Braindance vs KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Braindance
This app allows real-time audio manipulation with buffer-glitch effects. Create complex rhythmic patterns, apply various audio transformations, and perform live with intuitive controls. It can be used as a standalone application or as an Audio Unit within other hosts.
- Real-time buffer-glitch audio manipulation
- Step sequencer with Euclidean patterns
- Multiple audio effects (bitcrush, flanger, delay, reverb)
- Master filter with various modes
- Live performance controls (XY pad, macros)
- AUv3 and MIDI support
Read full descriptionHide full description
Braindance is a buffer-glitch effect for iOS. Feed it audio and cut, stutter, repitch and mangle it in real time. SEQUENCE Build glitch patterns on a step sequencer with gate, repeat, reverse and pan lanes. Fill rhythms with Euclidean patterns, set step size and length, and capture what you just played onto the history tape. EFFECTS Shape the result with bitcrush, flanger, delay and reverb, then a master filter with switchable SVF, ladder, comb and resonator modes. Automate any parameter with per-slot shapes and depth over a chosen number of bars. PERFORM Play the effect live. Morph between settings on an XY pad, hold macros like Fire, History, Forget and Freeze, and fire launch pads including Trance Gate, Half-Time, Tresillo, IDM Chop, Stutter, Machine Gun, Glitch Walk, Reverse Rain, Ping Pong, Repitch, Dub Siren and Clicks + Cuts. AUv3 Run Braindance as an Audio Unit inside your host to process tracks in place, or play it standalone. A MIDI variant is included for triggering glitches from a keyboard or sequencer. Three themes: Ark, Candy and Clarity.
KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker
This music creation tool allows users to record sounds by holding pads, then chop, sequence, and apply effects to build tracks. It offers extensive export options for popular DAWs and includes unique features to prevent programmed sounds.
- Hold-to-record sampling
- Automatic sound chopping
- 96 PPQN sequencer
- 41 built-in effects
- DAW export options
- Performance effects
- Resampling capability
Read full descriptionHide full description
It records for exactly as long as you hold the pad. Open a record screen, record, then decide which pad the sound belongs on — and by the time you have done all that, the sound you wanted has already happened. In KIZUNA you hold a pad, it records while you hold it, and when you let go the sound is already there, on that pad. One decision instead of three. From the thing you caught to the finished track, on an iPhone or an iPad. The sampler, the sequencer, the effects and the export all live in the same place. CAPTURE - Record from the microphone, a line input, or KIZUNA's own output (resample) - Threshold auto-start waits for the sound and begins on its own - A short pre-roll is kept, so the transient itself is never clipped - Import from the Files app, iCloud Drive, or any other cloud provider CHOP - EQUAL by division, ATTACK by detected onsets, or LIVE by tapping while it plays - Slices land straight across a bank, one per pad - A share of them can come out reversed, so the loop stops sounding like the record it came from SO IT DOESN'T SOUND PROGRAMMED - DRIFT moves the pitch and level a little on every hit - VEL > FILTER makes softer hits darker, not merely quieter - FEEL adds timing and velocity looseness, seeded from the pattern itself — the same groove plays back the same way every time, and a bounce matches what you heard - LO-FI KIT: dusty drums, a Rhodes, an upright bass, a vinyl bed, a tape stop BUILD - A 96 PPQN sequencer, 1 to 99 bars, 99 patterns per bank - Swing is stored separately for eighths, sixteenths and thirty-seconds, so dialling one in never disturbs another - Each bank can run its own pattern length — two bars of drums under four bars of chords - 99 scenes and a 99-position song chain - Knob movements are written into the pattern, so a filter sweep follows the part it was written for SHAPE IT — 41 EFFECTS - Per-pad inserts: 19 types across 2 slots (filters, drive, crush, phaser, flanger, ring mod and more) - Send effects: 6 types on 2 buses, so delay and reverb can run at once - Performance effects: 16 momentary types, held down, several at a time, with a downward drag for pressure - A four-slot master chain: VINYL, TAPE, SHELF EQ, LIMITER - Four time-stretch algorithms, chosen per pad: REPITCH, BEATS, TONAL, TEXTURE GRAB A BAR - Capture the last quarter-bar to four bars of the output and hold it, tempo-locked - Not a sample loop — whatever the machine just played - Length and position can both be moved while it runs EXPORT - Ableton Live Set (.als) - DAWproject for Bitwig Studio, Studio One and Cubase - Tempo-correct stems, MIDI for the parts, and written import steps for FL Studio, Logic Pro and GarageBand - WAV of a single pad, of the mix, or per-bank stems — all the same length, all starting at the same instant - Bounces run the same engine as playback, offline. There is no separate render path to drift away from what you heard CONNECT - Includes a KIZUNA AUv3 instrument. Installing the app registers it with Logic Pro, GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis and other hosts on the same device - Core MIDI in and out over USB, Bluetooth and network, plus KIZUNA's own virtual port - MIDI clock received and sent, with start and stop PRIVACY No account. No ads, no analytics, no tracking. The app contains no networking code at all, so your recordings and projects stay on your device — or in your own iCloud Drive, if you put them there. SPECIFICATION - 4 banks of 16 pads (switchable to a 3x4 grid), 24 voices, choke groups - 48 kHz, 32-bit float internally, 24-bit WAV on export - Recording capped at 40 seconds mono, 20 seconds stereo - Both starter kits are synthesised inside the app, so nothing you release from them carries a sample licence - iPhone and iPad, iOS 18.0 or later The interface is currently in English; other languages are planned.
Screenshots
Verdict
Braindance and KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker's written reviews are positive against 83% of Braindance's. KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker also leads on price ($2.99 vs $4.99). Braindance's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and chart position (#155 vs unranked). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Braindance costs $4.99 and KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Braindance against 5.0 for KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Braindance has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of Braindance's written reviews are positive against 100% of KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker's.
Braindance ships an update weekly, KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.
| Parameter | Braindance | KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | $2.99 — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (5 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #155 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 53 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | fourtrack.fm LLC | Code and DESIGN inc |
Customer experience
Braindance
KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker
In-app purchases
Braindance
No in-app purchases
KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Braindance free?
Is KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker free?
Which has better reviews, Braindance or KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker?
Do Braindance or KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker have ads?
Which is updated more often, Braindance or KIZUNA Sampler & Beat Maker?
Other comparisons















