Comparison

Pocket Multitrack Recorder vs TONAUT

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

Head to head
About

Pocket Multitrack Recorder

This app transforms your iPhone into a simple, tactile 6-track recording studio. Capture song ideas quickly with true overdubbing and CD-quality sound. Mix down to a stereo file and export your creations.

Highlights
  • 6 dedicated audio tracks
  • True overdubbing
  • CD-quality sound
  • Built-in metronome
  • Per-track controls
  • One-tap mixdown
  • Export and share mixes
Features
Read full description

Pocket Multitrack turns your iPhone into a 6-track recording studio — the simple, tactile multitrack recorder for capturing song ideas the moment they strike. Inspired by classic portable 4- and 8-track machines, it strips recording back to what matters: arm a track, hit record, overdub the next part, and mix. No menus to get lost in. No account to create. No subscription. WHAT YOU CAN DO • 6 dedicated audio tracks — layer drums, bass, guitars, keys, and vocals • True overdubbing — hear your existing tracks while you record the next • CD-quality sound — 44.1 kHz / 16-bit uncompressed recording • Built-in metronome with a count-in, plus adjustable tempo and time signature to keep every take in time • Per-track volume faders, pan, mute, and solo • Master section with real-time VU meters • One-tap mixdown to a clean stereo file — equal-power panning and soft-limiting keep your peaks musical • Export and share your mix, or save it straight to your library • Multiple song projects, so every idea gets its own space • Loop any section to practice or nail a part -Tracks can be bounced (recorded on top of each other) to free up space for more takes WHO IT'S FOR • Songwriters and musicians who want to capture ideas fast • Guitarists, singers, and beatmakers building demos on the go • Anyone who misses the simplicity of a real tape-style 4-track WHAT'S NOT IN IT (on purpose) • No ads. No third-party trackers. • No subscription — pay once, it's yours. • No sign-up, no account, no cloud lock-in. • Your recordings stay on your device. Six tracks. Zero limits. Pocket Multitrack Recorder.

About

TONAUT

This music creation tool combines a synthesizer, drum machine, sequencer, and tape recorder into a single, hardware-like interface. It allows for live performance and can be used as an AUv3 plugin within other music applications.

Highlights
  • Multiple synth engines
  • Extensive sound library
  • 55 drum kits
  • Eight-track tape recorder
  • AUv3 plugin and host
  • Live performance features
  • Key and scale locking
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Tonaut is a synthesizer, drum machine, sequencer and eight-track tape recorder in one instrument, made to be played rather than programmed. Pick a sound, tap out a pattern and record it to tape, all on one panel that feels more like hardware than an app. It also plays inside your other music apps as an AUv3 plug-in, and now hosts AUv3 plug-ins too. SOUNDS • Twelve synth engines: virtual analog, six-operator FM, wavetable, pulse, modeled string, a seven-oscillator swarm, grains, a classic analog poly, a sampler, phase distortion, a vocoder and lo-fi digital • Every engine has a 3D screen that moves as you play, or a classic view • Over 650 sounds, including 147 sampled instruments. Edit any of them, save your own and star favorites • Load DX7-style SysEx banks into the FM engine • Four effects on every sound from seventeen types, a master effect, and an EQ on every lane and the master DRUMS • 55 kits on four drum engines: recorded kits, synthesized kits where every pad is its own drum, lo-fi kits and slice kits • Knock, Cinder and Grit kits drawn in 3D • A groove player: hold a pad and the kit plays one of sixteen grooves • Make kits from your own recordings or audio files AUv3 PLUG-IN AND HOST • Play Tonaut inside AUM, Loopy Pro, GarageBand and other AUv3 hosts • The full panel in a big window, or a compact card with all eight lanes, the tape and a keyboard • Tonaut FX, for effect slots: record another app's audio onto Tonaut's tape • In the app: your AUv3 synths and drum machines on any lane, AUv3 effects in the FX slots and on the master, saved with each project SEQUENCER AND SONG MODE • Eight lanes, each with its own sound and sixteen patterns of up to 128 steps • Write step by step or record live, with chords, slides, ratchets and chance; STEP REC from the screen or MIDI • Song Mode: sixteen scenes, each with a pattern for every lane, chained into a song with repeats • Switch patterns or scenes live; copy, swap and transpose patterns • An arpeggiator on every synth lane IPHONE DUO • Folded, one octave on the outer screen. Half folded, the screens above the keys. Open, the whole instrument. Folding never stops the music KEYS AND CHORDS • Pick a key and scale and its keys light up; LOCK keeps notes in key • CHORDS plays a whole chord from one key, with the arpeggiator and the sequencer • Chord pad: seven chords from your key and a stick that turns each into a 7th, 9th, sus, dim and more PLAY IT LIVE • A Perform page with TONE and SPACE for every lane • An X/Y pad that bends pitch and moves the sound under one finger • One-tap mutes, tap tempo, click and count-in TAPE • Eight tracks of 20 minutes each, or six of 30 minutes • Record every lane to its own track, or several onto one • Loop, reverse, stutter, brake and catch the last 30 seconds you played • Start a take the moment the sound does SAMPLING • Sample with the microphone, a USB interface, or Tonaut itself • Tap a file in your sample folders to hear it, then load it onto a pad or the sampler MIDI • Play from USB or Bluetooth MIDI keyboards, on one lane or each lane on its own channel • MIDI learn: touch a control, turn a knob, and it's mapped • Send any lane to your own synths and drum machines, with clock, or follow your drum machine's clock • Ableton Link: in time with other Link apps on your Wi-Fi SHARE AND EXPORT • Share a loop from the tape as a vertical video or as audio • Send a whole song, samples and all, as one file a friend opens in Tonaut • Export a stereo mix, WAV stems or MIDI files of every lane, with optional iCloud sync One purchase covers iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo, each with its own layout, in six looks. No subscription, no account, and Tonaut collects no data. Your music stays yours. REQUIREMENTS • iPhone XS, XR or newer with iOS 17 or later. Not the iPhone SE (its screen is too small) • iPad (6th generation), iPad mini (5th generation), iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad Pro (2017) or newer, iPadOS 17 or later

Screenshots

Pocket Multitrack Recorder4 screens
TONAUT4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: TONAUT at 100% against Pocket Multitrack Recorder's 0%. TONAUT also leads on rating (5.0 vs 1.0) and ratings volume (12 vs 1). Pocket Multitrack Recorder's advantage is price ($4.99 vs $19.99) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

Pocket Multitrack Recorder costs $4.99 and TONAUT $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

TONAUT holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: TONAUT has 12 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Pocket Multitrack Recorder's written reviews are positive against 100% of TONAUT's.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Pocket Multitrack Recorder versus TONAUT: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket Multitrack RecorderTONAUT
Price$4.99 — better$19.99
Rating1.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (12 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings112 — better
Update frequency—Daily
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#116 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB137 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMATTHEW RYAN WILSONRichard Rogers

Customer experience

Pocket Multitrack Recorder

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

TONAUT

All ratings12 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Pocket Multitrack Recorder

No in-app purchases

None

TONAUT

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pocket Multitrack Recorder free?
Pocket Multitrack Recorder costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is TONAUT free?
TONAUT costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pocket Multitrack Recorder or TONAUT?
TONAUT is rated higher. Pocket Multitrack Recorder averages 1.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while TONAUT averages 5.0 from 12 ratings.
Do Pocket Multitrack Recorder or TONAUT have ads?
Neither Pocket Multitrack Recorder nor TONAUT shows ads.

Other comparisons