Comparison

Grip vs Nebula Tide

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

Head to head
About

Grip

Control Ableton Live remotely from your iOS device. Manage transport, recording, track settings, and clips wirelessly. Includes a built-in MIDI keyboard for on-the-go note input.

Highlights
  • Wireless Ableton Live control
  • Voice control for transport and recording
  • Track arming, soloing, and muting
  • Clip launching and scene navigation
  • Built-in MIDI keyboard
  • Project saving and volume control
Features
Read full description

Grip is the missing app for Ableton Live. This app requires Grip Desktop to be running on the same computer as Ableton Live. Download that app first at www.gripforlive.com. Stay in creative flow with Grip: Remote control Ableton from anywhere in your studio, bedroom, or battlestation—at your synth, in the vocal booth, or from the couch. Grip connects to your computer over Wi-Fi as a native Live control surface. No MIDI mapping required. Stop running from your mic to the computer, or having to play guitar near your computer. With Grip, you can literally use your voice to say "record" and play directly into Ableton Live. Keep Grip with you at whatever instrument you're playing, to play, record, undo, redo, and even save from your phone or tablet. TRANSPORT & RECORDING • Control Live with your voice • Play, stop, record, and overdub • Undo and redo • Preview and record into scenes • Quickly loop between sections of your song in arrangement • Pre-roll recording before your locators • Toggle metronome • Save your project from your phone • Change volume • Arm, solo, and mute tracks MIXER & NAVIGATION • Record & launch clips, move and copy them between tracks and scenes on the session view • Jump to locators • Launch scenes • Scrub through your arrangement with your finger • Switch between session and arrangement view • Mixer controls for volume, sends, pan, and arm/solo • Insert, duplicate, or delete tracks or scenes • Rename locators and scenes MIDI PIANO & DRUM PAD • Built-in piano for playing notes into Live • Push-like drum pad for playing notes or drum kits • Requires the Mac version of Grip. (Windows support for MIDI forthcoming.)

About

Nebula Tide

Features
Read full description

An ocean of sound. A universe of calm. Nebula Tide plays endless ambient drone pads that never end and never click. Choose a preset, tap a planet to pick your key, and the room fills. REAL RECORDINGS IN ALL TWELVE KEYS Every preset is twelve separate studio recordings, one per key. Nothing is pitch-shifted, so E flat sounds as intentional as C. Most instruments stretch a single recording across the keyboard and smear its character doing it. SHIMMER The pad rises as it fades. One control takes it from a breath of air to a room with no ceiling, moving five things at once behind the scenes. It sits in the signal path rather than beside it, so what you hear is one sound growing, not two sounds stacked. BUILD YOUR OWN Twelve slots, one per key. Drop in your own recordings, name it, save it, and it appears on the stage beside ours. Share a preset as a single file and open one someone sends you. LAYERS Two stars flank the stage for effects and textures. Rain, wind, birds, crowds, claps. They keep playing across preset changes and fade out with the drone. SPACE Room, plate and hall, each tuned to its own character, with mix, size and damping when you want them. ALIVE The interface re-colours itself to match the preset you choose. Stars drift, arcs rotate, pads breathe with the sound. FOR Worship musicians who need the right key before the downbeat. Ambient and electronic producers. Film and game composers who need a bed now. Anyone who wants a beautiful sound in one tap. Your licence covers two devices and you can move a seat yourself at any time.

Screenshots

Grip4 screens
Nebula Tide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Grip at Free against Nebula Tide's $14.99. On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases 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

Grip is free to download; Nebula Tide costs $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Grip ships an update every 3 weeks, Nebula Tide every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Grip versus Nebula Tide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGripNebula Tide
PriceFree — better$14.99
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 11 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size54 MB213 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdam BakerStephen Amanor Sackey

In-app purchases

None

Grip

No in-app purchases

None

Nebula Tide

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Grip free?
Grip is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Nebula Tide free?
Nebula Tide costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Grip or Nebula Tide have ads?
Neither Grip nor Nebula Tide shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Grip or Nebula Tide?
Grip ships an update every 3 weeks, and Nebula Tide every 11 days. Most recently, Grip was updated on September 29, 2026 and Nebula Tide on October 10, 2026.

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