Recording from the Mic

The mic recorder lets you sample the world around you and drop the take straight onto a pad. It is free on every pad, including the Pro pads.

Opening the recorder

Select the pad you want to record onto, then tap Rec in the pad toolbar (the mic icon). The recorder opens as a full-screen sheet. Whatever you accept here is loaded onto the pad you had selected, so pick your destination before you open it. On first use, iOS asks for microphone permission — if you decline, an Open Settings link appears so you can re-enable it later.

To bring in an existing audio file instead of recording, see Importing Audio.

Recording a take

Tap REC to start and STOP to end. As you record, the LCD strip shows a live waveform of the incoming signal, and a timer counts up beside it.

Recordings are capped at 60 seconds — the same limit as imported files. When you reach it, recording stops automatically.

Control	What it does	Range / default
REC / STOP	Start and stop capture	—
Input gain (mic slider)	Boosts or attenuates the incoming signal	0%–200%, default 100%
Duration	Counts up while recording	Max 60 s

Set the input gain before you record. At 100% the mic is passed through unchanged; push it higher for quiet sources or pull it back if the input is clipping.

After you stop, the take is automatically peak-normalized so the loudest part sits at a consistent level. You do not need to normalize by hand.

Reviewing the take

Once you have a recording, PLAY auditions it through the preview player; a cursor sweeps across the waveform to show the playback position. Tap STOP to halt the preview. You can record again at any time to replace the take.

Pitch FX

The Pitch FX section holds Scale Lock, an auto-tune pass that snaps the recorded pitch to a musical scale. Turn it on, then choose:

Control	What it does	Options
Scale Lock	Enables pitch correction on the take	On / off (default off)
Root	The tonic the scale is built on	C through B (all 12 keys)
Scale	The scale notes are snapped to	Maj, Min, Penta, Dor, Phr, Chrom

While Scale Lock is on and you are recording, a live pitch monitor shows the detected input note (IN) and the corrected target note (OUT). Correction is applied offline after you stop — a brief “Tuning…” indicator appears while it runs.

Accept or discard

When you are happy with the take, tap USE to load it onto the selected pad and close the sheet. To throw the recording away, tap Cancel in the top-left — nothing is written to the pad.

From there, dial in the sound with the granular parameters and the granular envelope, or slice it into multiple pads with Chopping a Sample. For a walkthrough of recording technique, see How to sample sounds on iPhone.