Comparison

Surface Builder vs Wristrax

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

Head to head
About

Surface Builder

Create custom MIDI control surfaces for audio applications. Design interfaces with buttons, knobs, and faders to send and receive MIDI data, control audio clips, and customize appearance. Supports AUv3 plugins and standalone use.

Highlights
  • Customizable MIDI control surfaces
  • AUv3 plugin and standalone modes
  • Send/receive MIDI data (notes, controllers, pitch bend)
  • Audio clip playback control
  • Multi-scene interface design
  • Drag and drop interface customization
Features
Read full description

Surface Builder is a tool for creating control surfaces that send MIDI data to one or more audio components in order to simplify remote control tasks. You start by creating a surface of a given size, adding buttons, knobs, faders, etc. to the surface and configuring them to generate the required MIDI output. Surface Builder allows you to send note on/off, controller change and program change values as well as being able to emulate modulation wheel and pitch bend data. Buttons can also be configured to send bulk MIDI data using a single key press. You can build surfaces that span multiple scenes and link between them for large complex interfaces. Incoming MIDI data can also be used to control or trigger elements of the interface, giving a bi-directional stream of MIDI data. Surface Builder can be added as a pure MIDI plugin which allows processing of MIDI only, or as an instrument plugin, allowing you to process audio passing through it. You can even load it as an intrument and configure a surface to start and stop audio clips either manually or remotely. Surface Builder was designed to be used as an AUv3 plugin within your favourite DAW, but it can also be used in standalone to send MIDI directly to MIDI hardware using direct access to their MIDI ports. Many different object types are supported including buttons, switches, lights, rotary knobs, faders, sliders, XY-Pad, keyboards, as well as text, image and box objects. Each object has many different styles and colours, so no two surfaces look the same. Drag and drop an audio file onto a button and that button becomes a clip player. Attach rotary knobs to control the clips volume and pan. Throw on top of that a LP/HP filter knob and you are cooking on gas. Drop PNG transparent image icons on buttons to customise the look and feel. A button can record and playback bulk MIDI commands, on both button press and release. So pressing a button could send the notes of a chord when pressed, and appropriate note offs on release. A surface can consist of up to 6 scenes for really complex designs. Buttons and switches can be used to switch scenes and also to show and hide other objects to make better use of screen space. Once your surface is complete switch to presentation mode to hide all the toolbars. Each surface can be saved with compressed audio and images all in a single surface file. Features ○ AUv3 and standalone modes. ○ Bluetooth MIDI support. ○ Drag and Drop interface. ○ Send and Receive Note On/Off. ○ Supports all Control Change parameters. ○ Supports Program Change commands with bank support. ○ Multiple Audio Clip playback. ○ Record and playback bulk midi data. ○ Multi-Scene. ○ Multi-level undo/redo. ○ MIDI Monitor ○ Presentation Mode. ○ iPhone and iPad compatible.

About

Wristrax

Access and play your personal music library from your Apple Watch. Browse artists, albums, and playlists, then download and transfer tracks for offline listening without needing your phone.

Highlights
  • Offline Plex music playback
  • Browse artists, albums, playlists
  • Download tracks to phone
  • Transfer music to Apple Watch
  • Play music with connected AirPods
  • Supports Play Now widget
Features
Read full description

** Requires a Plex Media Server and a Plex account. Wristrax displays music from your own Plex library; no content is provided by the app. ** Plex and Plexamp are great. But what if you want to have your music on your Apple Watch? At the gym or while running, carrying your phone just to listen to music is not great. Wristrax finally brings offline playback to your Plex library. Browse artists, albums and playlists, download tracks to your phone, and transfer them to your Apple Watch. Here, you can browse your tracks and play them, for example with connected AirPods. Supports the Play Now widget. Files can be transcoded server-side for saving pace, or transferred as is. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Surface Builder4 screens
Wristrax4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Wristrax at Free against Surface Builder's $14.99. Wristrax also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). Surface Builder's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (15 vs 1). On ads and device support 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

Wristrax is free to download; Surface Builder costs $14.99 up front. Wristrax sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per year. Surface Builder asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Wristrax holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Surface Builder has 15 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Surface Builder ships an update every 3 weeks, Wristrax weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Surface Builder versus Wristrax: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSurface BuilderWristrax
Price$14.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (15 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings15 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS13 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer4Pockets.comHolger Schueler

Customer experience

Surface Builder

All ratings15 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral13.3%
Negative6.7%

Wristrax

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Surface Builder

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Wristrax

Subscriptions1
  • Annual Unlocked$8.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Unlimited$24.99

Questions

Is Surface Builder free?
Surface Builder costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Wristrax free?
Wristrax is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Surface Builder or Wristrax?
Wristrax is rated higher. Surface Builder averages 4.7 out of 5 from 15 ratings, while Wristrax averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Surface Builder or Wristrax have ads?
Neither Surface Builder nor Wristrax shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Surface Builder or Wristrax?
Surface Builder ships an update every 3 weeks, and Wristrax weekly. Most recently, Surface Builder was updated on September 22, 2026 and Wristrax on September 13, 2026.

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