Who was going to tell us, back in March 2010, that that touch screen that Steve Jobs held in his hands and that looked like a giant mobile was going to do so many things. And of course, to see who was the handsome one who was going to be able to maintain that the iPad, and later the iPad 2, could become a firm ally for the most creative users who focus their talent towards music.
Not in vain, the AppStore is well loaded with downloadable applications that cleverly squeeze the technical options of the Apple tablet. Among the hundreds of interesting options that we can find on Apple's virtual shelves, today we are going to highlight five utilities that will help you unleash your musical concerns, whether or not you are a skilled composer or performer.
GarageBand (5 euros)
We start with Apple's header application. GarageBand is the apple's signature desktop application. Some people think of it as the toy Logic (Logic is Apple's professional recording, sequencing and mastering application). But none of that. Top-notch people like Trent Reznor (winner of the Oscar for best soundtrack this year for The Social Network and the soul of Nine Inch Nails) have applauded GarageBand. If you want to check it, download this song that he put together with this program.
In its version for iPad, GarageBand rescues the vast majority of options from the desktop edition. The use of the application is divided, in principle, into two main sections: the sequencer and the instrument controller. In the first one, a progressive timeline will appear that we can edit by changing the tempo (speed), modifying the measure, adding or removing tracks (instruments), or introducing changes in the notes and tracks that are written on it.
In the instrument controller we will have several sound sources available, whether they are keyboards, string instruments, orchestral simulations and, even, giving the option of inputting sound with an external controller or recording our voice. Everything that we record with the virtualized instruments on the touch screen is automatically launched on the timeline. But if you don't hit the key for the performance you like the most, don't worry: as we have told you, in the timeline you can make up the result a bit so that it is closer to what you wanted to record.
A GarageBand not short loops (prerecorded sequences of rhythms, melodies or resources to write faster our song or give a little push to complete passages), insert effects (such as reverberations or echoes) and minimum equalization options. The best thing is that it is the most complete application of the AppStore of its kind, considering the price it has. The worst thing is in the limitation that we could feel at some point with the editing options in the timeline.
FL Studio Mobile HD (16 euros)
Another computer classic. Without the Mac version yet to arrive, FL Studio Mobile HD is perhaps the most fun of the mobile sequencers. This is a version for mobile phones and tablets of the popular Fruity Loops Studio, a program that has been unleashing the potential of amateurs and professionals around the world for more than fifteen years, and is supported by the likes of Mike Oldfield.
FL Studio Mobile HD is the most classic of sequencers, both in control system and in operation. The main menu is divided into six parts:
Keyboard / Drum Pads: it is the virtual version of the controller with which we will interpret melodies and rhythms. Depending on the type of output sound that we configure and the aspect that we link to it in the track sequencer, it will have the appearance of a piano (with various display options depending on size) or a pad button panel, or surfaces to hit and launch samples (or sound samples).
Instruments: little mystery here. It's the instrument menu. It is subdivided into four sections: keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines and loops . It is worth clarifying something: synthesizers are not virtualizations as such of machines that help us to synthesize sounds, but they are pre-recorded samples of electronic sounds. In the Instruments menu we can edit options such as panning (to manipulate the stereo output of the sound), volume, attack (to nuance or lessen the initial hit of each touch) and the duration of the sample (within the range that gives us the sample itself, of course).
Tracks: the mother of the lamb. Here is the sequencer itself. As in GarageBand, multiple tracks will show the progression of the melodies and rhythms in the song. Being as it is a version for mobiles, FL Studio Mobile HD presents a very complete editing and control section in this edition, and although it is notable that many things are missing with respect to what we see on a computer, it is likely that we do not miss anything of the fundamental. From this menu we can activate the controller that made Fruity Loops famous, a modular mini-sequencer that distinguishes one box for each beat within a measure. To make rhythms is the most fun, simple and intuitive solution of how many we can find in any sequencer of these characteristics, and we assure you that when you get the point you will spend many hours making your own bases.
Effects: here the application gives us up to six insert and send effects, although in reality they all behave the same (adding to the general output of the project, so we cannot create different effects for each track). The problem with the effects in FL Studio Mobile HD is that you lose customization in each sound, since the effects can only be programmed in one way for all the tracks to which we add them. Hopefully it will be fixed in future versions.
Projects: simple but complete menu to access the songs that we have made or are composing. Several demos are included to give us an idea of the possibilities of this powerful application.
Setup: here we can edit technical performance options and application operation settings, such as the metronome volume, pitch sensitivity, program automatic quantization (so that the keyboard or drum machine touches are as close as possible to the harmony within each measure) or the latency of the audio engine.
The best thing about FL Studio Mobile HD is that it is one of the most complete, fun and intuitive applications of this genre for iPad. The worst thing is that its price is not an invitation to try it.
Korg iMS-20 (13 euros)
With this application, Korg iMS-20, we find what is called an analog synthesizer studio, although in virtual version, logically. The operation of this application can scare the uninitiated, with as many wheels, cables and buttons as the configuration panel of our creations. Really, if you do not have a minimum knowledge on the subject, it will be better that you save the thirteen euros that it costs to take it with you. Although if you have minimal notions, or enough enthusiasm to be patient with the many tutorials and tips that are on the net, this Korg iMS-20 can give you a lot of satisfaction.
The Korg iMS-20 distinguishes three fundamental parts: the synthesizer itself, a 16-step sequencer and a controller based on two small touchpads (we will finish) that add some intuition to this powerful tool. In addition to the measure of complexity that translates into great precision, the great appeal of the Korg iMS-20 is in the type of sound it produces, with a touch many would call retro .
In addition, the Korg iMS-20 has full integration with the Apple USB adapter, in case we wanted to control the application with an external MIDI device. It also offers a direct link to SoundCloud so that we can upload our creations to this social music website in a jiffy. Without a doubt, it is the ideal application for the most advanced users, due to the multiple editing options it offers as a synthesizer (loaded with oscillation editors, synthesis, envelope controls, filters and dynamics).
The best, therefore, is that it is one of the applications closest to professional experience, or at least, amateur, within this type of application. The worst thing is that for the price and the nature of the tool itself, Korg IMS-20 can cause nightmares users who walk fish in this electronic music.
SoundPrism (free, or Pro version for 13 euros)
Let's relax a bit after the stress that Korg's virtual toy may have caused for many. To do this, we are going to teach you SoundPrism. This application plays the creation of melodies with a very special component. To begin with, you do not need to have knowledge of music or composition. A minimal, intuitive notions of harmony is appreciated, since SoundPrism works on a sliding panel that distributes notes at the top and tones at the width. When we speak of tones, we refer to the level of sharpness or severity of the same note.
As we go up or down in the presentation of the notes vertically, we will see how the harmonies change, that we can build them in very different ways, depending on how we have activated the SoundPrism editing panel, which would allow us to simultaneously activate up to three groups of notes with different harmonies according to tone and three other groups of chords according to harmony In addition, it also offers us an option to mark dominant notes, as well as the option to hold modules on the panel. If we need help, we just have to drag the vertical options panel on the left from top to bottom (or vice versa) so that a piano roll appears before us, telling us the notes that participate in each chord.
SoundPrism, in its free version, includes four different samples to make our melodies (organ, pad -or mattress, very Moby wave-, rhodes keyboard and synthesizer sound). We can expand the sample library with up to five new options, priced at € 1.6 each. In any case, buying the Pro edition of SoundPrism (for thirteen euros), we would have them already integrated, along with a panel of new options, such as the possibility of using SoundPrism as a MIDI controller (both for sequencers that we have on the iPad and for others ofcomputer and VSTi). In this sense, he has the praises of all a first sword like Jordan Rudess (brand new keyboardist of Dream Theater).
The best thing about SoundPrism is that it is a devilishly addictive app. When you start to try it, you will realize that many minutes will have passed before you realize how stunned you have been. The worst thing is that in its free version it can remain anecdotal, and in its Pro version it may not be worth the thirteen euros they ask for it.
Reactable Mobile (8 euros)
And since we have derived in music applications with unconventional environments, to call it something, what better way than to close the list with Reactable Mobile. The patronage of this application comes from the eccentric Bjí¶rk, and it is no wonder. This is the version for mobile phones and tablets of a real-time music control system based on an original and very particular touch interface.
The grace of Reactable Mobile is in the way the interface behaves with what it sounds. In a circular space we are dragging bases and loops that end up generating more or less pre-made melodies. We can also add oscillators, filters and effects, which depending on the gestures with which we relate them to the rest of the elements on the table , will behave in one way or another.
This is possibly the option loaded with possibilities for those who want to test their sense of creativity, but those who seek depth will not find it, since Reactable Mobile is as loaded with limitations as it is attractive due to its originality.
So, the best of Reactable Mobile would be in the freshness that brings to the iPad, exploiting all the possibilities of a touch screen terminal with the dimensions of the tablet from the iPad. The worst, on the other hand, is that many users could get frustrated by having paid eight euros for an application that can run out quickly if we do not pay enough patience. Also, in the first generation iPad it is not as fine as in the iPad 2.
