Koala is the ultimate pocket-sized sampler. Record anything with your phone's mic or load your own sounds. Use Koala to create beats with those samples, add effects and create a track!
Koala's super intuitive interface helps you make a track in a flash - there is no brake pedal. You can also resample the output of the app back into the input, through the effects, so the sonic possibilities are endless.
Koala's design focuses totally on making the music-making process instant, keeping you in the flow and keeping it fun, not getting bogged down by pages of parameters and micro-editing.
"Been putting that $4 koala sampler to good use lately. Undeniably great tool that puts some of these expensive beat boxes to shame. A must cop."
-- flying lotus, twitter
* Record up to 64 different samples with your mic
* Transform your voice or any other sound with 16 superb built-in fx
* Load your own samples
* Choose from one of 250 built-in sounds
* Resample the output of the app back into a new sample
* Export loops or entire tracks as professional quality WAV files
* Direct export to Ableton Live Set
* Copy/paste or merge sequences just by dragging them
* Create beats with the high-resolution sequencer
* Import samples from the Files app or even from videos
* Keyboard mode lets you play chromatically or one of 9 scales
* Quantize, add swing to get the right feel
* Normal/One-shot/Loop/Reverse playback of samples
* 6 Choke groups
* Attack, release and tone adjustable on each sample
* Mute/Solo controls and note repeat
* Add any (or all) of the 16 effects to the entire mix
* AUv3 compatible - use in GarageBand, Logic, Cubasis etc etc
* MIDI controllable - play your samples on a keyboard, map the effects to knobs
* Jam with others over WiFi with Ableton Link
* Free copy of Ableton Live Lite included
* AudioShare compatible
* Use AI to separate samples into individual instruments (drums, bass, vocals and other)
* Set your own background image and choose from a growing list of background visual FX
8 Built-in Microphone FX:
* More Bass
* More Treble
* Fuzz
* Robot
* Reverb
* Octave up
* Octave down
* Synthesizer
16 Built-in DJ Mix FX:
* Bit-crusher
* Pitch-shift
* Comb filter
* Ring modulator
* Reverb
* Stutter
* Gate
* Resonant High/Low Pass Filters
* Cutter
* Reverse
* Dub
* Tempo Delay
* Talkbox
* VibroFlange
* Dirty
* Compressor
Features included in SAMURAI In-App Purchase
* Pro-quality Timestretch (5 modes: Modern, Retro, Beats, Re-pitch and Cyclic)
* Piano roll editor
* Auto-chop (auto, equal, and lazy chop)
* 3 Band EQ
* Pocket operator sync out
* Quokka Synth - powerhouse polyphonic synthesizer
* MIDI Out - control external MIDI hardware with Koala's sequencer
* Chopper - multimodal sample chopping instrument
Features included in MIXER In-App Purchase
* Mix your beats professionally with a 4 channel mixer + main bus
* Route any sample to any channel
* Mute/solo, faders and accurate metering on every channel
* 5 effect slots per channel
* 29 high-quality effects - compressors, filters, phasers and more, with new effects to come
* Host AUv3 plugins - both audio effects and instruments
★★★★★
28 Aug 2026
Best Designed App of All Time
I design apps for a living. You can trust me.
Njeber · v2.0.3
★★★★★
25 Aug 2026
Best Devs in the game!
I just want to say thank you to the entire elf audio team. Over the past year or so you guys have been cooking! I really appreciate the quality product and support. You guys really listen to feedback and add what we ask for. I’ve asked for features few months later they are released. Thank you!
HimdaMan · v2.0.3
★★★★★
23 Aug 2026
The Don for beatmaking on IOS !
This sampler, hands down is the best app for beat making on an iPad. Thank you !!! Everything can always be improved. It would be cool if we could map the sample bank buttons to our midi controllers, and change each sequence to a different bpm 😉
Dee-71 · v2.0.3
★★★★★
22 Aug 2026
Best for Producers and Beginners
Record anything anywhere and get an idea down quick. Import to your DAW if you want. Do some sound design. Download some extra synths and effects, load them in, resample them, chop em up. Truly endless for sound design and beat making in a way that is excellent on mobile. Highly recommend
69SwagDoctor69 · v2.0.3
★★★★★
21 Aug 2026
Koala keeps getting better
A 50 $ used iPad can triple the feature set of your sp404mk2
Yyttttthatguypalll · v2.0.3
★★★★★
21 Aug 2026
Should cost a lot more
This $5 app does pretty much everything a $1000 hardware sampler can do. Any wannabe music creator that's looking for a place to start should play with this for a while. I have Ableton 12 Suite and $2k worth of plugins and I'm spending hours messing around with this. Plus it's super portable. I like it more on my ipad mini than on my 10.2" because it's mad easy to use the pads with both thumbs while holding it.
The value of this is just nuts.
Dr. Shankenstein · v2.0.3
★★★★★
20 Aug 2026
Exceptional App
Ridiculous value. Amazing feature set. Very intuitive and easy to use, yet extremely powerful. Super fun. I enjoy making music through Koala more than any other tool. Even desktop DAWs!
Photon1337 · v2.0.2
★★★★★
15 Aug 2026
Tips
I ain’t gonna lie if y’all make it to where you can transpose fast and then add automations and the piano roll area like in the like in a sequence it’ll be over with bro if y’all add automations and transposing is overweight
Goldyybabyy · v2.0.2
★★★★★
13 Aug 2026
I found the pack
Hopefully the app will allow me to change my review. My apologies. I assumed the item/s came wit an update. The funny thang is I wuz on the right track when lookin in the folders. I did go to Get More Samples, but didn’t click on anything.
I wuz expectin it to be a download of sum kind. Which it is… but my mind wuz thinkin it wuz an update download. Raised my stars to 5. I wonder if in the future an undo button will be added?
Clout-Kiing!! · v2.0.2
★★★★★
31 Jul 2026
Groove Box in Your Pocket
It doesn’t have everything, but it has enough to be deadly with your creativity.
For most people this app will save hundreds of dollars as compared to buying a real groove box.
amack444 · v2.0.2
★☆☆☆☆
29 Jul 2026
NO UNDO BUTTON
If you happen to brush up against the wrong thing by accident say goodbye to hours of sample editing because you can’t undo. I really wish I had known that before spending the money.
soldecent · v2.0.0
★★★★★
27 Jul 2026
Simply a must have.
I think just about anyone would enjoy this app. Musical or not. It’s just straight up fun. But also incredibly deep if you want to keep going. And you do.
If you bought this and drool over something like an MPC, understand that you’re getting 95% of what’s cool about an MOC, and it’s in your pocket.
The lack of subscription puts the cherry on top. Happy to pay for upgrades and packs.
Atanguay · v2.0.0
★★★★☆
25 Jul 2026
Buss
One thing PLEASE - could we get the option to route the separate 4 BUSS channels into a audio track inside Ableton so we can record from the BUSS and not have to go to each sample individually to place on each individual “out” audio track. Its do-able now , yet the do-able way the fx from the BUSS’s are not recorded in the “out” option ..
Still with that said this is still Ultimately my favorite sampler. The go to no matter what i am cooking or where i am cooking. Koala is there on the ipad and the laptop.
DeCypherBeats · v2.0.0
★★★★★
19 Jul 2026
The greatest!
Now that there’s AUV3 support, it’s 10/10.
My only wants now are:
1. Easier access to transport and keyboard controls from the Sample tab without having to constantly switch back and forth between Sample and Sequence for those functions.
Maybe you could offer the choice between a few preconfigured UI layout to suit different workflows the way Lumafusion does to accommodate different workflows and displays.
I would personally like to see the all the menu options at the top of the app swap places with all the buttons at the bottom of the screen for quicker to more frequently used buttons/options. I don’t find myself needing to reach for Mute, Solo or any of the pattern banks nearly as often as I do the mode tabs and settings menu.
2. I noticed that synths don’t respond to pressure sensitivity from my Novation Launchpad X like they do when I run them in AUM or Logic Pro on Mac. So, I hope that gets added/fixed.
Blind Henry McClean · v2.0.0
★★★☆☆
16 Jul 2026
More potential
Great app just wish I could use a AKAI APC mini with the app, it connects to it and pads work but no lights, no organization, no mode changing buttons, no slider configuration, and it won’t even let you configure anything, I hope this improves
livelygamer · v2.0.0
★★★★★
14 Jul 2026
2.0 update is perfect
After using this app for over a year solid now, I can say it’s absolutely incredible. Thank you for consistently working on and improving the app. The battery usage is so much better after the 2.0 update, and the previous update added in external auv3 support. I’m excited to see what else will be added over time!
jace.irl · v2.0.0
★★★★★
13 Jul 2026
Greatness
This is probably the greatest beat making app of all time…… But if this gets audio tracks at least 8 …. It’s a wrap!!!!!!!
thefivefingergiant · v2.0.0
★★★★★
9 Jul 2026
It works
I used this to program a JP-Mini for my kid, who uses it as a communication device. Other software made the process agonizing or downright impossible. I had all of the banks programmed with audio clips and the JP-mini functioning perfectly within 20 minutes. It’s worth the money.
Purrnel Kitty · v2.0.0
★☆☆☆☆
23 Jun 2026
The struggle
This was bad from the start.I want to become a artist and make music,but with this app I had no clue what I was doing no one is my family could help me out ether and you have to pay to get beats and you can’t even upload your music so I would not get this app
Lil kingdom XD · v1.4162
★★☆☆☆
21 Jun 2026
AUM Compatibility Issues
If you use Koala for fun in stand alone, then it’s really great. If you use it in stand alone in a professional situation it’s great. If you use it in a professional situation within AUM and assign different Koala templates with different samples to separate channels then it’s very frustrating. When you map on Koala in one channel it voids the mapping on the previous Koala channel. This happens even if you save both in Koala and AUM after every move on both channels. If you go back and import the song into the correct channel it still deletes the mapping data you spent a lot of time programming. Saving a song and trying to use it within AUM on a gig is fraught with saving / memory issues and you cannot depend on it. This creates a lot of wasted time.
Goofy the Dwarf · v1.4162
No reviews at this rating.
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