for learning harmonies
  • 👍 Can layer voices in/out

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Constantly crashing
  • 🐛 Glitchy and buggy
  • 🐛 App freezes often
  • 🐛 Hard to play transition tracks
  • 🐛 Sound stops instead of restarting

Bugs and requests

Sound Byte Cart Machine App

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • App crashes when accessing music library (iOS 13+)
  • Crashes when tapping Setup or Music Library on iPhone 13
  • Blank screen display on iOS 26.1
  • Cart setup crashes after recent updates
  • Crashes when loading song list
Show 13 more
  • Sound files not displaying in alphabetical order
  • App hangs and becomes unresponsive
  • Crashes on iPad when importing tracks
  • Sound distortion with cart rate feature
  • Music not playing on iPad despite files being present
  • App crashes when adding new music
  • Crashes on iOS 13.6.1 and later versions
  • Sound fades in and out unexpectedly
  • App freezes during live use
  • Performance lag after linking multiple buttons
  • Cart colors not persisting after selection
  • Files disappearing from cart buttons
  • Incompatibility with Catalina macOS update

Requested features

22 requests
  • Mac OS version
  • Exportable rack setups for multiple devices
  • Alphabetical sorting of music library
  • Backup and restore functionality
  • Cloud sync across devices (iCloud)
Show 17 more
  • Dropbox and Google Drive integration
  • Split-screen iPad support
  • Interapp Audio (IAA) and Audiobus support
  • Larger stop button to prevent accidental triggers
  • Volume slider control
  • Pause, rewind, and fast-forward controls
  • Ability to duplicate entire carts
  • Default cart color settings
  • Improved color picker (grid instead of wheel)
  • Direct iPad file importing without PC/Mac
  • Support for .wav files
  • Ability to load ringtones
  • Sequential track triggering (one track starts next)
  • Improved cart rate feature quality
  • Adaptive resolution for modern iPhones
  • Larger buttons for iPhone version
  • Better documentation and updated FAQ

Show|Ready

Reported bugs

31 issues
  • App crashes constantly
  • App freezes frequently
  • App glitches
  • App randomly kicks user out
  • Buttons not visible on iPhone screen
Show 26 more
  • Passcode entry crashes app
  • Settings do not save
  • App disappears from phone
  • App needs to be reloaded
  • Crashes when trying to repeat songs
  • Music stops playing, only click track
  • Tempo changes disappear after freeze
  • Glitches on vamps/repeats/cesuras
  • Needs complete reboot
  • UI issues on iPhone/iPad
  • No vocal tracks
  • App crashes on login
  • Tracks not loading
  • App closes immediately upon opening
  • Audio freezes
  • Tempo issues or song stops briefly
  • Song comes in/out at specific measures
  • Adjustments do not save
  • Parts not playing sometimes
  • Cannot play parts after repeat/fermata
  • Constantly crashing when opening app
  • Doesn't show music
  • Randomly mutes everything
  • New update hides song title
  • Instruments sound bad
  • Laggy performance

Requested features

10 requests
  • More musical sounds than synth
  • Minute/seconds counter for song length
  • Ability to move tab bar to bottom
  • Mobile view score
  • Ability to make notes on the score
Show 5 more
  • Option to mute metronome in mixer tab
  • Score in the app
  • Ability to loop sections
  • Dark mode option
  • Better quality instruments

In-app purchases

None

Sound Byte Cart Machine App

No in-app purchases

None

Show|Ready

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sound Byte Cart Machine App free?
Sound Byte Cart Machine App costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Show|Ready free?
Show|Ready is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sound Byte Cart Machine App or Show|Ready?
Sound Byte Cart Machine App is rated higher. Sound Byte Cart Machine App averages 4.1 out of 5 from 158 ratings, while Show|Ready averages 2.7 from 84 ratings.
Do Sound Byte Cart Machine App or Show|Ready have ads?
Neither Sound Byte Cart Machine App nor Show|Ready shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sound Byte Cart Machine App or Show|Ready?
Sound Byte Cart Machine App ships an update every 3 months, and Show|Ready every 4 months. Most recently, Sound Byte Cart Machine App was updated on October 26, 2026 and Show|Ready on October 26, 2026.

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