If you are a musician, aspiring to be one, or want to find a cool gift for a friend who is, then you are going to want to make sure to check out the best iPhone apps for musicians. These apps will help create music, record, manage, share and do much more.
Best iPhone Apps are for Musicians
GarageBand is the most well known iPhone app for musicians. It has a recording studio, capability of plugging into a MIDI controller and a large selection of virtual instruments that will allow any musician to have a full collection of recording options. Sharing is also easy with this app. It cost $4.99 at the app store.
Cleartune – Chromatic Tuner costs $3.99 and is available at the Apple App store. This tuner helps tune instruments quickly and accurately using your iPhone or other iOS built in microphone. It has a very simple design so even those who aren’t technically savvy can use this app easily.
The Metronome app costs $1.99 and helps musicians stay on rhythm at the most professional levels. It has 35 different time signatures such as compound and complex meters, different sound sets to choose from, a voice count and cowbell are two examples of those. There is also an advanced set list management so you or your friend can keep jamming.
Songsterr Plus is $9.99 at the app store and designed to help musicians practice their tablature for some of the world’s most popular songs. There are tabs that can be used for multiple instruments and not just for the guitar. An audio playback feature can slow the music down to half speed for difficult to learn parts. There is an offline option so you don’t always have to be connected to Wi-Fi to use this app.
The DM1 Drum Machine costs $4.99 at the Apple App store and is a fully functioning percussion app. There are 64 electronic drum kits, drum pads, FX trackpads, a step sequencer mix and song composer for musicians to add just about any types of beats to their compositions.
The Animoog app is $2.99 and is definitely designed for serious musicians, if you or your friend is just a casual musician it may be too complex although for more experienced musicians this professional polyphonic synthesizer is packed with functionality.
Notion is a more expensive notation editor and music playback tool app because it costs $14.99 at the app store and is designed to help you start your own music score. You can directly input notes to a virtual music sheet and hear how it sounds. It also has orchestral samples from the London Symphony Orchestra.
Beatmaker 2, another more expensive app at $19.99 is great for both amateur and professional musicians. It has a drum machine, multi-track sequencer, keyboard sampler and wave editor. This app is more difficult to figure out than GarageBand, however if you or your friend are more serious about the music you create, this should be an app that you consider.
ReBirth is another sort of pricey app at $14.99 and is designed for more advanced musicians. It has FX unites, pattern sequencers, bass synth and drum machines to create all different types of tracks.
Music Studio is also $14.99 at the Apple App Store and is similar to GarageBand without as many limitations. There are more sequencer features and you can edit tracks, add effects and additional notes. You can also download additional instruments.
Hokusai Audio Editor is a free app and will record multiple tracks, and copy and paste tracks along with applying different filters and effects to your tracks. There are in app purchase options such as grain synthesis, time-stretching, reverb, modulation, and other features.
ThumbJam is $8.99 at the app store and makes your iPhone or other iOS device into an instrument that you can play by moving your thumb up and down on the notes. You can choose from different effects to create different types of sounds.
You can get the AmpliTube app for $9.99 and this is a multi effect processor that is great for practicing when you don’t want to hook up your gear. It includes features such as a built in tuner and a recorder. If you want to use this app you will need an iRig adaptor to hook your guitar or friend’s guitar to the iPad.
The Songwriter’s Pad is $2.99. This app is a lyric writing tool that helps you get over writer’s block and has features meant to inspire you to write your best lyrics. There is a rhyming dictionary and tool to help you find the right words for the right emotions.
ProChords costs $8.99 and is a music writing app. This app will suggest chords for you and has star ratings for each chord.