SONGTAKE vs Topline

SONGTAKE is an iOS and macOS app for capturing musical ideas, recording band takes and organizing demos with audio and video together. Ideas mode captures compressed video clips, while Demos mode starts recording on multiple phones and syncs those recordings automatically. Users can add video overdubs, build multitrack recordings over existing ideas, import audio and video, and let bandmates contribute or overdub remotely. AI stem splitting separates vocals, drums and bass. SONGTAKE says projects can be exported as AAF for opening in any DAW. The free plan includes offline recording, basic export, 250MB of storage and up to 16 tracks per song. Local data syncs to servers when internet is available. Studio Access costs $7.49 a month and includes 1TB storage, offline mode, band storage sharing, pro export templates and 4K video. Patrons costs $11.99 a month and adds 1.5TB storage, feature voting, Patron export templates, credits and custom app icons to Studio Access features. The privacy policy says data is encrypted with AES-256 in cold storage and SSL/TLS in transit.

Topline is Abbey Road Studios’ multitrack recording app for songwriters who want to capture music ideas. A project can contain up to three audio layers, with lyrics, notes, tags and pictures available to keep material together. Import audio from Mail, iCloud, Google Drive or Dropbox; projects can also sync to those cloud services. Tags and a map feature help organize projects and identify where recordings were made. Users can export projects as M4A on iOS or MP3 on Android and share them by email. The help information also describes sharing a project WAV through the phone’s file-sharing system, and records audio at 44.1 kHz. iOS-specific tools include reverb with nine impulse responses, a mixer panel, Bluetooth headphone support and automatic mono-to-stereo conversion for imported tracks. Topline is free for personal, non-commercial use. Its terms require users to be at least 18 to accept them and download the app.