With technology going mobile, today we rate the top 5 music making apps.
5: BeepStreet iSequence HD
iSequence HD is a great all-in-one music making app with an 8-track sequencer and 160 built-in instruments. You get a very varied set of sounds from synths to and a very flexible environment in which to put them together as instruments are not bound to tracks so you can use different ones on each of the tracks. There’s a good selection of effects plus a sampler making this a very accomplished mobile sequencing app that is particularly good for MIDI programming. www.beepstreet.com
4: Yamaha TNR-i
Yamaha’s innovative Tenori-ON hardware was an ideal candidate for a port to iOS, and the software version is incredibly fun to use. Don’t think of this as a traditional sequencer though; it’s a 16 by 16 grid of lights and when you press one it will trigger a sound within a definable cycle. You can play up to 16 different sounds at once and store 16 patterns which can be then triggered within a performance. As well as being great for beginners TNR-i has a real depth of features for advanced users too. The original hardware fetched the best part of £800 so to be able to buy into this kind of creativity at this price is (as is so often the case with iOS apps) astonishing. uk.yamaha.com
3: Blip Interactive NanoStudio
Another app that’s universal to all recent iOS devices, NanoStudio has its own take on programming, sequencing and recording. You can combine up to six instruments but this is expandable with add-on instruments (to 16). Instruments include Eden (16 voice synth) and TRG-16, a performance triggering pad. Sampling is done via the iPhone/Pad’s mic as is resampling and there’s a pattern sequencer for putting the whole lot together. NanoStudio is a very capable alternative to the big players. blipinteractive.co.uk
2: Image-Line FL Studio HD
FL Studio exists both for iPhone and iPad in slightly different versions and offers a variety of great instruments, audio recording and editing, plus extra features such as MIDI out for triggering external kit. The latest version supports Audiobus so you can use other compatible apps and instruments with it. Usefully projects produced in the mobile app can be exported into the desktop version so it’s great for translating those moments of inspiration on the bus into fully-fledged projects in your home studio. www.image-line.com
1: Steinberg Cubasis
Steinberg has completely re-engineered Cubase from the ground up for the iPad’s touch interface and the results are impressive. The app supports unlimited tracks, virtual MIDI and AudioBus. All the expected touch controls are there so you can pinch to increase and decrease track size and edits are a breeze. It’s easy to select different instruments and combine them with recordings from the outside world or audio provided with the app. Expensive for an app, perhaps, but this is the real deal so it’s cheap for a completely mobile version of Cubase.