Music apps for music production and for listening to music. Music production apps are also known as synth apps or midi controller apps and are used my music producers, DJs and other Musicians.
Music Production Apps: Introduction
There are various music making available for iPad and laptops for music making and production, and these apps would allow you to produce high quality music. Wherever you are, whenever inspiration strikes, with these apps suited for aspiring musicians, you are able to create music on the go (portability is a big factor).
As tablets and laptops become more popular because of their portability, more musicians are making music on portable devices such as laptops, iPads using music apps.
More apps are now available that lets you control other apps with Virtual MIDI. With these midi controller apps you can control other music apps — synths, samplers, drum machines (like Animoog, Magellan, Sunrizer, SampleTank, DM1, DrumJam and others) or PC/Mac Desktop DAWs (Ableton Live, Logic, Cubase, Studio One, Reason).
Emergence of several Music Production Apps is definitely going to be a game changer in the Music Industry, considering that everything in the music industry is not only recorded & produced but also promoted and monetized.
Rapid changes in the music industry and the importance of social media in music promotion paved way for the need for advanced and reliable music production. Today, its not only important to produce music faster, with quality of music intact and at lower costs, its also equally important for the music to be easy to promote.
Fortunately, for amateurs and professionals, there’s a wide & exciting range of production apps available that lets artists and producers do this. Some of these apps are available for free as well, which is a boon for learners and amateurs. Music producers now don’t have to solely rely on expensive hardware equipment to produce music. With these apps, its possible to create songs and music with fewer barriers.
More and more industry professionals, engaged in music production, are investing in these apps to take advantage of the various benefits these apps offer. These music apps are providing individuals with the opportunity to innovate, adapt and integrate in the ever changing global music industry.
Compared to traditional methods of music production, production apps of today can help you eliminate the high cost of music production, and achieve the end result relatively quickly.
And that’s where the future of music production lies.
Best Music-Making Apps for iOS (iPad / iPhone)
When the iPad was launched not many expected the device to be so popular, more so with musicians. But the fact is that the iPad has turned out to be the perfect device for musicians and DJs. It is light & portable, and powerful & ‘smart’. iPad and tablets are now the must-have devices for people who work in the entertainment industry.
Please note that there is a difference between a midi controller keyboard and a midi controller keyboard app.
A midi controller keyboard is a physical keyboard that you connect to the iPad or computer for your recording work.
A midi controller app on the other hand is an app for music creation that resides on the iPad. These apps allow you to create music, choose from various (and even create) layouts (with pads, controls, knobs, faders, sliders) as per your requirements and convenience. Most controller apps also give you shapes that are specifically designed for DJs.
Here we take a look at music making apps for iPad & the iPhone. These apps act as MIDI controllers, arpeggiators, sequencers and more.
Moog Model 15 For iPad
Moog Music’s Model 15 software synthesizer for iPad is designed to recreate each module of the original hardware Model 15 synthesizer, including the Moog 921–series oscillators, 904A Low Pass Filter and the 907 Fixed Filter Bank.
The Model 15 app also extends the original’s design in musically interesting ways – adding support for polyphony and even Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression (MPE) – a new standard for expressive synthesis control.
And Bluetooth LE support means that you can connect advanced keyboard controllers, like the ROLI Rise, for wireless MPE control.
Focusrite iTrack Dock Studio Recording Pack
Get ready to record on your iPad. This pack includes everything you need to get started — the iTrack interface, CM25 condenser mic with XLR cable and HP60 headphones. The package also includes Tape (recording app) by Focusrite for iPad, which offers instant recording, mastering and sharing. Read more…
Korg iMS-20 iPad synthesizer
The Korg iMS-20 is an iPad synthesizer which comes with a sequencer as well as a drum machine. This is probably one of the best synthesizers out there for the ipad, incorporating the analogue synthesizer style. A pair of oscillators, LFO, three and five stage envelope generators, VCA, and the wide range of filters comes along with the Korg iMS-20 mono synth. It has an excellent sound and wide variety of options make it a favorite among musicians.
4Pockets Aurora Sound Studio HD
If you are a fan of electronic music, the 4Pockets Aurora Sound Studio HD is the best choice for you as it comes with synthesizers, a mixer, a sampler and effects all in one app for your iPad. You are able to compose electronic music track, however you cannot record anything via this app.
White Noise Audio bleep!BOX
The White Noise Audio bleep!BOX is an ipad synthesizer app that helps you to create music real time, meaning you get to listen to your music as you are creating it. This app has plenty features that would make it fun and easy for you to make classic techno and acid house music.
AudioKit Synth One Synthesizer
AudioKit Synth One is a completely free, full-featured professional iOS synthesizer app for your iPad.
It is a hybrid analog/FM poly synth with over 300 pro quality presets. It has five oscillators and 2 LFOs and a 16-step sequencer. You can customize almost any sound using high-pass and band pass filters, Costello reverb and multi-tap delay effects. You can control the Synth One using a MIDI keyboard
Its open source, which means developers can play with it to make their own synth apps. Website: audiokitpro.com
MIDI Studio: Awesome Looks
Besides the cool looks, MIDI studio has velocity controlled drum pads, customizable knobs and faders (these look like real hardware controllers). The pro-upgrade option allows you to create your own surfaces from the big available library.
S1 Midi Trigger
The S1MidiTrigger app easily turns the iPad (and iPhone) into a touchscreen MIDI controller, is fully customizable, is inexpensive, and can be wirelessly connected to a workstation. You can easily choose your favorite controller screen or create a new one from scratch.
Amos (Another MIDI OSC Source)
Amos is an iPad MIDI app that can be linked to midi instruments using a USB MIDI interface or with a wireless connection. Once setup, the app can be used to reproduce sounds from software synths, MIDI hardware or application like GarageBand and Live.
OnStage Remote
OnStage Remote is an iPad Midi Wifi Controller. It quickly assigns and sends — Note, Program Change and Controller data — to your chosen DAW over a wireless network.
Music Recognition Apps
Have you ever listened to a beautiful music track and wondered from which album/movie the song is? I’m sure it must have happened so many times. These music recognition apps solve that problem by identifying music (and even TV/video).
Shazam is the most popular music recognition app that identifies songs based on their tunes (audio fingerprint). Here we take a look at a few more options, besides Shazam. Music apps like SoundHound and Musixmatch are also making their presence felt.
You need to install one of these song recognition apps on your smartphone, and once its setup, you just have to make your smartphone listen to any song (by just pointing your smartphone at the sound source) and the app will tell you the name of the song & the artist in a few seconds.
While Shazam is the most popular and also the best overall choice, feel free to give SoundHound and Musixmatch a go. SoundHound has the unique humming and singing feature. Musixmatch is also great (recognizes songs consistently faster) but has annoying ads.
While there are more apps like Shazam on Google Play on the App Store, I think these three are the best of the lot (most others have either been discontinued or haven’t been updated in years).
Download: Shazam for Android | iOS (Free)
Download: Soundhound for Android | iOS (Free)
Download: Musixmatch for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
Music App Shazam
With Shazam music, you can easily:
- Sing along to the beat with real time lyrics
- Preview and buy tracks on Amazon or Google Play
- Watch music videos on YouTube
- Share your discoveries on any social network – Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Google+ and Pinterest
- Listen to full tracks with Rdio, Spotify or Deezer
- Connect to Rdio to create a playlist of your Shazamed tracks, or add tracks to any Rdio playlist
- See song recommendations from others like you
- You can also use Shazam with TV:
- Shazam your favorite TV shows for the cast, soundtracks, and more
- Shazam ads to watch again, share with friends, or get special offers
- Book concert tickets for artists you’ve Shazamed
Going forward, Shazam will let your favorite artists recommend tracks, too. When the artists would “Shazam” a track — turn the app “on” to listen to recorded music on radio, TV or elsewhere — it would pop up in the app’s home screen feed of their followers. So basically, all artists can now become verified and let fans know what music — new and old — they are listening to.
Since its beginnings as an identification app for identifying recorded music, Shazam has moved into TV audio tagging on TV series and live events. Shazam also has added visual IDs to some Apple Music posters at bus stops and in other public places. By using the camera with the Shazam app open, it identifies the artist.
External Links
Apps for Listening to Music
Everybody likes to listen to music, and while streaming is a great service, there are times when it makes sense to listen to music that is stored locally on your device. Besides, streaming can eat up your mobile data (and mobile data plans are becoming expensive).
That is why Music Apps are becoming popular.
You will need a good music player app that will let you easily play your local music files (without any ads, distractions and fancy features).
Its also better to have features like being able to create a playlist, being able to play lossy and lossless formats, and to have presets / equalisers (to enhance the music depending on the genre of music).
Top Android Music Apps
Take a look at these FREE Android music apps currently available.
- AIMP
AIMP plays your music without any distractions. It handles nearly all audio file types – including lossy and lossless formats – and it comes with a 10-band equaliser (rare to find in free music players.) It can also mix multi-channel files to stereo and/or mono. - BLACKPLAYER
BlackPlayer is clean, modern, easy to navigate, and looks good. It features: 5-band equaliser, gapless playback, scrobbling, sleep timer, and no ads! A premium version does exist, which has extra themes, fonts, more settings to tweak, more ways to customise your experience, a visualiser, better sorting, and more (For just $2, it’s well worth it). - PHONOGRAPH
Phonograph (considered to be the best-looking music player app) has several built-in theme colour sets and the interface colors dynamically change to match the content on the screen. Feature-wise you get standard features (minus bells and whistles). Great for simple listening experience. - PULSAR
Pulsar offers a great appearance but lacks advanced features. You still get smart playlists, fast search, gapless playback, and a built-in tag editor that works quite well. - JETAUDIO
JetAudio also comes in a premium version, the free version is supported by ads (they aren’t intrusive). You get: a 10-band equalizer with 32 presets, lossy and lossless support, effects like reverb and xbass, playback speed control, automatic gain control, and more. - STELLIO PLAYER
Stellio (supported by ads) has a 12-band equalizer, supports high-resolution audio, and has a plugin system (very basic). It has gapless playback, supports lossy and lossless formats, crossfading, configurable widgets, a sleep timer. - ROCKET PLAYER
With Rocket Player you get a 5-band equalizer with several presets, over 30 themes, a built-in tag editor, Chromecast support, a sleep timer, a nifty playlist manager, and even support for podcasts. - DOUBLETWIST
DoubleTwist gets the job done. There are no ads in the free version, the interface is neat. But it feels a bit outdated. - SHUTTLE
Shuttle feels smooth and runs well on older devices, and easy to use. Free features include a 6-band equalizer with bass boost, gapless playback, several theme options, a sleep timer, and a few customizable widgets. - PIXEL PLAYER
Pixel Player is lesser known, but it’s good. It only supports basic file formats, but it has a 5-band equaliser with bass boost, gapless playback, a built-in tag editor, and a few options for customization, such as themes and colours. Pixel Player can analyse what you listen to and suggest more music that matches your preferences.
Best Music Apps for Kids
Its common to see kids spending lots of time on tablets and smartphones nowadays. Now, anything in excess is definitely not good, but these gadgets definitely have their advantages – there are plenty of apps and learning resources available for these gadgets, including apps to learn more about music.
Benefits of music is well known, but if you want your child to develop an interest in music, your kids first experience with music should be exciting, creative, and fun. Here we take a look at some useful educational music apps that are fun to use and easily turns your mobile device into a music instrument. These are perfect for toddlers and preschoolers and great for introducing young children to the wonderful world of music.
Watch: Magic Piano. Cool app where you emulate playing the piano by tapping on the dots that appear on the screen
This game helps you build a world of monsters, who sing in their own unique voices.
With easy access to a smartphone or tablet, music apps for kids is all that you need to help your child develop an interest in music.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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