Comparison

MIDIRack vs Sightlines

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

Head to head
About

MIDIRack

Design custom MIDI control surfaces with a variety of instruments and sequencers. Unlock advanced features like a visual MIDI processing graph for complex routing and generative music creation. Use it standalone, as an AUv3 plugin, or to control desktop DAWs.

Highlights
  • Customizable touch surface design
  • KB-1 keyboard suite with MPE support
  • Advanced step and matrix sequencers
  • Visual MIDI processing graph
  • Built-in instruments and samplers
  • Connects to desktop DAWs via USB or Bluetooth
Features
Read full description

MIDIRack is a MIDI toolkit for iPad. Build a custom touch surface from the KB-1 keyboard suite, an all-new sequencer suite, knobs, faders, buttons and more — then unlock a visual MIDI processing graph (one time in-app purchase) and wire it into anything, from a simple custom controller to a full-on groovebox or a self-playing generative composer. Play it on its own and send MIDI anywhere, as an AUv3 plugin in your favourite host or a standalone instrument. THE BASE APP — PERFORMANCE SURFACE Design a custom control surface on a snapping grid: • The KB-1 keyboard suite — piano, diatonic chord pads, scale-locked keyboard, MPE Seaboard ribbon, MPE Strings grid (4ths), and a 4×4 GM drum-pad grid. Each is its own routable node with latch and octave shift. Successor to the KB-1 Expressive Keyboard Suite. • A suite of sequencers — drum, melody, chord, analog and CC step grids and a Matrix note grid, with a moving playhead, swing and microtiming. Per-step velocity, probability, tie and trigger conditions; pattern chaining and 4-pad scene switching for full arrangements; a knob-per-step analog machine that re-roots live as you play. • Knobs, faders, XY pads, buttons and live visualizers — bind to raw MIDI CC or graph parameters. On its own: a rich custom control surface builder — send MIDI and CC to any synth, app or hardware, no graph required. WITH YOUR DESKTOP DAW Expressive MPE hardware costs hundreds. MIDIRack turns the iPad you already own into a controller for Logic, Live, Bitwig, Cubase or any desktop DAW: • Two MPE surfaces — the Seaboard ribbon and the Strings grid send per-note pitch bend, slide and pressure to any MPE-capable instrument on your desk. • A controller that changes per track — MPE ribbon for the lead, drum pads for the beat, chord pads for the progression, faders mapped to CC for a mix move. Rearrange in seconds; save a surface per project. • Sequence it too — clock the step lanes to your DAW and drive its tracks. • Easy to connect — one USB cable to a Mac via IDAM (Inter-Device Audio and MIDI), or wirelessly over Bluetooth MIDI. No driver, no helper app. UNLOCK — MIDI GRAPH (in-app purchase) Wire MIDI In → processors → MIDI Out on a visual canvas: • 60+ node kinds — arpeggiators, scale/key quantizers, transposers, chords, echoes, swing, humanize, euclidean rhythms, random/generative melodies, LFOs, CC tools, an analog knob-per-step sequencer, a Matrix sequencer and a Counter. • Built-in instruments — Synth, Drums, a Sampler and a loop Slicer make sound right in the graph; no external synth required. • Emergence generators — Conway's Game of Life, Turing machine, Wolfram rules, Markov, bouncing balls, Lorenz attractor — for evolving, living patterns. • Presets — factory patches grouped by category (control surfaces, generators, keyboards, utilities): Amen Engine, Starfield, Conway Choir, Turing Bass, Cellular Drums… Save your own. ROUTING & MPE • MIDI Out exposes all 16 channels plus an MPE connector — multitimbral, multi-instrument setups. The built-in synth responds to MPE. • Every keyboard is its own node — process and route each one independently. PLAYS OUT OF THE BOX • Built-in polyphonic synth, drum kit, sampler & slicer or send MIDI to your gear via CoreMIDI and an always-on virtual port.

About

Sightlines

Shape sounds with a playable harmonic filter. Add motion, stereo spread, and unique textures to noise, samples, or synths. Tune it like a resonator or control it with MIDI for endless sonic possibilities.

Highlights
  • Harmonic filter bank
  • MIDI control
  • Sample loading
  • Noise and synth sound sources
  • Modulation capabilities
  • Built-in chorus, delay, and reverb
Features
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Make noise, texture, and percussion sing. Add motion and stereo spread to basic sounds. Load samples and sculpt them endlessly. Leave your mark on any sound with harmonic filtering. Sightlines is a playable harmonic filter. Built from a collection of resonant bandpass filters tuned to the harmonic series, designed to bring out a customizable set of musical frequencies in any sound. Tune it to a fixed frequency like a resonator, or send it MIDI to make it come alive as an instrument. Sightlines can be loaded as an instrument or an audio effect. As an instrument, use it with samples, noise, or oscillators to construct sounds never heard before. As an effect, add movement and interest to any sound, and even impart tonality onto unpitched input. SOUND SOURCES • Noise – filter variable color noise and random noise bursts for Sightlines’ simplest and quickest output. • Samples – send samples through resonant filters as one-shots or infinite looping versions of themselves, great for found sound and tonal samples alike. • Synth – skip the filters entirely and use Sightlines as a harmonic synth, where you can customize and modulate the proportion of each harmonic in the signal. • Audio effect – use Sightlines as an audio effect on any track. MOVEMENT AND EFFECTS • Manipulate overtones – stretch, bend, and reimagine the harmonic series to retune Sightlines’ output into realistic or indescribable sonic spaces. • Quantize frequencies – snap all of Sightlines’ filters to a scale, to impart that key quality onto any sound. • Balance bands – maneuver through the harmonic space by scanning, tilting, or spreading Sightlines’ bands. • End of chain – make your output shine with a built-in chorus, BBD-style delay, and reverb. FEATURES • Modulation – modify any control in Sightlines with multiple LFOs, sequencers, smooth random sources, and performance effects. • Presets – full preset control over every parameter in Sightlines. Cross-platform preset format for sharing with friends. • Waymaker – connect to Sightlines’ sibling application, Waymaker, for direct sequencing of Sightlines’ without MIDI routing. Also available for macOS and Windows in VST3 / AU / AAX formats from Aqeel Aadam Sound.

Screenshots

MIDIRack4 screens
Sightlines1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sightlines at none against MIDIRack's 1. Sightlines also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 67%) and price ($7.99 vs $14.99). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads 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

MIDIRack costs $14.99 and Sightlines $7.99 up front. MIDIRack sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Sightlines asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sightlines holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 6 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of MIDIRack's written reviews are positive against 100% of Sightlines's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MIDIRack ships an update every 4 days, Sightlines weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
MIDIRack versus Sightlines: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMIDIRackSightlines
Price$14.99$7.99 — better
Rating4.8 (8 ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings8 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKai ArasAqeel Aadam

Customer experience

MIDIRack

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%

Sightlines

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

MIDIRack

One-time1
  • Graph Editor Unlock$7.99
None

Sightlines

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is MIDIRack free?
MIDIRack costs $14.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Sightlines free?
Sightlines costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, MIDIRack or Sightlines?
Sightlines is rated higher. MIDIRack averages 4.8 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Sightlines averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do MIDIRack or Sightlines have ads?
Neither MIDIRack nor Sightlines shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MIDIRack or Sightlines?
MIDIRack ships an update every 4 days, and Sightlines weekly. Most recently, MIDIRack was updated on September 20, 2026 and Sightlines on October 1, 2026.

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