Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox vs e
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox
This app acts as a MIDI control surface for iPads, simulating a 31-button diatonic button accordion. It's designed to control external hardware or virtual instruments, offering customizable MIDI settings and a push/pull bellows simulation.
- 31-button three-row diatonic button accordion layout
- CoreMIDI control surface for iPad
- Simulates push/pull bellows action
- Customizable MIDI volume, channel, and velocity
- Supports transposition for different tunings
- Virtual MIDI port output option
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The Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox is a 31-button three-row diatonic Button Accordion CoreMIDI control surface for the iPad. The app doesn't produce any sound on it 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, IK Multimedia SampleTank®, or Sonosaurus ThumbJam running on your iPad. Inspired by the iconic Hohner Corona II, the app uses the standard GCF (Sol) button layout popular for Tex-Mex, Norteño, Tejano, Conjunto, Vallenato, and similar styles of button accordion. Please visit the app website to see a demo video of playing SampleTank with the Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox. Touch the buttons with the fingers on your right hand to play. Buttons highlight when playing. Multiple buttons may be pressed at the same time to make chords. This style of accordion plays different notes depending on whether you are pushing or pulling on the bellows. Touch the anywhere in the bellows image at the top of the screen for PUSH notes, lift your finger for PULL notes. The PUSH/PULL indicator shows the current bellows direction. Also, the sides of the bellows light up tracking the bellows motion You may slide your fingers between the buttons. Touch the MIDI connector icon at the upper left corner to show the MIDI controls. Using the controls, you may set the overall instrument MIDI volume, MIDI modulation, MIDI channel (1-8), key attack velocity playing style (fixed or variable), velocity min/max, and transposition (+/- 12 semitones). Both fixed and variable velocity modes are provided to allow for expressive playback. In the variable velocity modes, the X or Y touch position within the bellows sets the velocity for the notes being played. The range for the velocity is set using the Min and Max Velocity sliders. For fixed velocity, the Max Velocity slider value is used. You may also set the Max Velocity to less than the Min Velocity to reverse the direction for velocity mapping in the bellows touch areas. The app is based on the standard GCF tuning. Other common tunings can be achieved by setting the transposition control. For example, for FBbEb (Fa) tuning, set a -2 semitone transposition. For EAD (Mi) tuning, set a -3 semitone transposition. Touch the '?' icon to show the base layout note names for each button (without transposition). Use the "Transmit MIDI Port" switch to choose between "Omni" sending MIDI data to all CoreMIDI apps (matches previous versions of the app) or "Virtual Port" sending to a named CoreMIDI virtual output port. When the "Virtual Port option is selected, the app will show up as an input option in apps that support virtual ports like Sonosaurus ThumbJam and MidiBridge. "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 'i' button at the middle top to send a MIDI "All Notes Off" message quiet any "stuck" notes if they occur. Settings for use with other MIDI synthesizer apps: Sonosaurus ThumbJam: - In "Preferences", under "Options", enabled "Background Audio". If using the "Virtual Port" transmit port option, enable the input port under Preferences / MIDI Control / MIDI Input Connections. IK Multimedia SampleTank: - In Settings (touch the gear icon), enable "Background Audio". IK Multimedia iRig MIDI Hardware MIDI Interface: - For simple direct connection, in MIDI SqueezeBox, set the "Transmit MIDI Port" option to "Omni" . - If using a MIDI filtering app like MidiBridge to modify the data stream, in MIDI SqueezeBox, set the "Transmit MIDI Port" option to "Virtual Port". Other CoreMIDI compatible synth apps will have similar settings. Touch the 'i' icon to show the instructions page. Be sure to visit the AppCordions.com website for MIDI setup and demo videos!
e
Create retro-style music with a sampling keyboard featuring tempo-based looping. Record, manipulate, and play back samples with various effects and flexible playback modes. Integrate with other audio apps and control parameters via MIDI.
- Retro sampling keyboard
- Tempo-based looping
- Reverb, bit crusher, resonant filter
- Multiple loop and start/stop modes
- MIDI control and Core MIDI support
- AUv3, Audiobus, Inter App Audio integration
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Elsa is a retro style sampling keyboard with tempo based looping. Record, save, load, reverse samples with a multi octave on screen keyboard or plug in your core midi device of choice, soft- or hardware. Elsa comes with three built in effects, a reverb, a resonant filter and a sample rate/bit crusher. Samples are looped in three different modes, one off, forward and/or forward-reverse. The start and end of playback also comes in three modes, one set of start and stop for all, one set per note and/or one set per octave, allowing for many different types of samples. Additionally at playback time, sample length can also be controlled by a set of sample dividers, 1-8. Elsa supports connections with AudioCopy, AudioBus, Inter App Audio and AUv3. Plus all audio parameters can be modulated by MIDI. +++ Sample keyboard +++ Tempo based looping +++ ADSR +++ Bit/sample crush +++ Reverb +++ Resonant filter: low, band or high pass +++ Record, trim, normalise, reverse, zoom +++ Chromatic and scale keyboard +++ 3 loop modes (one off, forward, forward-reverse) +++ 3 start/stop modes (one for all, one per note, one per octave) +++ Playback length dividers (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) +++ Arpeggiator +++ Presets: save/load settings +++ Audio connections: AUv3, Audiobus, Inter App Audio +++ Midi: Core Midi, Bluetooth Midi, AUv3 Midi +++ Ableton Link
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: e at 87% against Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox's 30%. e also leads on rating (4.9 vs 1.0) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 22 months). Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox's advantage is price ($4.99 vs $5.99). On ads, 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
Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox costs $4.99 and e $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
e holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: e has 31 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 30% of Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox's written reviews are positive against 87% of e's.
Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox ships an update every 22 months, e every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox | e |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 — better | $5.99 |
| Rating | 1.0 (1 ratings) | 4.9 (31 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 30.0% of reviews | 87.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 31 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 22 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 43 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Michael Eskin | Erik Sigth |
Customer experience
Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox
e
In-app purchases
Hohner MIDI SqueezeBox
No in-app purchases
e
No in-app purchases









