Photo Credit: William Hook
Technology makes it easier than ever to record and produce high-quality music. A variety of Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) are available, only a few of which operate from a mobile device. Here’s a list of the best music-making apps for iOS.
BandLab Music Making Studio
Price: Free
BandLab is a tremendously successful music-creation platform with over 9 million users. With more than 100 preset samples, it boasts a wide array of synth, acoustic, and drum machine sound packs, allowing tune creation from scratch in any genre.
The platform carries no subscription and no fees, part of the reason for its success. It also enables users to collaborate easily with other artists.
Medly
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Medly starts with 16 instruments and 100 loops for free. The platform contains more than 2,000 purchasable samples to buy and edit as needed. Medly enables users to upload directly to SoundCloud, making it theoretically easy to generate revenue.
The app features a graph editor, pitch blending, automatic fades, and other filters and effects to keep you busy. It allows the recording of up to 24 tracks at a time.
Music Maker JAM
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Music Maker JAM features up to 8-channel mixing, studio sampling, and numerous arrangements of various loops and beats. The platform has more than 10,000 sounds in its library, over 300 mix packs, and a virtual currency to exchange for new sounds. The app is free but offers a purchasable upgrade to the pro version with full access to its features.
GarageBand
Price: Free with in-app purchases
GarageBand is the definitive music-making app available for iOS with which most users will be familiar. It boasts the use of the Alchemy synthesizer, one of the most advanced synthesizer tools available.
The platform contains a sound library full of free sound packs and loops and can record up to 32 tracks at once. GarageBand includes professional mixing effects like Bitcrusher and Overdrive. The app even enables users to plug in a guitar.
Cubasis
Price: $23.99
The only platform listed without a free version, Cubasis works on iPhone and iPad. It offers a full mixer with level meters and zooms, multilayer audio, and enables rearranging of inserts. Designed to be quick to learn and easy to use, Cubasis allows for multiple-sound sequencing and a host of neat features. It is considered the best DAW for the iPad.