Comparison

midigarden vs MIDI

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

Head to head
About

midigarden

Transform your device into a touch-based synthesizer. Play melodies and chords on a responsive grid, load custom sound patches, and control parameters live. Ideal for live performance, sketching ideas, and sound design.

Highlights
  • Touch grid with multiple scales
  • Retrospective looper
  • Custom Pure Data patch loading
  • Live parameter control
  • Built-in synthesizers
  • Optional camera background
Features
Read full description

midigarden is a touch-based synthesizer that turns your iPhone or iPad into a musical instrument. Play melodies on an 5x8 grid mapped to musical scales. Each pad triggers notes with 8-voice polyphony, letting you play chords and melodies with your fingers. FEATURES • Touch Grid - Play notes on a responsive grid. Choose from multiple scales including major, minor, pentatonic, and chromatic. • Retrospective Looper - Captures what you just played, even if you weren't recording. Never lose a good take. • Custom Patches - Load your own Pure Data patches via the Files app. The app automatically wraps them with voice allocation and mixing. • Live Parameters - Every knob and slider in your patch becomes a touchable control. Drag to adjust in real-time. • Built-in Synthesizers - Ships with patches ready to play, physical models, fm and drum synths. • Camera Background - Optional live camera feed behind the grid for screen-recorded performances. PURE DATA POWERED Under the hood, midigarden runs Pure Data patches - the same open-source audio engine used by professional musicians and sound designers worldwide. Create patches on your computer and load them into the app. PERFECT FOR • Live performance and jamming • Sketching musical ideas • Learning synthesis • Use iOS screen capture with background camera to make performance videos that capture the mood and environment • Sound design experiments No music theory required. Just touch and play.

About

MIDI

This app helps you discover, test, and troubleshoot MIDI devices like controllers and synths. It allows you to send specific MIDI commands and monitor incoming messages with timestamps for verification.

Highlights
  • Discover USB, Bluetooth, and RTP MIDI devices
  • Send specific MIDI commands (Notes, CC, System Common, Real-Time)
  • Monitor inbound MIDI with live, timestamped log
  • Filter MIDI messages by command type
  • Verify pitch bend and high-resolution CCs
  • Test custom hardware and software MIDI implementations
Read full description

MIDIProbe is a pocket MIDI utility for iPhone and iPad that helps you discover, test, and troubleshoot MIDI devices (e.g., controllers, synths, mixers). Pick which endpoints to send to or listen to, fire off the exact MIDI commands you need, and watch a live, timestamped log to verify every message. • Discover USB, Bluetooth, and RTP network MIDI devices, and see detailed info like IDs, serial numbers, and transport type before selecting send/receive targets. - Send MIDI fast with interactive cards: - Notes, Control Change (CC), Program Change, Aftertouch, Pitch Bend; - System Common (Song Position Pointer, Song Select, Tune Request); - Real-Time (Start/Stop/Continue, Clock, Active Sensing, Reset); • Monitor inbound MIDI with a live log or grouped-by-command view, with filters for command types, clear controls, and timestamps. Typical use cases: • Reverse-engineer mixer control quickly:  You have an X32 mixer and want to use a floorboard to mute/unmute channels. Connect both to MIDIProbe, discover the right endpoints, and watch which channel/CC/value combinations actually toggle mutes—then verify your floorboard sends the exact same messages before you risk it live. • Map a foot controller to a multi-FX unit:  You want to configure a floorboard to switch presets/settings on your multi-effects processor. Use MIDIProbe to identify which Program Changes or CCs trigger the functions you need, then confirm the outgoing messages match your intended mapping. • Confirm keyboard controller channel routing:  Check whether your keyboard is transmitting on the correct MIDI channel (or accidentally sending Omni), and verify splits/layers are hitting the channels your synth or app expects. • Validate DAW controller templates:  Debug pad controller mappings for Ableton/Logic/Cubase—see exactly which notes/CCs each pad/knob/fader is sending, catch duplicated CC numbers, and confirm bank switching. • Troubleshoot “why doesn’t it respond?” fast:  If your synth/module isn’t reacting, use MIDIProbe to confirm whether it’s receiving anything at all, whether the messages are on the wrong channel, or whether you’re sending the wrong command type. • Verify pitch bend and high-resolution CCs:  Check pitch bend ranges and whether devices send 14-bit (MSB/LSB) pairs correctly for smooth parameter changes. • Build and test custom hardware/software:  If you’re developing MIDI controller firmware or a MIDI iOS/macOS app, use MIDIProbe as your “known good” sender/receiver to test parsing, edge cases, and message timing. If you’re into this kind of thing, MIDIProbe is for you.

Screenshots

midigarden3 screens
MIDI4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: midigarden at 3 against MIDI's 1. On price, rating, 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for midigarden against 5.0 for MIDI. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 7 level
midigarden versus MIDI: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParametermidigardenMIDI
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings3 — better1
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWilliam SharkeyMichael Hitz

In-app purchases

None

midigarden

No in-app purchases

None

MIDI

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is midigarden free?
midigarden is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MIDI free?
MIDI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, midigarden or MIDI?
midigarden and MIDI are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do midigarden or MIDI have ads?
Neither midigarden nor MIDI shows ads.

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