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Tonaut puts a complete little studio in your pocket, built to be played rather than programmed. Pick a sound, tap out a pattern, and record it to tape, all on one screen that feels more like a piece of hardware than an app.

Start with the sounds. Nine synth engines and more than 300 sounds, from warm analog pads to glassy bells and growling bass, plus drum kits you can play on pads or set running with a groove, and kits made from your own samples. Star the ones you love and they're always first in the list. Shape anything you like, and the scope shows you the real signal as you play.

Then build a song. Up to eight lanes run side by side, each with its own sound and its own step sequencer. Write a pattern step by step or play it in live, copy it to start the next one, and switch patterns on the fly with Pattern Play, every lane moving to the next section together. Add an arpeggiator or a drum groove and the lane plays itself.

When it's ready, roll the tape. Record every lane to its own track, or bounce several onto one, with eight tracks of 20 minutes, or six tracks of 30. Wind it, loop it, reverse it, stutter it, slow it to a stop. Mix the tape on its own mixer, separate from your lanes, and zoom out to see the whole song at once.

It's made for playing live, too. The Perform page gives every lane two controls that reshape its sound while the sequence runs, then snap back when you stop, and an X/Y pad takes over a screen so one finger can bend and sweep the sound. Plug in a MIDI keyboard to play it, or send its lanes out to your own synths and drum machines, with clock and transport so everything starts together.

Tonaut runs on iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo, with a layout made for each. Share a song from one to the other, or straight to Instagram as a short video. No account, no subscription, and your music stays on your device.