Comparison

AU Studio vs Super Simple Drum

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

Head to head
About

AU Studio

This app acts as a dedicated host for Audio Unit extensions, allowing musicians and developers to inspect, audition, and test installed audio plugins. It provides detailed information about each unit's capabilities and behavior without requiring a full digital audio workstation.

Highlights
  • Scan and catalog installed Audio Units
  • Filter plugins by developer, type, and status
  • Load AUv3 interfaces or use detailed inspector
  • Inspect registry identity, MIDI support, and parameters
  • Route CoreMIDI sources and audition audio effects
  • Monitor runtime CPU and memory usage
  • Built-in manual for guidance
Read full description

AU Studio is a focused Audio Unit host, not a DAW. Open the plug-ins you already own, hear them in seconds, and see exactly what they expose. Made for musicians, sound designers, and Audio Unit developers who need a fast, honest test bench. No session to build, no tracks to arm. Pick a unit from your catalog and its interface opens in a panel of its own, named and sized to the plug-in, with your host controls in a bar above it. Key features: - Scan the instruments, effects, music effects, generators, and MIDI processors already installed on your device: AUv3 on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro, plus AUv2 on Mac. - Filter by developer, type, or search text, and hide Apple built-ins to focus on third-party gear. - Open a plug-in's own interface when it ships one, and fall back to a metadata view when it doesn't, with the full inspector always one tap away. - Inspect identity, four-character codes, version, sandbox and cached validation status, MIDI support, busses, parameters, presets, latency, and tail time. - Step through factory presets, then save your own working state without leaving the interface. - Play instruments from the floating MIDI keyboard: notes, pitch bend, mod wheel, auto, mono or poly voicing, a shiftable range, and one-tap panic for stuck notes. Your hardware controller lights up the on-screen keys as you play. - Run a guitar, a microphone, or any channel of your interface through a loaded effect. Pick the device, pick mono or stereo, pick the channels. - Load a track into the floating media player, scrub the waveform, loop a section, and play along with your live input at the same time. - Check a signal path in seconds with the built-in test tone. - Route external CoreMIDI sources in, and send generated MIDI back out to a CoreMIDI destination. - Test MIDI 2 units with automatic, MIDI 1, or MIDI 2 protocol selection: high-resolution notes, registered and per-note controllers, per-note pitch bend, discovered MIDI-CI Profiles, and a monitor showing raw or decoded MIDI going in and coming out. - Choose your output device on Mac, and set sample rate, buffer size, and which MIDI sources are enabled. - Keep host-process CPU and memory in view while you work. - Open unfamiliar plug-ins with less risk. AU Studio asks first when the system does not mark a unit sandbox-safe, and a peak limiter sits across the host output. - Read the built-in manual, fully searchable: discovery, routing, presets, hardware input, floating tools, troubleshooting, and developer notes. What AU Studio is: A focused host for discovering, opening, auditioning, and inspecting the Audio Units already on your device. It answers the practical questions: Is the unit visible? Does it load? Does it have an interface? What busses, parameters, presets, and MIDI capabilities does it expose? Does MIDI reach it? Does audio pass through it? What AU Studio is not: It is not a DAW. No multitrack recording, clip launching, timeline arrangement, piano-roll sequencing, MIDI learn, automation lanes, song export, or mastering tools. AU Studio ships no Audio Unit of its own — no instrument, no effect, no DSP engine. It hosts the units other apps provide and wraps them in host-owned routing, auditioning, and inspection. Discovery uses the system Audio Unit registry. If a provider app is not installed, not enabled, or not visible to the platform, AU Studio cannot invent it. Interface behavior, presets, parameter meaning, MIDI mapping, and DSP results belong to each Audio Unit.

About

Super Simple Drum

Features
Read full description

Build your rhythm, one groove at a time. Super Simple Drum brings drum patterns, visual playback and hands-on practice together on iPhone and iPad. Explore grooves and fills, hear how the parts fit together, and work through patterns at your own pace. EXPLORE GROOVES AND FILLS Browse 608 bars across six chapters, from rock and funk to jazz, Latin rhythms and more. Choose a style and discover patterns to practise. SEE THE RHYTHM Follow colour-coded rhythm lines and a 3D drum kit, or switch to drum notation. Mute individual parts to focus on how each instrument contributes to the groove. PRACTISE AT YOUR PACE Adjust playback tempo, repeat patterns and use the click to keep your place. Break a rhythm down before bringing it back up to speed. TAP WITH TWO HANDS Use the left and right pads in Tap Practice on iPhone. Follow the hand parts while the app handles the kick, then review timing feedback and try again. No drum kit is needed for tap practice. LEARN SONGS IN SMALL PARTS Explore repeating patterns and practise individual sections before playing through a full arrangement. BRING YOUR OWN MUSIC Import MusicXML or MIDI drum arrangements and keep your songs together in one place. BUILD A PRACTICE SONG Arrange patterns into a song to put your grooves and fills in context. An optional one-time in-app purchase unlocks all bars for the song builder. Download for free and start with a rhythm.

Screenshots

AU Studio4 screens
Super Simple Drum4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Super Simple Drum at Free against AU Studio's $9.99. Super Simple Drum also leads on update cadence (daily vs monthly). AU Studio's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and device support (4 vs 2). On ads and iOS requirement 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

Super Simple Drum is free to download; AU Studio costs $9.99 up front. Super Simple Drum sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. AU Studio asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

AU Studio ships an update monthly, Super Simple Drum daily. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
AU Studio versus Super Simple Drum: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAU StudioSuper Simple Drum
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating4.5 (4 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB27 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChristian ThompsonBizzon Company Limited

In-app purchases

None

AU Studio

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Super Simple Drum

One-time1
  • Unlock All$4.99

Questions

Is AU Studio free?
AU Studio costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Super Simple Drum free?
Super Simple Drum is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do AU Studio or Super Simple Drum have ads?
Neither AU Studio nor Super Simple Drum shows ads.
Which is updated more often, AU Studio or Super Simple Drum?
AU Studio ships an update monthly, and Super Simple Drum daily. Most recently, AU Studio was updated on October 1, 2026 and Super Simple Drum on October 8, 2026.

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