Comparison

PadLoop vs Knob On

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

Head to head
About

PadLoop

Features
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Sixteen pads, a track looper and a sampler: PadLoop turns your phone into a real instrument for making beats with your fingers - no musical training needed. Try everything free for 7 days. After that PadLoop stays free with 2 banks, 2 looper tracks and one project, or you unlock everything with a single one-time purchase. No subscription. NEW • Ready beats: 24 complete grooves (Trap soul, Afrobeats, Deep house, UK drill, Funk, Lo-fi...), each with its own bank, tempo and swing, drums and music already recorded. One tap and you play over them • Optional plugins: 6 sound kits (Reggaeton, Afro & Amapiano, Jungle & DnB, Phonk, Drum Machines, Percussion) and 4 instruments with real recorded notes (grand piano, marimba & vibraphone, strings, winds) • Split a song: the Stem split plugin separates a track into vocals, drums, bass and the rest, right on your phone, no internet needed. Then put the parts on your pads (needs 3 GB of RAM or more) • Pedals: MIDI pedals run the looper hands-free • More precise mic recording: the delay is stored separately for speaker, headphones and Bluetooth • On first launch, if you like, an example to listen to or a step-by-step guide PLAY • 8 sound banks (128 pads): drums, basses, synths, vocals - all replaceable • Touch dynamics: hard at the bottom, soft at the top, like real pads • Keyboard: play any sound in a scale with no wrong notes, chords included • Note repeat with Latch, an arpeggiator, 16 Levels (the same sound at sixteen velocities), hold-down effects (filter, echo, reverb, lo-fi...) • Shape every pad: pitch, reverse, envelope, filter, echo, lo-fi RECORD LOOPS • Hit REC and play: the loop records itself and keeps going, layer after layer • Up to 16 synced tracks: name them and drag them into your own order, without stopping the loop • Time-stretch: a loop follows the project BPM without changing pitch • Quantization with a selectable grid (8ths, 16ths, triplets, 1/32) or off - and you can change it afterwards • Step sequencer with per-cell hit strength: accents and ghost notes • Mute in time, per-layer undo, loop doubling, swing SAMPLE ANYTHING • Record from the mic, import audio files, take the sound from a video, or resample the app itself • Trim with handles, split on hits automatically or chop by hand; clean up steady background noise • Sound library with 558 ready-made sounds and 29 pre-built banks SING AND SHARE • Record your voice straight onto a track, in time with the beat • Save your own banks and share them with friends as a file • Record your live performance, effects and mistakes included • Export to MP3/WAV or as separate tracks, at the same full level you hear in the app BUILT FOR REAL PLAYING • A "?" on the main screens explains every button, with the full guide one tap away • Two calibrations, for taps and for the mic, so what you record lands where you played it • MIDI controllers and keyboards, USB and Bluetooth, with MIDI learn • Autosave and one-file project backup HONEST • No ads. Ever. For anyone. • No subscriptions: a 7-day trial with everything unlocked, plugins included, then playing stays free forever (2 banks full of sounds, 2 looper tracks with the microphone too, one project) • A single one-time purchase unlocks everything: the full sampler, all 8 banks, 16 tracks, 558 sounds, 29 ready-made banks, 24 Ready beats, all plugins, export, performance recording, unlimited projects • Everything you create stays yours and keeps playing, no matter what Make your first beat in thirty seconds. The rest follows.

About

Knob On

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Your Rack. Within reach. Knob On turns your iPhone or iPad into a touch surface for VCV Rack on your Mac. Map a control to a Rack parameter, then turn or slide it from your screen. Changes made in Rack come back to the app. YOUR TOUCH SURFACE [x] Eight dials on iPhone, or twelve on iPad. [x] Four sliders on both devices. [x] Hold a control to learn a target knob or slider in Rack. [x] See the mapped parameter name and its current value. [x] Choose labels, colors, and minimum and maximum touch ranges. [x] Use Fine mode to make dials and sliders adjust 10× more slowly. CONNECT TO YOUR PATCH [x] Find nearby Rack instances on your local network. [x] Match the name shown on the Knob On Bridge module—no IP lookup needed. [x] Get two-way feedback while keeping your current touch gesture in control. [x] Save mappings in your Rack patch and keep your layout settings in the app. [x] Reconnect automatically when the connection returns. BEFORE YOU START Requires VCV Rack 2.6.6 or later and Knob On Bridge 2.3.1 on a Mac with Apple silicon, on the same local network as your iPhone or iPad. Install the companion Rack module using the setup instructions on the support page. Knob On controls Rack parameters. Audio runs in Rack on your Mac. Most standard bounded knobs and sliders can be mapped; internal CV modulation may affect the sound without changing the displayed parameter value.

Screenshots

PadLoop4 screens
Knob On4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Knob On at none against PadLoop's 2. PadLoop's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. PadLoop sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Knob On asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
PadLoop versus Knob On: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPadLoopKnob On
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size138 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPOSITIVE VIBRATION, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA.Zui Chen

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PadLoop

One-time2
  • 7-Day Free TrialFree
  • Full Unlock$9.99
None

Knob On

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PadLoop free?
PadLoop is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Knob On free?
Knob On is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PadLoop or Knob On have ads?
Neither PadLoop nor Knob On shows ads.

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