Making music on the move
As a music app developer for iOS, Agile Partners go right back to the very first day of the App Store in July 2008 and, as I commented in a previous review, I’m a big fan of their Guitar Toolkit app. Of course, the company also produce AmpKit – a guitar amp, cab, effects modelling package – that is available in a free version or the paid ‘+’ version that includes extra amps and effects. In addition, there are a whole slew of additional amps, cab and effects available either … [Read more...]
As regular readers here will be aware, I’m a bit of a fan of music app developers that try to capitalise on the touchscreen interface and provide us with ways to ‘play’ app-based musical instruments that step beyond a virtual piano keyboard or virtual guitar strings. Apps such as Figure, Triqtraq and Thumbjam are good examples of this and, while an experienced musician can capitalise on these alternative playing interfaces, these apps also make it possible for the non-musician (or budding … [Read more...]
Intua’s Beatmaker music app has been around for quite a while. The original version was released as an iPhone app as far back as 2008 and Beatmaker 2 first appeared in February 2011 – for both iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad – and has seen regular upgrades since. In terms of music making, Beatmaker has always been designed to be a complete (stand alone?) compositional environment. The original tools consisted of sample-based drum machine and keyboard instruments, a well-specified sequencing … [Read more...]
IK Multimedia will be well known to regular iOS music app fans; they have been one of the music technology manufacturers that have most readily embraced the whole mobile computing environment as a place to make music. With a range of dedicated hardware (for example, iRig, iRig Keys, iRig Mix) and apps (Amplitube, VocaLive, GrooveMaker, DJ Rig, SampleTank, etc.). And, with a number of new products announced at the winter NAMM show back in January (including the iRig HD guitar interface), it’s a … [Read more...]
If you read my original review of Propelerhead’s Figure music app you will know that I’m a bit of a fan. It’s not that the app is a fully featured music production system – it’s far from it in fact – but it was one of the best examples of an app designer thinking outside the box in terms of the playing interface. In short, Propellerhead made brilliant use of the touchscreen to provide an instrument that a novice musician could coax a dance tune out of and a more serious musician … [Read more...]
My own iPad is stuffed full of some brilliant music apps. I’ve got a number of excellent synth-based apps, at least four guitar amp sims that I’m happy to employ, a selection of very useable (but quite different) DAWs and a range of utility-type apps (including Audiobus and MIDI Bridge), all of which, with a little care and attention, can be combined into a suitable music-making workflow. In terms of it being a ‘complete’ music production system then I know that, at present, it … [Read more...]
