DAW Controller vs Midiboard
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
DAW Controller
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Your sleeping iPhone becomes a wheel and fader controller for your DAW. Digital pianos and synths often have no Pitch Bend or Modulation wheel. Dedicated hardware is hard to find, and small keyboards with wheels tend to feel awkward or fiddly to set up. DAW Controller is a pure MIDI controller built to fill exactly that gap. ā Six controls Pitch Bend / Modulation / Expression / Main Volume / Breath / Custom CC. Big wheels let you send nuance with a fingertip. ā Three ways to your DAW Network MIDI, Bluetooth MIDI, and USB. No OSC bridge, no extra conversion ā it reaches your Mac DAW (Cubase and others) directly. ā Haptics you can feel on a desk Solid haptic feedback that comes through even with the phone lying flat. ā Fits your hands Manual portrait/landscape switch, a left- or right-side control panel in landscape, and fader looks (metal / color / matte). ā Nothing extra No ads. No subscription. Buy once. Try it first, and if you like it, pay once ā for good. DAW Controller ā to be your obbligato.
Midiboard
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Your phone, as the controller you actually wanted. Midiboard turns an iPhone into a Bluetooth MIDI controller you lay out yourself. Drop a widget on the grid, drag it where your hand goes, size it to the reach you actually have. Save the screen, build the next one, and flip between them with one tap while the song is running. Every other phone controller hands you someone else's idea of a surface. This one hands you the grid. BUILD THE SURFACE ⢠Pad grids of any size, tuned chromatically or in fourths, fifths, thirds or octaves ā a grid in fourths keeps every chord shape the same wherever you move it ⢠Keyboards of any span, starting on any note, with glissando between keys ⢠Chord buttons you write note by note. C, E, G#, D is as valid as a minor triad ⢠Pitch and mod wheels shaped like the ones beside your keyboard, plus 270° arcs and endless rotaries ⢠Faders and two-axis XY pads, with relative pickup so grabbing one mid-song does not throw the sound ⢠Step sequencers where every step names the note it plays, each with its own run button ⢠Footswitch banks where exactly one lamp is lit ā press a switch and the last one goes out, so a glance tells you which preset you are actually on ⢠Transpose controls that move a group of widgets, so a bass bank and a lead move independently on the same page PLAY IT ⢠Set a key per widget: notes outside it either step back but stay playable, or snap into the key ⢠Poly, mono, legato and glide, per widget ⢠A clock with tap tempo, MIDI clock out, note repeat and an arpeggiator ā or follow your computer's tempo instead ⢠Set the travel of any control, so a fader only ever moves between two settings that are useful on the other end ⢠Panic always within reach, and haptics you can tune per control KEEP IT ⢠As many saved layouts as you like. Export one to a file, send it to someone, import theirs ⢠Two colour palettes, and note names that match whatever your software calls them CONNECTS TO WHATEVER YOU PLAY Two routes, and you pick the one your rig has. Over Bluetooth LE MIDI, Mac, iPad and iPhone connect directly and Windows pairs through a Bluetooth MIDI bridge. Over Wi-Fi it is an RTP-MIDI session ā built into macOS, and on Windows through rtpMIDI ā which is the one to reach for when Bluetooth is crowded or the computer has none. It can also open a MIDI port for other apps on this same phone or iPad. No cable, no dongle, no account, and nothing to sign into. Midiboard collects nothing: no analytics, no crash reporting, no accounts, no tracking. Over Wi-Fi it uses your local network to reach the computer you chose, and the only thing it ever puts on it is MIDI. PRO Midiboard is free, with pad grids, keyboards, faders and labels. Pro adds every other widget, and starts with a free trial; after it, a monthly subscription or a one-time purchase keeps it. The subscription renews monthly unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://safabulat.github.io/midiboard-site/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Midiboard at every 2 days against DAW Controller's every 6 days. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. DAW Controller sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Midiboard sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
DAW Controller ships an update every 6 days, Midiboard every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DAW Controller | Midiboard |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days | Every 2 days ā better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad ā better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Yasuhiro Misawa | MAHMUT SAFA BULAT |
In-app purchases
DAW Controller
- DAW Controller (Buy Once)$11.99
Midiboard
- Midiboard Editor$9.99
Questions
Is DAW Controller free?
Is Midiboard free?
Do DAW Controller or Midiboard have ads?
Which is updated more often, DAW Controller or Midiboard?
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