Comparison

Harmonaut vs SimpleSampler

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

Head to head
About

Harmonaut

Create music by feel without needing music theory. This app generates rich chords and smooth progressions, allowing you to shape the mood with intuitive controls. Save and reorder your musical ideas effortlessly.

Highlights
  • Play by feel, no theory required
  • Shape mood with tension and brightness faders
  • Smooth voice leading for flowing progressions
  • Chords named for musicians
  • Save and reorder progressions
  • Works on iPhone and iPad
Features
Read full description

Harmonaut™ is a chord instrument you play by feel. Press a key and hear a rich chord, voice-led smoothly from the last one, no theory needed. Build a progression, shape its mood, and export it as MIDI for your track. Two faders let you shape the mood as you play: more tension or less, brighter or darker, even major to minor. Chase a moody electronic progression, a warm lo-fi loop, a jazzy turn, a cinematic swell, or a simple pop hook. It all comes from your intent, not from naming chords. HOW IT PLAYS • Tension that actually resolves: chords that lean, pull home, and land, so your progression goes somewhere instead of just floating • Every one of the twelve keys is in play: reach past the obvious chords for richer, more surprising color, and it still sounds right • Build a whole progression, not just four chords: every chord you play lands in your trail, ready to reorder or duplicate to try new versions in seconds • Pick up right where you left off: your ideas are saved for you TAKE IT TO YOUR TRACK • Export any progression as a MIDI file and drop it into BandLab, GarageBand, or any DAW that opens MIDI, then play it through any instrument you like • Export to iReal Pro format to keep a chord chart or practice over the changes • Harmonaut Pro unlocks MIDI export, iReal Pro export, and unlimited saved progressions IT SOUNDS GOOD FOR A REASON Every chord is voice-led from the one before it, live, as you play: the notes move the shortest way, so a progression flows instead of jumping around. That's the finished feeling you hear in the songs you love. Push Intensity and the voicings open up: lush 9ths, bright 13ths, and altered dominants like G7#9b13, the colors session keyboard players reach for. And Harmonaut names every chord the way musicians actually write it, like Ebmaj7, so you can hand your progression to a session player, a bandmate, or a producer and they'll play it back exactly, first time. No box to buy, nothing to charge, no menus to dig through. It's already in your pocket. Whether it's your first progression or a sound you can hear but can't name, Harmonaut meets you where you are. See the end user license agreement at the following link: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

SimpleSampler

Features
Read full description

SimpleSampler turns any sound into an instrument. Record a piano note, a clap, your voice or a glass you tap with a spoon. The app detects the pitch and puts the sound on a keyboard, so you can play it across several octaves right away. RECORDING Press record and the app shows you what it hears before the take starts. The recording begins with your first sound, not with the button press, so there is no silence or click at the start. If you don't like the take, cancel it and nothing is saved. KEYBOARD AND DRUM PADS The keyboard shows two octaves at a time and scrolls. It is fully multitouch, so chords and glissandos work. Eight drum pads hold eight different samples for beats. Pitch and length are independent: higher notes last as long as lower ones. If you prefer the classic tape sound, where higher also means faster, switch it on with one tap. LOOP STATION Tap a loop slot, play something and tap again to close the loop. Every new layer stays in time with the first one. You can also record a loop straight from the microphone. Your loops are still there the next time you open the app. RECORD YOUR SONG One button records everything you play: keyboard, pads and loops. It records what the app outputs, not what the microphone picks up, so the result is clean. Share it via AirDrop, Messages or any other app. PORTRAIT AND LANDSCAPE On iPhone, hold it upright to record and edit samples and turn it sideways to play. On iPad you get pads and keyboard on one screen. No account, no subscription, no tracking. Your recordings stay on your device unless you share them.

Screenshots

Harmonaut4 screens
SimpleSampler4 screens

Verdict

The call

Harmonaut and SimpleSampler are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Harmonaut versus SimpleSampler: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHarmonautSimpleSampler
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size117 MB49 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDistrict One Mobile, LLCMax Nowack

In-app purchases

None

Harmonaut

No in-app purchases

None

SimpleSampler

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Harmonaut free?
Harmonaut is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SimpleSampler free?
SimpleSampler is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Harmonaut or SimpleSampler have ads?
Neither Harmonaut nor SimpleSampler shows ads.

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