Arch Carrier Instrument Lab vs SimpleSampler

Draw a shape. Tap it. Hear it ring. Arch Carrier turns drawn shapes into a playable physical modelling instrument. A ring, a plate and a tuning fork each have their own resonances. Change the outline, cut a hole or move your strike, and explore how the sound changes. PLAY AND SHAPE • Strike up to three resonant bodies by touch. • Add and subtract material without degrading untouched contours. • Watch sand trace nodal patterns, and tilt your device to move it. • Start from five seeds or save your own instruments. TUNE AND SEQUENCE • New shapes start at A3, 220 Hz. • Tune by frequency, semitone or octave, with note names and cents. • Audition a tuning or hear the natural model. • Place four mallets and set strength and modal focus for each step. • Choose seven mallet speeds, from 0.25× to 2×. • Record looping mallet motion, synchronized to each rhythm. MIDI PATHS • Add editable traces with independent MIDI note ranges and channels. • Each key selects a strike position; velocity sets its strength. • Play from a connected MIDI keyboard while Arch Carrier is in the foreground. • Show the paths when you need them, then hide the overlay while MIDI keeps playing. KEEP YOUR INSTRUMENT • Save shapes, tuning, rhythms, motion, tempo, damping, tone and MIDI mappings together. • Resume your last instrument without automatic playback. • Record stereo 24-bit WAV files and export them to Files or other apps. Free. No account, advertising or in-app purchases. Designed for iPhone and iPad.

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.