AUMI vs Mazetools Soniface
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AUMI
This app allows individuals with limited mobility to create music through movement and gestures. It focuses on improvisation and self-expression, making music accessible to a wider range of people, including those with profound physical disabilities.
- Music creation through movement and gestures
- Focus on improvisation and self-expression
- Accessible for individuals with profound physical disabilities
- Uses device cameras for input
- Configurable sound sensitivity
- MIDI controller functionality
- Import audio from other apps
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Adaptive Use Musical Instruments (AUMI) software interface enables people who have very limited controlled (voluntary) movement to independently engage in music making. The Adaptive Use Musical Instruments software interface enables the user to play sounds and musical phrases through movement and gestures. This is an entry to improvisation rather than “hitting the right notes” or playing set pieces of music. Instead, the software uses music as a way for participants to express a range of affects, both by themselves and in response to, or in conversation with, others. While the AUMI interface can be used by anyone, the focus has been on working with people who have profound physical disabilities. In taking these participants as its starting point, the project attempts to make musical improvisation and collaboration accessible to the widest possible range of individuals. This approach also opens up the possibility of learning more about the relations between ability, the body, creativity and improvisation, from within a cultural context that does not always acknowledge or accept people with disabilities. This iOS version of AUMI runs on devices with cameras, and can run on iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads. A large assortment of sounds can be triggered with configurable amounts of sensitivity. AUMI also can be used as a MIDI controller to access other iOS based synthesizers or external equipment (using the iPad's Camera Connection kit or via Core MIDI over WiFi.) AUMI can also import audio from other iOS or desktop apps to be used as melodic or percussive instruments. AUMI can capture a record of the movement in the session, which can be exported and turned into reports in a clinical setting.
Mazetools Soniface
Explore sound and music visually with a unique motion-controlled interface. Create and manipulate audio and visual elements using gestures, touch, and body tracking. Offers a modular approach to instruments and advanced automation for creative expression.
- Visual sound and music exploration
- Motion interface for gesture control
- Modular synth, sampler, and rhythm modules
- Generative Gridsynth synthesizer
- Advanced controller automation
- MIDI input/output and Ableton Link
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Mazetools opens up a unique approach to music and creativity. It's about exploring sounds in a new way, experiencing them visually, changing them through gestures, coming across something in the process, a sound, a melody, a groove, a song... For the first time, we have integrated an interface that allows you to control sound through movement. This is done through the camera of your device and ML-based body recognition. It enables new musical experiences and shared creative moments. Mazetools are unique in their operation and complex in their own way. For some it's a welcome change, for others it's too crazy, for some it's just the right introduction to the world of sound. There are currently two Mazetools: Mutant and Soniface. Mutant is comparable to a loop machine and works with a defined number of instruments. It produces results quickly, but thanks to the Hypercube it offers the possibility to change everything with a swipe and to hear sounds that always surprise us. Soniface, on the other hand, is more modular when it comes to adding instruments. The settings of the synth, sampler and rhythm modules go into great detail. An important feature is the Gridsynth, an area of lines that correspond to a scale over several octaves. Automation plays a major role in Soniface: all instruments and their controllers can be controlled via LFOs, touch and camera-based body tracking. Key Features - Creative space to explore sound, music and geometric visuals - Experiment with audio and visual objects and create your own scenes - Operate controllers and play instruments via multitouch - Motion interface to control instruments and parameters through gestures, movements and dance - Cross-platform compatibility of project files - Simple design for mobile devices, complex (regular) design for tablets and desktops - Advanced in-app guide, FAQ & help function in English and German Instruments - Gridsynth - A generative, visual synthesizer for drones and melodies incl. sequencer & arpeggiator - Rhythm sequencer for sample- and synth-based basses and drums - Spatial & granular soundscape sampler incl. mic input, sample library and file integration - Key interface for cross-instrument tonality incl. progression sequencer - Interactive LivePad and keyboard for Gridsynth, Bass & Sampler Automation & Connectivity - Advanced controller automation incl. multi-touch editor, body tracking interface - MIDI input and output - Master FX and Ableton Link - Audiobus & Inter-App Audio (experimental support) - Normal mouse and keyboard support Mazetools Soniface is free worldwide and without advertising. You can support our work, our vision and all Soniface users by purchasing Soniface Pro, which includes additionally: - Unlimited instruments (Mazes) - Pattern mode to create unlimited scenes for songs and performances - Visual mode with Airplay live video output for performance & VJing - Unlimited internal audio recording (.wav, up to 7.1 on desktop). We do our best to avoid bugs. So feel free to write us bugs and problems. Much more content, terms of use, credits and FAQ are in the app's guide. About Mazetools We are Stephan and Jakob, when we were 13 in 1999, we exchanged our first beat loops on floppy disks and wrote raps on them. Today we are still fascinated by sound, release our music and realize multimedia performances. You can find more information on Ectoplastic.com. With this background, we share a lot of practical experience with Mazetools, from generative sound & visual patches to the development of multi-touch & motion tracking interfaces and VR sound development. We use this technological core to empower creativity, make musical expression inclusive and thus democratize electronic music. We are still within this process, but there is a lot of potential! We invite you to join us. Every purchase directly supports, every positive review, post and constructive feedback. Thank you very much!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: AUMI at 5.0 against Mazetools Soniface's 4.5. AUMI also leads on iOS requirement (12.4 vs 14.0). Mazetools Soniface's advantage is update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (27 vs 4). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
AUMI holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mazetools Soniface has 27 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of AUMI's written reviews are positive against 60% of Mazetools Soniface's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
AUMI ships an update every 6 months, Mazetools Soniface every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AUMI | Mazetools Soniface |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better | 4.5 (27 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 60.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 27 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.4 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 69 MB | 478 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Ectoplastic |
Customer experience
AUMI
Mazetools Soniface
In-app purchases
AUMI
No in-app purchases
Mazetools Soniface
No in-app purchases









