electronic music iphone app thread

[spunkadellic]

what are the best iphone / ipod touch apps that deal with synths, drum machines and electronic beat making? dont forget best 8bit app?

it would be nice to have all the recommendations in one place - including why we like one better than another---

just got iphone, so i too virgin to comment...

[NewSc2]

I bought one of the first ones... I think it was called Beatmaker or something -- had MPC pads, an arranging grid, and a few other things. Never, ever, used it.

If I'm serious about making music I'm usually not too far away from my laptop, and I'd MUCH prefer just hopping onto Ableton/Logic and using my caps lock keys than my iPhone.

If I want to mess around on my phone, I have games for that. And if I wanted to jot down a quick idea, I'd just beatbox or hum it into the voice recorder.

[e6400ultra]

I'm looking forward to controlling my hardware with my iPod when Line 6 finally release their MIDI interface.

[spunkadellic]

I hum and sing ideas into my phone all the time and yes I would ratherMake music on my mac pro but I just want to see if there are so e cool apps cool apps folx are using for fun

[e6400ultra]

This looks particularly cool for controlling hardware: h e x l e r . n e t | TouchOSC

[lowkey]

^Ive got Touch OSC on my iPhone, running into Osculator on my Macbook Pro to translate the messages. Its great. Ive set it up as a 2 channel dj mixer for Ableton with crossfader, eqs, fx sends and on/off buttons.
I also used it as my midi keyboard while i was on holidays travelling for the last few months...much more compact than taking a midi controller and keyboard.
The latest version allows you to custom make your page to suit whatever you want to do. And it connects by wifi. Its a $4.99 Lemur

[Llitsor]

TouchOSC is great
I also recommend Technobox. Its rather like having Rebirth on your iPhone/iPod touch. It has a good emulation of the 303 in there, along with 808 and 909 type drum sounds.
There is also DB303, which is purely a 303 emulation. It looks quite authentic, but doesnt sound quite as good as Technobox. Plus it has no drum sounds. But does have a couple of stomp box effects. Distortion and delay.
Brian Eno's Bloom app is also nice. And for anyone that is familiar with Yamaha's Tenori-on, there is Paklsound1. Well, its a bit like a Tenori-on anyway

iDaft by DaftPunk is useless, but fun (and free). Bebot is also pretty useless, but surprisingly good fun, so worth a look

[rszanto]

Originally Posted by Llitsor

TouchOSC is great
I also recommend Technobox. Its rather like having Rebirth on your iPhone/iPod touch. It has a good emulation of the 303 in there, along with 808 and 909 type drum sounds.
There is also DB303, which is purely a 303 emulation. It looks quite authentic, but doesnt sound quite as good as Technobox. Plus it has no drum sounds. But does have a couple of stomp box effects. Distortion and delay.
Brian Eno's Bloom app is also nice. And for anyone that is familiar with Yamaha's Tenori-on, there is Paklsound1. Well, its a bit like a Tenori-on anyway

iDaft by DaftPunk is useless, but fun (and free). Bebot is also pretty useless, but surprisingly good fun, so worth a look

Just downloaded Technobox. Excellent emulation! Even compares well to some vst's....

[kilon]

Originally Posted by spunkadellic

I hum and sing ideas into my phone all the time and yes I would ratherMake music on my mac pro but I just want to see if there are so e cool apps cool apps folx are using for fun

here you go

Home - Noise.io - iPhone Synth - iPhone Synthesizer

[Rufuss Sewell]

Bebot is my favorite iPhone instrument. It's multitouch polyphonic and very intuitive as far as getting it to make real music. I plug it directly into my Mesa Mark V guitar amp and crank it up.

Here's Jordan Rudess giving a walk through of the features:

YouTube - Rudess Meets Bebot

[Rufuss Sewell]

I'm looking for an easy to use sequencer with basic drums, bass, piano, lead sounds. AND a couple of audio tracks. All of which should be exportable to midi and wave.

In my opinion Apple should be leading the way with this stuff with a portable version of Garageband that syncs seamlessly.

Being that they don't even have a remote control for logic yet my hopes are dim.

[Llitsor]

Originally Posted by rszanto

Just downloaded Technobox. Excellent emulation! Even compares well to some vst's....

Yep! I really rate that one. A little fiddly to control at times, due to having so many controls in a small space. But its quite workable still.
Made by the Audiorealism guys, that made the ABL 2 bassline/303 plugin thumbsup

[thermos]

Originally Posted by Rufuss Sewell

Bebot is my favorite iPhone instrument. It's multitouch polyphonic and very intuitive as far as getting it to make real music. I plug it directly into my Mesa Mark V guitar amp and crank it up.

Here's Jordan Rudess giving a walk through of the features:

YouTube - Rudess Meets Bebot

Ditto. The app you might want is this. Xewton Music Studio
I'm pretty sure it either has midi or its coming. Its supposed to be really functional and easy to use. Too bad the sounds are not great. Edit: just realized you want audio too, they might do that later. Also, the Yudo 8 track is rumored to have a synth and drum machine coming, but don't hold your breath with those guys.

My fave music making app is Sunvox. Awesome tracker with very cool sounds. You can also swap sessions back and forth between your phone and desktop, as it works there too.

If you guys care as much about iPhone musics apps as I seem to, this is a great website for learning about all of them: the-palm-sound.blogspot.com/

[darwiniandude]

I second Xewton (horrid name) it's a brilliant app. It's best thought of as 'garageband without audio or loops' at this point in time.

Most of the sounds are great... I discovered it today and it's stable and works well. Great editing features (duplicate, selection, unlimited undo, autosave, etc)

Very happy with this purchase.

My Yamaha QY70 goes up on eBay this weekend!

[spunkadellic]

bebot and technobox are great ill have to check out xewton -- this is great - any more?

[d1rtynyc]

I have iDrum. It is kind of simple. The sounds are not too bad, but not editable (which I can understand).
I mostly use it to get down some beat ideas then just use the x0x programing into my Machine Drum, Ultrabeat, Guru, ect. when I get to my studio.

I think it was $5, worth the $$ for me.

[thermos]

Also, the NLog 2.0 update just came out. Its awesome! Seriously, ridiculous synthesis for $5 on your phone.

Also, I just realized you said 8 bit app. 8bitone is ok, and sometimes its 99c. Though Sunvox is seriously awesome, and can do 8 bit (the sound engine is actually 10 bit). Though with 3.1 its not working correctly.

[headwerkn]

I'm totally loving Bebot at the moment. With a little practice you can get surprisingly musical results, and the sound quality is easily the equal of your average soft synth.

[solution7]

I am wondering what would be the best cables to hook my iphone up to my recording system.. I have a Presonus Firepod.. Anyone have any good successes ??

[Rozzer]

I've been uniformly disappointed with all the musical iphone apps I've tried. They just feel, and sound, like toys. I get bored after 5 mins.

The only thing I've got any genuine 'pro' milage out of is the Guitar Toolkit by Agile Partners, which has an excellent tuner and chord library.

Oh and I'd have to add Good Reader to the list as well. It's not a musical app, but I store all my PDF manuals on the iPhone so if I ever need to look something up whilst in the studio, it's there in my pocket

[cfalk]

-Beatmaker.. you can import your own .wav, sequencer is awesome
-Noise IO... super cool FM-style synth, best looking interface going. you can also export .wav to the Beatmaker app
-Touch OSC w/ Osculator... works really cool, kind of like a mini Lemur, could be useful.
-Bassline... TB303 emulator... fun and sounds pretty good
-Octavian... piano chord finder.. a must have for awful keyboard players like me
-Dub Siren... name says it all.. simple but fun

i agree with others though, none of theses are serious music making choices. they're good for messing around and maybe a little inspiration... but don't expect to much and you won't be disappointed.

[mono-poly]

Wiviband is amazing to!

[maximini]

Hey. I dont own an iPhone but I read in the CM Magazine that Novation ported its Automap to an iPhone Application with which you can assign and control midi parameters within your DAW and Plugins.
looked useful.
Software Novation Automap for iPhone/iPod touch

[turbo46]

Thanks guys for your suggestions, i got the iPhone at Christmas & i would like to try those applicatinos

[cfalk]

i would also add.. Jasuto, it's a crazy modular style synth. you can make some pretty wild noises with it. i love the concept, i wish some one would do a "real" app based on the same thing.

[rockerbruce]

I am tempted to buy one of these apps again...I've been toying with the idea for a long time.
I love the idea of creating some midi clips while doing 90 on the freeway, errr waiting in the doctors office. tutt

[e6400ultra]

The best iPhone app I've used is for Pocket PC and has been around for years: PlanetGriff Home

[Rufuss Sewell]

That doesn't appear to be an iPhone app.

[e6400ultra]

Originally Posted by Rufuss Sewell

That doesn't appear to be an iPhone app.

That is correct. And I still prefer it to all the apps I've tried on my iPod touch.

[Lagerfeldt]

For the chord challenged...

Welcome to ProChords

"ProChords is a hand held road map of chords from 9000 songs.

So if you are working on a song Fx."Am7,Em7,Am7,Em7" and don't know how to get out of the loop: Tab it into ProChords and you will instantly know 31 different ways to continue.

It makes it fun to explore odd chord progressions and get inspiration for more original songwriting"

Balder Olrik - inventor of ProChords

ProChords - Chord Progressions made very easy - iPhone - iPod Touch