Review Insights · App Store
Ableton Note
Ableton AG · 646 ratings · ★ 4.2
4.2
★★★★★
646 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 19 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"ableton"
5 negative reviews mention this · 26% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Sample Preview Too Short. This app would be amazing except the sample preview is like 0.2 seconds long and therefore useless. When selecting a sample, it’d be great if the release were infinite, as in Ableton Live, allowing you to preview more of the sample. As it s…" - Crystal Stemware
2
"notes"
4 negative reviews mention this · 21% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Thanks for running Notes. The latest update without sounding critical is, well, a hot mess. I’m just going to leave it at that and hope you find your way back. K.I.S.S" - The Bamboo King
3
"audio"
4 negative reviews mention this · 21% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very pretty, but no MIDI or AU. Slick UI, intuitive sequencing, but no MIDI or audio unit connectivity makes it not a serious tool. I do own Ableton suite and I understand Ableton cloud, which is good. But leaving out live MIDI and audio unit connectivity makes it a cripp…" - ___METATRON___
4
"waste"
3 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Fiddly Unintuitive UI - Sequencer Incomplete. Not a huge fan of the UI or the workflow. I think the midi-editor could use further refinement. Wish there had been a demo-version with limited instruments / effects so I could have tested the app first. As it is, it feels like a waste of …" - Mz0000
5
"money"
3 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Fiddly Unintuitive UI - Sequencer Incomplete. Not a huge fan of the UI or the workflow. I think the midi-editor could use further refinement. Wish there had been a demo-version with limited instruments / effects so I could have tested the app first. As it is, it feels like a waste of …" - Mz0000
6
"waste money"
3 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
7
"every"
3 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Sample Preview Too Short. This app would be amazing except the sample preview is like 0.2 seconds long and therefore useless. When selecting a sample, it’d be great if the release were infinite, as in Ableton Live, allowing you to preview more of the sample. As it s…" - Crystal Stemware
8
"ability"
3 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Full of promise and potential. When you load a sample you can’t move it around or delete it with the pad. It would be nice if there was a simpler or sampler function. Just the ability to chop, reverse, pitch, decay, release attack a sample. I’m more of a beat maker Jun…" - Nascent Nexus
9
"tracks"
3 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Major glitch. App continues to crash when creating bass tracks." - PeasantPharm
10
"update"
3 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Full of promise and potential. When you load a sample you can’t move it around or delete it with the pad. It would be nice if there was a simpler or sampler function. Just the ability to chop, reverse, pitch, decay, release attack a sample. I’m more of a beat maker Jun…" - Nascent Nexus
11
"makes"
3 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Very pretty, but no MIDI or AU. Slick UI, intuitive sequencing, but no MIDI or audio unit connectivity makes it not a serious tool. I do own Ableton suite and I understand Ableton cloud, which is good. But leaving out live MIDI and audio unit connectivity makes it a cripp…" - ___METATRON___
12
"everything"
3 negative reviews mention this · 16% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Beware. Your work is not safe.. I am a longtime Ableton user and spent the last 6 months developing tracks on note locally. Today I open it and everything is gone. No explanation whatsoever just soul crushing disappointment. This is the worst experience ever with a piece…" - Eriesimmer
📋 All 19 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Charged me $38?
Not sure why the app says $7 but it charged me $38.92
Fiddly Unintuitive UI - Sequencer Incomplete
Not a huge fan of the UI or the workflow. I think the midi-editor could use further refinement.
Wish there had been a demo-version with limited instruments / effects so I could have tested the app first. As it is, it feels like a waste of money. It’s just not for me.
Wish there had been a demo-version with limited instruments / effects so I could have tested the app first. As it is, it feels like a waste of money. It’s just not for me.
Woof
They took a fun simple/easy idea machine and made it a complex mess. Can I get the old version back?
Thanks for running Notes
The latest update without sounding critical is, well, a hot mess. I’m just going to leave it at that and hope you find your way back. K.I.S.S
Clutter
This most recent update changes the interface of the application rather dramatically from fast and non-cluttered to distracting and cumbersome.
Ironically, this recent update departs from an intuitive and smooth mobile Ableton experience. The ability to choose the preferred mobile DAW interface is a useful consideration. I prefer the former application interface.
Ironically, this recent update departs from an intuitive and smooth mobile Ableton experience. The ability to choose the preferred mobile DAW interface is a useful consideration. I prefer the former application interface.
Start Stop?
Can you not just enter drum hits on a grid with a start stop button synced with link like every other app?
I just can’t use a grid -enter notes-hit play?
I just can’t use a grid -enter notes-hit play?
Terrible
Terrible not fun to use and hard to make an actual song complete waste of my money and time. I want a refund.
Worthless product
Lag between touch and record makes this a waste of money. Would have been nice if it were a trial just another crappy app I wasted money on.
Beware. Your work is not safe.
I am a longtime Ableton user and spent the last 6 months developing tracks on note locally. Today I open it and everything is gone. No explanation whatsoever just soul crushing disappointment. This is the worst experience ever with a piece of music software in my life.
No Audio on iOS 18
I can’t seem to get any audio output from this app. I’ve tried everything I can find when researching this issue but there isn’t much out there. I’d love to use it but it’s not much use without any sound. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
No audio
Hard to rate the app when there is no audio! Checked all the settings, restarted phone, everything else sounds normal, but this app is silent.
Where’s the audio tracks??? So disappointed
.
How does Ableton not have the ability to record audio tracks in Note??? This seems totally absurd that a digital audio workstation doesn’t have audio tracks, even if it is just on your iPhone. You cannot record any vocals or record any instruments IRL via the microphone with this app, like what??? I bought the app with the intention of being able to layer ideas quickly while they’re fresh and record rough guitar tracks so I can have those ideas in Studio on my computer to re-record, but this is not possible with this app!!! I wanted a step up from recording ideas with Voice Memos but this app can’t even do that! If Voice Memos was able to play multiple tracks simultaneously it would be better than Note. The FREE Garageband app has audio tracks but I wanted to have the consistency of Ableton’s cloud for Studio that I just bought. It cannot be that difficult to add this function and I’d be shocked if I was the only one thinking this. The lack of audio tracks completely ruins the app.
How does Ableton not have the ability to record audio tracks in Note??? This seems totally absurd that a digital audio workstation doesn’t have audio tracks, even if it is just on your iPhone. You cannot record any vocals or record any instruments IRL via the microphone with this app, like what??? I bought the app with the intention of being able to layer ideas quickly while they’re fresh and record rough guitar tracks so I can have those ideas in Studio on my computer to re-record, but this is not possible with this app!!! I wanted a step up from recording ideas with Voice Memos but this app can’t even do that! If Voice Memos was able to play multiple tracks simultaneously it would be better than Note. The FREE Garageband app has audio tracks but I wanted to have the consistency of Ableton’s cloud for Studio that I just bought. It cannot be that difficult to add this function and I’d be shocked if I was the only one thinking this. The lack of audio tracks completely ruins the app.
Pricey for just taking notes.
I'm surprised at how expensive this app is for how little it does.
Sample Preview Too Short
This app would be amazing except the sample preview is like 0.2 seconds long and therefore useless. When selecting a sample, it’d be great if the release were infinite, as in Ableton Live, allowing you to preview more of the sample. As it stands, every sample sounds virtually identical cause all you hear is the tiniest slice of the beginning. Can’t use the app at all because of this.
Full of promise and potential
When you load a sample you can’t move it around or delete it with the pad. It would be nice if there was a simpler or sampler function. Just the ability to chop, reverse, pitch, decay, release attack a sample.
I’m more of a beat maker
June 6th 2025
There is a glitch in the app that every time I open up the app, it goes to a black screen then goes back to my Home Screen, I tried rebooting my iPad mini 6., it displays the 3 dots of the app then it closes
I’m updated to 18.5 as of this morning
I’m more of a beat maker
June 6th 2025
There is a glitch in the app that every time I open up the app, it goes to a black screen then goes back to my Home Screen, I tried rebooting my iPad mini 6., it displays the 3 dots of the app then it closes
I’m updated to 18.5 as of this morning
Major glitch
App continues to crash when creating bass tracks.
Very pretty, but no MIDI or AU
Slick UI, intuitive sequencing, but no MIDI or audio unit connectivity makes it not a serious tool. I do own Ableton suite and I understand Ableton cloud, which is good. But leaving out live MIDI and audio unit connectivity makes it a crippled app by iOS standards. Deliberately making their product proprietary and less useful in an attempt to sell more software licenses, is a pathetic move by Ableton. 20+ year Ableton fan here: get it together guys let’s see live midi and audio unit connectivity in the next update, please, thanks.
Good as far as it goes
What’s here is good, but lacks basic functionality, e.g. no provision for step entry of notes
Still no AUv3 support?! Come on…
I can’t believe there still isn’t AUv3 support. It would be so powerful if we could use Mac-compatible AUv3 plug-ins here. Your excuse of “it wouldn’t work on Windows” makes little sense. Of course it wouldn’t, but this is an iOS-only app, why not go the distance and allow MacOS users to make bangers on the go with the many amazing apps on the App Store?
Sentiment summary
78%
Positive (4-5★)
11%
Neutral (3★)
11%
Negative (1-2★)