KeyPad MIDI Controller1.15 - App Store

Transform your iPad or iPhone into a professional MIDI controller with a touch-optimized piano keyboard, isomorphic grid, drum pads, and XY performance controls. Control iOS apps, hardware synths, and Mac software wirelessly or wired, as a standalone app or an AUv3 plugin in your favorite DAW.

Perfect for mobile producers, live performers, beat makers, and sound designers.

CORE FEATURES

. Built-in sound engine for SF2, SFZ, WAV, and M4A.
. Piano keyboard, isomorphic grid, 9-pad drum grid, XY pad, and CC faders.
. Scale mode with 12 scales and any root key, on both piano and grid.
. Aftertouch and MPE with Mono AT, Poly AT, and XY MPE modes.
. Aftertouch and Mod Wheel remapping to any MIDI CC or Pitch Bend.
. Velocity, Pitch Bend, and Modulation faders, plus a latching sustain button.
. AUv3 plugin for GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis, BeatMaker, and Drambo.
. Network MIDI, OSC output, and 16 MIDI channels + Omni.
. Adaptive interface for all iPad and iPhone sizes.

VIEW MODES

Switch between six layouts from the View menu:

Piano: a familiar 2-octave keyboard with height-based velocity.
Piano Fader: four CC faders in place of the XY pad and drum pads. Assign any CC to each fader and save CC sets as presets.
Grid: Isomorphic: every row and column keeps the same interval, so chords and scales have one shape anywhere.
Grid: 2 Rows: a piano-style pair of rows, naturals below, sharps above.
Grid: Minor Thirds: columns step up by 3 semitones, rows move chromatically.
Grid: Big Piano: large naturals with quarter-size sharps.

Your view, layout, and root note persist across sessions.

SCALE MODE

Choose from 12 scales - Major, Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Locrian, Pentatonic Major, Pentatonic Minor, Blues, and Whole Tone - in any of the 12 root keys.

On the grid, cells remap so only in-scale notes are laid out, putting every note under your fingers.

On the piano, the keyboard keeps its familiar black and white pattern. Out-of-scale keys dim and stop responding to touch, so only the keys in your key are labelled and playable. Switch back to Chromatic anytime for the full keyboard.

GRID EXPRESSION

Every grid layout includes a dedicated mod-wheel row. A vibrant gradient highlights roots and notes, optional labels show note names, and per-note MPE with pitch bend gives each finger independent control.

BUILT-IN SOUND ENGINE

Play sounds without any external app. Load SF2 SoundFonts with multi-preset selection, or import SFZ, WAV, and M4A samples. The low-CPU engine maps samples across the keyboard automatically, and sounds persist across sessions.

AFTERTOUCH & MPE EXPRESSION

Mono AT applies uniform pressure across chords, Poly AT sends independent pressure per note, and XY MPE allocates per-note MIDI channels (2-16) with Y on CC74 and X on Pitch Bend. Remap aftertouch or mod wheel to any MIDI CC or Pitch Wheel. A green gradient on pressed keys shows pressure in real time.

CONNECT TO YOUR MAC

Control Logic Pro, Ableton Live, or any Mac music software from your iPad or iPhone. Connect wirelessly over your local network with Bonjour, or plug in via USB for a rock-solid, zero-latency link.

STANDALONE OR AUV3

Load KeyPad inside GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis, BeatMaker, Drambo, or any AUv3 host to play your instruments without switching apps, with settings saved in your project. Or run it standalone to drive hardware synths, route MIDI to other iOS apps, or control your Mac.

TOUCH-OPTIMIZED PERFORMANCE

Height-Based Velocity: Touch keys at different vertical positions for dynamic velocity, with three curves to shape the response.

XY Performance Pad: Control two parameters at once with multi-touch. Assign any MIDI CC to each axis for filter sweeps, effect morphing, or live sound manipulation.

Smart Layout: Scales to the window, keeping the full layout with controls and pads on iPhone, iPad, Split View, and AUv3 plugin windows.

Version History Added the Piano Fader view. Pick it from the View menu to replace the XY pad and drum pads with four CC faders. A pill under each fader shows its CC number, and the live value while you move it. Tap the pill to assign any CC.

Save fader CC assignments as CC Set Presets, then recall or delete them from the same pill menu. Fader positions and CC sets are saved with your session or AUv3 project. 1.15 Oct 2 Added iOS 27 compatibility. 1.14.1 Sep 21 Fixed AUv3 on iPhone showing only a keyboard, with no menu button and no way to reach view modes, aftertouch, or scales. The full layout now fits the windows hosts provide, and the menu button stays available at any size.

The interface now scales instead of using fixed spacing, so controls keep their proportions on small screens and in Split View. Fixes the sustain button collapsing to a line, the wheels stretching out of shape, and labels being cut short. 1.14 Aug 6 Fixed stuck notes when playing across out-of-scale keys.
Scales saved in earlier versions no longer mute piano keys. 1.13.1 Jul 28 Scale mode now works on the piano. Pick a scale and a root key, and out-of-scale keys dim and stop responding to touch, so wrong notes are out of reach while the keyboard keeps the familiar shape you navigate by. Only playable keys stay labelled, and in-scale sharps are now named so you can see the accidentals in your key at a glance. Set Scale back to Chromatic for the full keyboard.

Added Scale Root, so scales can start on any of the 12 keys. Previously every scale was locked to C, which made keys like D Dorian or F# Lydian unreachable.

Scale now works in the 2 Rows grid too, with rows splitting by accidental so sharps sit on the upper row above their naturals.

Fixed 2-row sharps being offset half a cell to the right, which left them straddling two naturals and pushed each octave's last sharp off the edge.

The MIDI menu is now two rows per direction, each showing its current selection at a glance: MIDI In channel and devices, MIDI Out channel and device.

Added MIDI input device selection, so you can mute a controller that's sending unwanted data without unplugging it. New devices stay enabled by default.

KeyPad's virtual MIDI port is now simply named "KeyPad", and is never opened as an input, so it can't feed its own output back in.

Redrew the pitch bend and mod wheels as shaded rotating cylinders that turn with the value.

Fixed the Mod Wheel CC remap sharing menu IDs with the Scale list, where choosing a low CC number would silently change the grid scale instead. 1.13 Jul 27 MPE pitch bend now broadcasts to all member channels, so notes you're already holding bend correctly instead of staying fixed.

Added a Big Piano grid view with refined sharp corners and cleaner natural-key labels. Grid layouts are now a radio group in the View menu, and a new scale remap mode plus piano sharp shift give you more ways to lay out the keyboard.

Key Width moved into the View menu as its own group for consistency.

Added a minor-thirds grid mode (columns step up by 3 semitones, rows go chromatic).

Double-tapping SUSTAIN (or tapping it with two fingers) now latches it on, with a red border and held-key lighting; a single tap releases the lock. MPE sustain broadcasts CC64 across all member channels so held notes sustain reliably.

Fixed grid slide velocity to keep the original strike velocity instead of re-reading at the cell edge. Grid MPE output is now deduplicated for parity with the piano, and MPE pitch-bend stepping is smoother thanks to non-blocking MIDI output and deduplication. 1.12 Jun 21 Major overhaul of MPE. All per-note expression settings now live in a dedicated MPE menu with a single toggle to enable it. Aftertouch and MPE are mutually exclusive, keeping the controls clean.

The vertical axis to Up only (CC74, the new default), Up/Down (CC74), or Down only (Aftertouch/Z), and assign the horizontal axis to Pitch Bend with a selectable range (2 to 96 semitones), a MIDI CC of your choice, or off entirely.

MPE now behaves like a proper MPE controller. Pressing a key no longer jumps the timbre or filter value — expression starts centered and responds to how you slide from the touch point, matching hardware like Seaboard and LinnStrument.

Pitch bend on the piano is now smooth and continuous instead of stepped, scaled to the chosen range, and expression responds immediately on press with no delay. Key lighting updates correctly while pressing and holding, sliding down in "Up only" mode no longer changes the key color, and remapped horizontal CCs sweep their full range across the key.

Under the hood, MPE setup messages are now spec-compliant for better compatibility across synths, CC74 is centered on note-on with expression values reset cleanly on release, and all MPE settings are saved and restored between sessions. 1.11 Jun 13 Fixed doubled/ratcheting notes in AUv3 by not injecting UI notes into host MIDI.
Fixed MPE pitch bend snapping back to center on release. 1.10.1 Jun 10 Added an isomorphic grid view with single-row and 2-row piano layouts, dedicated mod-wheel cells, MPE per-note expression, pitch bend, a vibrant gradient colour scheme, optional note labels, and persistent view, layout, and root note.
Added persistent Remap Mod Wheel CC option and fixed velocity menu options (127/100/64/32) that disable the fader.
Improved the 3D wheel gradient curvature and cleaned up menus by hiding unavailable options. 1.10 Jun 6 Added Bliss Sampler ZBP/ZBB preset and bank format support.
Added velocity-based key color saturation in height-based velocity mode.
Pressed keys visually reflect velocity intensity when height-based velocity is active, composing naturally with aftertouch feedback.
Fixed issue causing silent notes at low velocities. 1.9 Mar 5 Added virtual MIDI output port for sending MIDI to other apps.
Fixed MIDI echo loop when receiving external MIDI in standalone mode (network sessions, hardware controllers).
Fixed Bluetooth MIDI dialog layout issues. 1.8.1 Mar 4 Added Recent Files submenu with up to 10 entries persisted across sessions, with Clear Recent Files option.
Added Replace Sound menu item.
Added analog modeled soft limiter for standalone app.
Switched popup menu to compact style. 1.8 Feb 25 Added Key Width setting with PPI-based real-size key rendering (Default, Mini Size, Full Size).
Added Bluetooth MIDI support.
Reorganized MIDI menu with separate In/Out sections and disabled section labels.
Reorganized XY Pad menu to group items by coordinate axis.
Hidden MIDI menu when running as AUv3 since host handles MIDI routing. 1.7 Feb 18 Lowered upper panel height auto-hide threshold.
Fixed AUv3 not restoring SF2 program from state.
Fixed AUv3 unresponsive popup menu actions.
Fixed AUv3 and standalone not responding to external MIDI input. 1.6.1 Feb 16 Added 3D wheel-style rendering for pitch bend and mod wheel sliders, with position-tracking gradient, sine-based bulge highlight, and variable-thickness handle line.
Consolidated MIDI Channel and MIDI Out into a single MIDI submenu with disabled section labels for grouping.
Fixed drum pad highlighting to toggle pad state instead of lighting up the MIDI keyboard.
Fixed velocity 0 bug in height-based velocity mode.
Clamped minimum velocity to 1/127 and velocity fader minimum to 1 to prevent Note Off messages. 1.6 Feb 16 Added SF2 multi-preset program selection with auto-scroll and state persistence.
Added direct Remap to Mod Wheel and Remap to Pitch Wheel toggle items in aftertouch menu.
Changed CC1 remap to use mod wheel position as bipolar center point instead of absolute values.
Mod wheel slider now syncs to last aftertouch CC1 value on release for continuous expression.
Renamed aftertouch remap info label to "Set to CC..." for clarity.
Limited Set Remap dialog to CC 0-127 only since Pitch Wheel now has direct access.
Fixed CC1 remap resetting mod wheel to zero when pressing a key. 1.5 Feb 15 New aftertouch menu with four modes: Off, Mono AT, Poly AT, and XY MPE. Mono AT supports first-mover leader direction locking for natural chord expression. XY MPE allocates per-note channels (2–16) with Y→CC74 and X→Pitch Bend. Bipolar Y-axis pressure mapping includes a deadzone for smooth control. Slide-to-play is automatically disabled when aftertouch is active, locking each finger to its original note.
Includes aftertouch output remapping to any MIDI CC (0–127) or Pitch Bend via the new Set Remap dialog.
Pressed keys display a green gradient that reflects aftertouch intensity in real time.
Standalone state persistence now correctly preserves MIDI channel, output device, and all settings across sessions. 1.4 Feb 13 Moved Load Sound to top of popup menu for better discoverability.
Consolidated X Pad CC and Y Pad CC into single XY Pad submenu.
Shortened welcome dialog text to fit smaller screens.
Disabled screen idle timer for standalone builds. 1.3.1 Feb 9 Added SFZ file loading.
Increased max sound file size limit from 128 MB to 512 MB. 1.3 Feb 8 Built-in high-quality, low CPU sound engine: load SF2 SoundFonts, WAV, and M4A files to play sounds directly from KeyPad.
Full AUv3 plugin support: use KeyPad as an Audio Unit instrument inside GarageBand, AUM, and other hosts.
Extended MIDI keyboard range with additional mapped keys.
Improved welcome screen with quick overview and setup guide links.
Reliability fixes for CoreMIDI connections and sound file persistence across sessions. 1.2 Feb 7 Smoother, more responsive controls: pitch bend, drum pads, sustain pedal, and XY pad now respond instantly without any visual lag.
Custom CC assignments: enter any MIDI CC number (1-128) for X and Y pad axes.
Improved keyboard rendering with faster note highlighting and reduced battery usage.
Fixed height-based velocity affecting output when turned off.
Stability improvements and bug fixes. 1.1 Feb 6 1.0 Feb 5