If you have an IPad, there are many powerful apps that could help you create professional quality music.
Some of the music apps/plugins are a fraction of the price of their desktop versions.
Connecting Music Applications Together
Audiobus is a great app to link many apps together. You can have multiple layers of audio go to multiple inputs in a DAW. You can also run the sound through multiple effects apps.
Inter App Audio (IAA) is the built in system for connecting music apps together. This connectivity includes using apps as an “effect.” I like using Inter App Audio in Auria.
Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
Quick Concepts and Ideas
If you have a song idea you want to record, Figure is a quick and good way to get that idea quickly for reference later or for expansion
It is a $1 app but amazing things could be done with it.
It can be used like a toy but also can be used professionally.
DAWs – Digital Audio Workstations
My favorite DAWs on the IPad are:
- Auria
- Cubasis
Auria by Wave Machine Labs has various plugin extensions including from FabFilter which range around $5 – $60 per plugin with the Fab Filter plugins being the most expensive but extremely useful.
As of writing this post, Auria does not have Midi instruments/sequencers yet but it is in the works in their “Auria Pro“.
Auria Pro
Auria fabfilter Example
Cubasis does have midi instrument capabilities but does not have the third party plugins like Auria does.
I like the midi capability of Cubasis and have used it in many of my songs.
Gadget by Korg is a very powerful IPad app for making music. It uses midi sequencers and each track is exportable to various audio formats as well as midi.
It a large selection of sounds from various synthesizers and drum kits. They also have a few synthesizers/kits you can purchase which can add over 1,200 sounds depending on which you purchase.
Some of the extra sounds you have to purchase after downloading the separate Korg app like Module or iM1 which are in the form of in-app purchases. Module is the more expensive of the 2 but includes great piano sounds.
If you are to purchase the sounds of one of the synthesizers, iM1 could be a good choice. With the 2 sound packs they have (about $5 each), a few thousand quality sounds.
