For Logic Pro, Ableton Live and FL Studio
You came to shape a sound, not to assign knobs.
Right now that means dragging tiny controls with a mouse, or assigning one parameter at a time with MIDI learn, then starting over for every plugin. KnobShift reads the controls of your Audio Unit plugin by itself and puts them on your iPad, named and sorted, in Logic Pro, Ableton Live and FL Studio on the Mac. There’s nothing to assign.
You need both: the iPad app and the free Mac bridge that connects it to Logic Pro, Ableton Live or FL Studio.
This is the real interface. Drag a knob, then press Listen. Everything you change, you hear.
- Logic Pro
- Ableton Live
- FL Studio
- Audio Unit plugins
- Ableton’s own devices
90 seconds
See it in action.
Open a plugin and its controls are already on the iPad. The launch video walks through the Performance view, the sound design pages, your own dashboards and the Mac bridge.
What you never assigned can’t get lost.
With MIDI learn you click a parameter, wiggle a knob on your controller, and do it again for every other parameter and every other plugin. Then you hope the assignments still work in the next project. KnobShift needs no learn mode and no templates. The iPad shows the names the plugin itself uses, and every plugin is laid out the same way: oscillators, filter, envelopes, LFOs and effects, each with its own color and each module with the curve it controls.
Smooth as analog.
Classic MIDI knows 128 steps per control. KnobShift sends 32-bit values over MIDI 2.0, so filter sweeps glide instead of stepping. Drag the fader and compare.
Automation that plays back.
Set Logic to Touch and move a fader on the iPad, and Logic records it. Press play, and the controls move by themselves. Switch plugin windows and the iPad follows.
Your layout for every synth.
Put the eight controls you need live on one page. Make one dashboard for Ableton and another for Logic. Export it and put it in the library, or pick up someone else’s there.
Built with the people who use it.
Request features, vote on what comes next, report bugs. The public roadmap shows what’s being worked on.
Two parts. Five minutes.
The iPad app is what you touch. The free Mac bridge talks to your DAW. Install both, open a plugin, play.
iPad app
The surface: modules, knobs, faders, dashboards. Connects over USB or Wi-Fi.
Mac bridge
A menu-bar companion plus the bridge plugin for Logic and a remote script for Ableton Live.
Open a plugin
Load your synth in the bridge in Logic, or just select a device in Ableton Live.
KnobShift reads it
The plugin describes its parameters over MIDI-CI. KnobShift sorts them into oscillators, filters, envelopes, effects and more.
Play it with your hands
Every move is a 32-bit MIDI 2.0 value. Automation records in your DAW and plays back on the iPad.
Become a beta tester
Logic Pro, Ableton Live or FL Studio, an iPad and a Mac? Apply for the beta. We invite testers in small groups.
Questions, answered
What do I need?
An iPad with iPadOS 17 or later, a Mac with macOS 14 or later, and Logic Pro, Ableton Live or FL Studio. Wi-Fi connections need macOS 26.4 or later; USB always works.
Which plugins work?
In Logic and FL Studio, any AU instrument or effect you load into the bridge plugin. In Ableton Live, the selected device, including Ableton’s own instruments and effects; third-party plugins run there as Audio Units inside the bridge too. VST3-only plugins and the built-in instruments and effects of Logic and FL Studio can’t be controlled.
Do I have to assign anything?
No. KnobShift reads the plugin’s parameters over MIDI-CI and builds the layout itself. Dashboards are optional, for when you want your own selection.
I’ve tried iPad controller apps before. What’s different here?
You don’t build a template or assign anything, because KnobShift gets the controls from the plugin itself. Over USB there’s no network to set up either. A glass screen won’t replace hardware you can use without looking, though: you look while you turn, and in return you see every parameter by name.
What does it cost?
The Mac bridge is free. The iPad app will be a free download with the Performance view; KnobShift Pro will be an affordable subscription. We’ll announce the price at launch. The app is currently in its test phase.
Why does macOS ask for my password during installation?
The installer places the bridge in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins and sets up the Companion to start automatically. That needs administrator rights once. The package is signed and notarized by Apple, so there is no security warning.
Get your hands on your plugins.
Install the iPad app and the free Mac bridge. Five minutes later, your plugin is under your fingers.