Hexapad vs ARPJAM Studio

Hexapad is a beatmaker and step sequencer with a fresh, intuitive feel — hexagonal pads laid out in a honeycomb grid that let your fingers move naturally. No extra samples needed. The built-in synths alone cover a wide range of genres — Techno, House, Hip-Hop, Ambient, Lo-Fi, Minimal, IDM, Alternative, and Contemporary. With the dedicated mic-recording kit, you can capture your own sounds and drop them straight onto the pads. Recorded audio is auto-leveled, so it sits naturally alongside everything else. Each pad displays the waveform of its sound, giving you the shape of the tone at a glance. Every kit plays as more than just beats — it works for melodies and basslines too. A single mode switch in the header takes you from rhythm to melody to bass, all at your fingertips. The melody and bass tones and keys are crafted per kit — in Contemporary, for example, a felt piano resonates with a sound and key suited to the genre. Modes are color-coded for intuitive switching (beat = green, melody = blue, bass = orange). Each kit comes with its own effects setup — reverb, echo, flanger, and more — so you can shape the texture of every kit. Sound plays even in silent mode, so you can create anywhere, with or without headphones. Tap to lay down a beat, save it, and layer your loops. Hit the Demo or Band button to auto-generate a full set of beat, melody, and bass in a single tap, then layer them on the spot. Save the loops you like, combine your saved sounds, add fade-in/out, and export to WAV. Enjoy the experience of making music — intuitively, right in the palm of your hand.

No sequence. No play button needed. An instrument that keeps going without you programming anything. Two generative engines invent phrases endlessly inside the scale and chord you choose. What you shape is not a song — it is a way of sounding. Move a control and the sound changes shape without ever stopping. Density, contour, filter, tape movement. It is built so that nothing you touch can break it. And you can play it. On the key pad or from a MIDI keyboard, right on top of the stream it is generating. What you play can be captured into the looper. Now your own sound can go in too. Record a bar into SAMPLE, the fourth machine, and chopping it up and rearranging it is the app's job. ■ Generate • Two independent arpeggio engines (waveform, filter, envelope, effects) • Eight arpeggio types, chord progressions, ten time signatures • Drum machine and bass • Six LFOs, XY pad, performance FX ■ Slice (SAMPLE) • Record one bar from a mic or line input, with count-in and click • Record the app itself (ARP A / ARP B / drums), and overdub onto it • Load audio files — and the audio from a video file • Up to 32 slices, ordered by the same rules as the arps: direction, reverse, octave, probability, groove • STRETCH (on by default) — change tempo without changing pitch • Its own filter, envelope and delay / reverb sends ■ Play • On-screen key pad — always in scale • MIDI keyboard input (damper pedal, pitch bend, standard control changes) • One-bar looper that records how hard you played ■ Sound • Piano — three velocity layers, stereo, damper release • Electric piano — harmonics shift with how hard you strike • Kalimba, handpan and chime — struck metal, measured from the real instruments and synthesised • Waveforms (sine / triangle / saw / square) plus an acid filter • Delay, reverb, Glitch, Granular, overdrive • DRIFT / FLUTTER — tape movement on the synth voices and the live input alike • Concert pitch A=415–444 Hz ■ Connect • AUv3 plug-in — as an instrument and as an effect • Ableton Link, MIDI Clock, MIDI out • External audio input (line / microphone) • WAV recording and export One-time purchase. No subscription.