Ensemble Stage vs Patch & I/O
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ensemble Stage
Effortlessly create stage layouts for bands and orchestras. Automatically place members, then fine-tune with intuitive touch controls. Export professional-looking charts for rehearsals, concerts, and competitions.
- Automatic member placement
- Manual touch adjustments
- Customizable stage types
- Member data import (CSV)
- PDF and image export
- Cross-device sync (iPad/iPhone)
- Offline functionality
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Do you spend hours every time you make a stage layout? Suisogaku Setting is an iPad and iPhone app for creating stage layouts (seating charts) for school wind bands, orchestras, and community ensembles. Register your members, choose the parts, and let the app place them automatically. Then just drag with your finger to fine-tune. You get a clean layout far faster than with PowerPoint, Excel, or hand drawing. ■ Who it is for ・Student conductors, band officers, section leaders ・Advisors, instructors, stage managers and stage crew ・Anyone who rebuilds a seating chart for every concert and competition ■ A layout in a few minutes 1. Register members (manual entry or CSV import) 2. Choose the stage (music room, gym, small/medium/large hall, competition stage, and more) 3. Select parts and place them automatically 4. Drag with your finger to adjust 5. Export and share as PDF or image ■ Main features ◎ Automatic placement for large groups Place parts or members in a straight row, an arc, or multiple rows at once. Set rows, players, spacing, radius, and conductor direction, and check a preview before confirming. With 60 or 120 players, rearranging takes a moment. ◎ Adjust directly with your finger Move, rotate, align, distribute evenly, group, and lock. Pinch to zoom and pan with two fingers. Every change can be undone. ◎ Designed for real band settings Players appear with an instrument color, abbreviation, and name. Place large instruments such as piano, double bass, timpani, marimba, and drum set, plus chairs, music stands, risers, and the podium. Add guest and extra players not on your member list, and show players who appear in only some pieces with a dotted outline. ◎ Sync between iPad and iPhone Signed in to the same Apple Account, your groups, members, and layouts are available on both devices. Build on iPad, check on iPhone on concert day. ◎ Member list import via CSV Import names, readings, grades, instruments, and more at once. The app suggests standard instrument names for abbreviations and English names such as Cl or Trumpet, and you review everything before importing. Your existing list is never overwritten without confirmation. ◎ PDF and image export for each purpose Create outputs for members, stage crew, or the hall from the same data, with or without names. A4 landscape by default, plus PNG, JPEG, printing, and sharing. ◎ Gentle notices The app points out objects extending beyond the stage and seats with no member assigned. The final decision is yours. ■ Use it with confidence ・All features are free, with no watermark. ・No account registration required. ・Data is stored on your device and in your own iCloud. The developer never sees it. ・Works offline and syncs when you are back online. ■ Where it helps Concerts / competitions / ensemble contests / rehearsals / welcome events / graduation concerts / stage meetings / documents for the hall Spend your limited rehearsal time on music, not on arranging seats. Try it for free. Designed primarily for iPad. On iPhone, you can view and make light edits to your synced layouts.
Patch & I/O
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Input list, patchbay and stage plot in one app. Type the sheet and the signal flow diagram draws itself, and the app tells you when a mic that needs phantom is sitting on an input that cannot supply it. One show is one project. Fill in the channel sheet, lay out the patchbay, draw the stage plot, and print the paper you hand the crew — all in one app. ■ I/O LIST CH · SOURCE · PICK UP · STAND · REMARKS, the way the sheet looks on site. Live and recording need different columns, so they are separate kinds — recording shows PREAMP, INSERT and DAW TRACK as well. Mics and stands are counted by model into their own list. No counting when you pull gear from the store room. ■ WHAT IT CATCHES - A source that needs 48V phantom on an input that cannot supply it - Phantom reaching a ribbon mic or other gear it can damage - A speaker-level output going into a line input - The same channel number used on two rows - Connector families that do not mate, so an adapter is needed ■ SIGNAL FLOW The sources and mics you typed become the diagram. Identical models are merged and counted (x4), and tapping one channel follows just that path. Chains that do not fit a channel sheet — outputs and monitors, clock, power — are drawn by hand. Drag block to block to connect them, or draw the line with Apple Pencil. ■ PATCHBAY 24, 48 or 96 columns. Draw a segment and the jacks in that range get names and numbers; normalling is set per segment too — full normal, half normal, thru. Label strips print at actual size. That is the paper you cut and slide into the bay window. Jack pitch differs by model, so you measure and enter it, and the sheet carries a ruler mark to prove your printer did not scale the page. If it is not 100 mm, print again. Note: the default pitch (9.5 mm for a 48-point 1U bantam bay) is a reference value. Measure your own bay before printing. ■ STAGE PLOT Place, rotate and resize drums, amps, wedges and stands. Put things on risers, and attach channel numbers from the I/O list to any symbol. Draw the venue's standard layout once, then copy it for each show. You can mark it up with Apple Pencil (view-only on Mac). ■ ON PAPER I/O list, patchbay sheet, label strip, signal flow, stage plot — all export as PDF. Long channel counts split across pages, and when the inputs overflow they flow into two columns so you use less paper. ■ LEARN (ALL FREE) Photographs and pin tables for nine connectors: XLR, TRS, TS, bantam, RCA, Speakon and DB25. Cable wiring diagrams, and a practice mode where you connect the pins at each end yourself. The things that catch people out on site are written down — such as how to handle pin 3 (cold) in an insert Y-cable. ■ WHAT THE FREE VERSION DOES - Build and view every screen. No limit on channel count - Two each of: live projects, recording projects, patchbays, diagrams, stage plots - PDF export works (with a watermark) - All of Learn - iCloud sync is free too. Change devices and everything is still there The lifetime unlock removes the document limits and the watermark, and adds CSV import/export and actual-size label strip printing. It is not a subscription. Buy once, and it opens on your iPhone, iPad and Mac under the same Apple Account. ■ FROM THE MAKER Built to use on the job. If something is missing or wrong, tell me.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Ensemble Stage at none against Patch & I/O's 1. On price, 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
Both are free to download. Patch & I/O sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Ensemble Stage asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ensemble Stage | Patch & I/O |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kohei Ishikawa | HYO SEOP LEE |
In-app purchases
Ensemble Stage
No in-app purchases
Patch & I/O
- Lifetime Unlock$11.99
Questions
Is Ensemble Stage free?
Is Patch & I/O free?
Do Ensemble Stage or Patch & I/O have ads?
Which is updated more often, Ensemble Stage or Patch & I/O?
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