iOS (iPad and iPhone) Apps of worthiness!!

[Studio Support Gnome]

I thought it time we had a sticky thread for people to post their favourite iDevice apps.....

Please State whether they're free or paid for, how much, and whether it's iPad, or iPhone specific, (and if you know, then whether it's iPhone 4 only or compatible with 3/3GS )

[. . . Delete This User . . .]

since this thread is intended for users to post THEIR favourite audio iApps...

these are free and AFAIK for all iOS Devices

Decibel Ultra.
Chordbank
nLog Synth...
and a host of tuner apps.

and there's a little drum beats app from the same chap as Guitar tuner, that's quite good for practicing with instead of a metronome...

[TheReson8or]

Lyrica and web metronome

[s_e_a_n]

This was a recent thread which covered quite a few...

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showf ... t=1#884637

[Michiel]

Korg iMS-20 (iPad only; €12.99 until 31/01/2011 double thereafter) is the coolest one I've so far got! Always wanted to own a real MS-20 when I was a lot younger.

[franciskimberley]

I love my iPhone 3GS and as I've got flu (sympathy, please) I've had time to flesh out the list below. In no particular order here are some great musical apps for the iPhone. AFAICR they're all paid for and I don't know if any of them have iPad versions...:

ProChords - Put in a chord and it gives suggestions for what chord might sound good next in the progression. Can change the inversion and bass note. Fun and useful although the piano samples used are horrible!

Chordmaster/Scalemaster - Separate programs made by the same developer, give a fairly comprehensive encyclopedia of chords and scales, plus it gives finger positions for all scales/chords on a guitar fretboard. Strum the neck and you get audio demos of what they sound like as chords/scales or in individual notes.

Funkbox - Groovebox using samples from old and new classic drum machines - CR78, 909, 808, 606, Maestro Rhythm King MRK2, Korg ER1, Electron MD SPS-1. Program on a grid or play with virtual pads. Tempo, accent, swing and "random" parameters and you also get a basic level mixer. Also exports audio and then you can email to wherever. Probably my favourite music app because it's so easy to use and have a lot of fun with!

Sound Scope Space - Draw a waveform with your finger and then play the result on a pitch grid. Has an arp and a hold function as well as what appears to be an LFO with associated pitch and speed options (it's called a "Kuzmoscillator", apparently). Suprisingly useful results and a lot more fun than I've made it sound.

Bebot - Make a robot sing (literally) by dragging your finger around the screen - the horizontal controls the pitch and the vertical controls the filter cutoff/resonance (in all but one preset). Use tweakable presets and effects as well as different scale grids.

NanoStudio - A fully fledged sequencer, 4 synths, a drum machine with 3 outputs, mixer, effects... Massively deep and well worth the dollar. Like a decent home studio from the 1990s but in your pocket (and no audio recording, but you can't have everything).

Curtis Heavy - Made by the same people as Sound Scope Space - The Strange Agency. Record in through your phone mic and then treat it to some granular mashing. Limited in scope but good for making FX.

Dub Siren Pro - Reggae style DJ effects box with on/off switchable streaming radio stations and with 2 effect styles. Hold it vertically and you get a traditional dub siren with a choice of waveforms, pitch, speed, and depth controls. Hold it horizontally and you get an MPC style sample player with pitch controls. Both styles have a delay and two spinback samples. There are two versions of this software - "Dub Siren" is cheaper and you get just a few sample packs included with your purchase, "Dub Siren Pro" you get the vast majority of the available packs. All sample packs are available as IAPs for 60p. Worth the asking price just for the samples of Yellowman saying "Lordamercy" and "Bombaclaat"! Irie.

As of January 2011 I still think the iPhone has a long way to go before it can be considered a serious music making device although I've been told that it can be very useful when using more tool-y apps like a tuner or a meter etc... The iPad definitely has potential as a production device.

[tomafd]

Reactable - tiddly version of the big expensive tabletop controller/synth/sequencer thingy. Don't really understand it yet but it's certainly making tube journeys more fun.
Six quid- ok, quite a lot for an app, but the real thing is thousands...

Bloom (Eno) - ok, we all know it (or most of us do) but instant ambient is always fun - Trope's not bad either. Two quid or so.

Mixtikl - more generative sample/loop manipulation madness, and another one I haven't found time to really get my head around yet. Seems to offer enough to do some seriously interesting things, though. 12 track generative music audio/midi loop mixer and cell sequencer - CD quality output, includes 100 generative 'parts' 30 loops, auto time stretching and pitch shifting, integrated wavetable synth etc. All for 3 quid.

Aura Flux - surprisingly nice and easy to use sequence generator for ambienty type things. Bit like Reactable in terms of interface but easier to use. Two quid.

[tomafd]

Oh yes - if you use Omnisphere there's Omni - their freebie app that lets you control parameters from your phone/pad.

and also TouchOSC - very mini Logic controller (fader, stop, start, kind of thing) Haven't tried it yet but heard good reports. Three quid.

[tomafd]

..... and .....

Soundrop.

Absolutely guaranteed to drive anyone near you crazy, if you leave the speaker on. Bonkers, lunatic, rhythms and sequences driven by balls dropping onto 'sticks' and then bouncing off more sticks. Insane, ludicrous, but kind of fun. Eventually you do get something useful, sometimes. Free.

[Wease]

+1 for touchosc - this has the scope to be the best controller app for phone/pad/pod - the editor is the key here!

I like sounddrop as well - my students use it - they love to "trap" the balls!

technobox is quite good - like a rebirth i suppose -

dropbox is quite useful for smaller files

[Stonehousestudio]

Bebot paid. Fantastic synth

OSC paid. For controlling Logic, Ableton etc

SSW paid. Song writing tool

Guitar Toolkit paid. everything you need as a guitarist.

[rondema]

As of January 2011 I still think the iPhone has a long way to go before it can be considered a serious music making device although I've been told that it can be very useful when using more tool-y apps like a tuner or a meter etc... The iPad definitely has potential as a production device.

You clearly give too much weight to what you are told. Think for yourself and realise that you aren't making any sense. Both iPhone and iPad are essentially the same platform with similar capability. iPad has more screen real estate, iPhone has built in mic and fits in your pocket. Both have constantly developing and awesome apps and interoperability - for music making from the ground up. You have NanoStudio, so you in fact already know this! Get well soon.

[rondema]

[copied and edited from the NanoStudio thread, excludes generative apps that are also great, mainly focusing on ground-up production]

hardware:

iPhone 3GS 32gb, Blue Mikey 2 (also provides stereo line in)

recording and arrangement apps:

NanoStudio - 4 synths, drum machine, mixer, sampling, best £9 I've ever spent (works beautifully on iPad at x2 for now)
Looptastic Producer - for improvising and mashing loops from NanoStudio (iPhone, HD version for iPad)
FiRe field recorder (iPhone)
Fourtrack - for adding audio tracks to NS or LP arrangements (iPhone)
Ricepad - early days but seems innovative in it's operation (iPhone)

'instrument' apps:

Thumbjam - expressive and versatile instrument, the best I've used by far (universal)
Jasuto - modular synth madness (universal)
Curtis Heavy - granular destruction (also iPad dedicated version)
Moog Filtatron - as it says on the tin (iPhone)

Audio (loops and full length tracks) can be moved between apps using one of two audio copy/paste standards. Many apps allow audio to be shared via Souncloud, email etc. NanoStudio allows wav export of either sequencer tracks or mixer channels for use in your 'real' studio.

[rondema]

You can find out the prices for yourselves. None are more than two or three drinks at the pub. Putting this into context, it makes desktop software seem like an expensive joke - and I've thrown enough money down that avenue. Regular and free updates (from most developers, particularly Blip Interactive) direct to your device. Slick.

[tomafd]

Thumbjam - expressive and versatile instrument, the best I've used by far (universal)

+1 bloody excellent- first app I've tried that is, truly, 'expressive'. Dirt cheap at £3.99.

[un_quantized]

Good idea this thread.

Horizon Synth - iPad only I think £2.99, based on JP8000. Only spent a couple of short sessions with it so far but seems very nice, easy to use though ARP takes a bit of thinking about. A manual would be useful in this regard but there doesn't seem to be one.

No-one mention garageband? Pretty neat as a sketch pad for 2.99

Request - anyone using any of the song chord charts / set list programs? Seen a couple that look interesting, one from Yamaha one from music room, but not sure if either do everything I want:
1. Loads of accurate chord charts for well know songs, transpose function.
2. Ability to write set lists

[Jack Is Sound]

great thread, going to be checking out some of the suggestions soon

[Dave Rowles]

Both for iPad only.

Avid Scorch. If you use Sibelius it's great for displaying Sib files. I've used it to play concerts, and I'm going through and creating chord sheets using Sibelius and so far it's great!

Noteshelf. Simple handwriting tool, laid out in a notebook style with lined paper. Simply use your finger to write out things. Great for on the go chord charts, or performance notes from jams/sessions etc.

[Chevytraveller]

New one out today

Animoog

69p(99c) for the first 30 days

an absolute steal

[Richie Royale]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h2-1zD2pJA

Native Instrument's iMaschine demoed by Jamie Lidell

[space rabbit]

just downloaded the animoog as well : simply stunning !!!
top moog sound quality for 0,99$ ? .... ppppffffffff ......

[forumuser695516]

I bought Animoog, and I don't even have a sodding iPad!

Yet..

[space rabbit]

my sense of logic & deduction tells me you're about to buy an iPad very soon then ....

[Dave B]

Just tried Animoog on a whim and it's a bundle of fun - quite an original take on the idea of a synth. Loving it at the mo...

[Bob Bickerton]

Yes, I've just downloaded the Animoog and it's fantastic fun. Not a synth man myself, but I'm now desperate to incorporate this into my trad Irish music sets................................

Bob