Music Apps

Music Apps

List

11 Music Apps Every Artist Needs

Facebook Twitter Email
For DJs, artists, producers, and composers on the go, today's top music apps are tempting and powerful
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Oct 12, 2017 - 10:56 am

Apps are everywhere. Today, the latest and greatest must-have apps put the power of music in your pocket. Whether using Jammcard to hook up with other musicians in L.A., MIXhalo for soundboard-quality streaming, or selling classic gear on Reverb, the convenience of apps on the go can even overpower sentimental reluctance to step away from larger, traditional pieces of gear. Here are 11 tools you can take anywhere with you.

Audiobus, $9.99
Audiobus for iOS builds, supports and saves configurations of audio and MIDI streams. And it's considered an essential utility in addition to GarageBand. The lean on-screen symbols visually represent these custom-built signal chains while enabling versatile touch-control. New features include more sophisticated MIDI support and a simple mixer for input-audio levels.

Caustic, $9.99
Caustic by Single Cell Software for Android/iOS, somewhat self-consciously, has it all: drum machines, a large selection of synthesizers, many effect types (with 2 aux sends available per instrument), mix/master plug-ins, and a song sequencer to tie it all together. The easy-to-use interactive display shows each of these components stacked like old-school rack gear, allowing intuitive navigation with the analog feel of a recording studio.

djay Pro, $9.99
djay Pro by Algoriddim for Android/iOS gives a taste of what their larger systems can do to support performing DJs. Their signature approach to media remixing and mashups carries into other Algoriddim products and relates to djay Pro's Spotify integration. If you love mixing tracks on the go and want to keep your sounds in sync, this will let you do it.

edjing Mix, free
edjing Mix by edjing for Android/iOS provides wide-ranging features that DJs need alongside support for local files, Deezer, Spotify and SoundCloud. If its effects, EQs, and BPM-detection aren't enough, the in-app store lets you buy more features. edjing provides plenty of nice starting points for the entry-level novice and seasoned turntablist alike.

Final Touch, $9.99
Final Touch by Positive Grid for iPad provides pro-quality control over the mastering chain. Details include multiband dynamic processors, pre and post equalizers, a stereo imager, reverb controls, and a final maximizer for overall loudness. As the company puts it, the goal is to, "deliver masters that sound not just louder but clearer, wider, fuller, and more powerful and detailed."

FL Studio Mobile, $13.99
FL Studio Mobile by Image-line for Android/iOS uses the desktop version's familiar controls and tools resized to fit your smartphone or preferred mobile device. Its wide range of features, colorful interface, and multi-platform consistency make for a well-equipped creative environment. In addition to basic piano and beats; tweakable synths, effects, mixing, recording, and exporting, add-ons are available for purchase in-app.

GarageBand & Music Memos, free
Not everyone can say they have learned how to use Garageband & Music Memos by Apple for iOS, but if you record music and have the opportunity, it's a skill well worth learning. Some artists/producers consider it creatively transparent, doing what's needed while seeming like it's not even there.

iMaschine 2, $9.99
iMaschine 2 for iOS translates the app's developer Native Instruments’ beat-making process onto mobile, offering 16 sample-pads, dual x-y pads, and tools for arranging and sequencing. Targeting the ability to "make music anywhere" and create full tracks, the interface is loaded with visually distinctive shortcuts, such as quick sample recording or the "Smart Play" keyboard that keeps improvisation in the right key. Expansion packs are available.

Launchpad, free
Launchpad by Novation for iOS is a MIDI controller that relies on an 8x6 grid of colored squares to play mixes and trigger loops and one-shot samples, and includes 16 club-style effects. This interface hails back to Launchpad's release as a piece of hardware gear in 2009, designed to integrate with Ableton Live. It expanded electronic musicians and DJs' minds into a more playful, performance-friendly sense of what could be done, and this app brings that creative freedom to mobile.

Phase84, $9.99
Phase84 by Retronyms for Android/iOS is a phase-distortion synthesizer capable of generating the warm synth sounds traditionally associated with analog gear. With x-y pads, groove editor, sequencer and a wide range of sound-shaping features, the company says it, "can create warm pads, glitchy sounds, dirty basses, filthy sweeps, screaming leads, and anything in-between."

Remixlive, free
Remixlive by Mixvibes for Android/iOS supports a loop grid, a drum grid, sample recording, live looping, and performing. An x-y pad controls effects, an internal mixer balances levels, and a sample editor offers multiple ways to modify waveforms. The variety is designed to make it easy to start new projects and fun to play around with ideas, while also supplying enough of what's needed to tweak spontaneous sonic sketches into finished tracks.

Find more online tools at Create Digital Media, and thanks to Electronic Musician for their Top 200 iOS Apps.

The Biggest Music Tech Innovations & Trends of 2017 — So Far

iPhone apps

Photo: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Getty Images

News

Mobile Apps: 2018 Q1 Downloads And Spending Accelerate

Facebook Twitter Email
Top-line stats show a blossoming market for new and proven categories in mobile apps, while Apple iOS and Google Play narrow each other's leads in spending and downloads
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Apr 10, 2018 - 1:13 pm

On April 9 analyst firm App Annie released first-quarter statistics for the mobile app economy, tracking strong growth in initial installs and purchases worldwide for Apple iOS and Google Play. The stores' combined growth in downloads is 10 percent year over year for a total of 27.5 billion downloads for the first quarter. Additionally, iOS narrowed its gap with the leader Google Play by 10 percent quarter over quarter.

The growth in total spending is even more robust and reflects only initial purchases for 22 percent year-over-year growth with a total of $18.4 billion. Apple iOS is the leader for spending but Google Play narrowed that lead by 10 percent quarter over quarter. The two competitors closed each other's leads by 10 percent, suggesting the underlying health and strength of the market.

"Across all categories, Music & Audio and Entertainment apps experienced the largest market share growth of global consumer spend on Google Play, both quarter over quarter and year over year," App Annie wrote regarding its findings. "This speaks to the larger trend of consumers choosing to sign up and pay for music streaming and video streaming subscriptions in apps. The experience is quick, frictionless and secure, which is an inherent benefit mobile apps provide over other channels ..."

At the end of the quarter, App Annie found there were a total of 6.2 million apps available in the combined iOS and Google Play stores. Users have been accessing roughly 40 apps in the course of a normal month and devote about three hours every day to using them. A closer review yields the numbers also show a rapid rate of adoption for new categories of apps once they have proven themselves, such as for streaming music or fitness, suggesting future app niches could catch on quickly once they too demonstrate their benefit and convenience.

The end of the year global spend for 2017 was $86 billion for initial purchases of app downloads. Several categories of business revenue, such as third-party ad payments, are not counted in that figure. Although developing countries grow rapidly, so do maturing categories of consumer apps in established markets. Add it all together and this looks more like a takeoff than a boom.

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"

Apple iPhone X

Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

News

Analysts Estimate Apple iPhone X Sales As Spectacular

Facebook Twitter Email
Apple gear continues as a global mass phenomenon with the 256GB iPhone X surpassing expectations
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Nov 30, 2017 - 1:31 pm

The latest Rosenblatt analysis of Apple iPhone X sales reveals impressive estimates, with 6 million unit sales over Black Friday weekend alone and a total of 15 million sold to date.

In a world where people reach out to one another through technology, Apple's user base continues to see the company as their partner in connecting them to the world. Some observers were concerned that the top 256GB model might be priced high, but the fact that it is selling twice as fast as the 64GB model suggests consumer demand for the high-capacity model.

Because of Apple's corporate position in the marketplace, financial analysts are alert to how well its gear is selling. For the music and media industries, the consequences go way beyond Apple's corporate posture because the cultural and social experience using devices like the iPhone is transforming our collective context. But one record that's hard to ignore is the more than 78 million iPhone units Apple sold in the 2016 holiday quarter.

Once it's time to look back on 2017, the real excitement will be to see how people use their new power to communicate in ways that combine the innovative with the established. Mobile technology leaders generally are literally putting power in the hands of people everywhere. As streaming services keep building out the legit market for music and media, this virtuous circle between manufacturers and consumers could not come at a better time.

Apple Music Exclusive: Watch Classic GRAMMY Performances

iPhone X

iPhone X

Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

News

Apple iPhone X: Customers Buy Up First Batch In Minutes

Facebook Twitter Email
The first shipments of iPhone X were all gone in 10 minutes
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Oct 27, 2017 - 4:54 pm

The Apple iPhone X launches Oct. 31 and between its $999 price ($1,149 for the 256GB model) and minor production delays, some worried whether Apple still has its mojo. That window for worry closed with a bang at 12:11 a.m. this morning, 10 minutes after preorders opened. Initial shipments sold out fast.

"We can see from the initial response, customer demand is off the charts," Apple told Reuters. Appetites have been pent up since iPhone X's redesigned features were announced Sept. 12, including Face ID login, animated emojis and Apple's most powerful chip.

Apple's Chief Design Officer Jony Ive didn't hold back in September, praising how "the device disappears into the experience" thanks to redesigned features that mesh intuitively. "A new era for iPhone," he called it.

Pre-orders took him up on that excitement. Anticipate long lines Tuesday when Apple Stores open for business. As for something new to worry about? Waiting in anticipation as Apple gets new products out to the public is a difficulty shared by millions who want their future Apple experience to start as soon as possible. We know it's hard; try not to be consumed by it.

Streaming With Siri, Radio App On Apple WatchOS 4.1

Apple Watches

Photo: Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images

News

Streaming With Siri, Radio App On Apple WatchOS 4.1

Facebook Twitter Email
OS update designed with more musical engagement in mind as Siri syncs streaming to your moods and requests
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Oct 26, 2017 - 11:53 am

According to Cnet News, the upcoming software update Apple WatchOS 4.1 will deliver redesigned musical engagement to your wrist once it becomes available later this month. Music streaming with the Apple Watch Radio App will give America new motivation to ensure their speech has the clarity virtual assistant Siri needs to go searching for new requests.

Because gear and services in the Apple ecosystem are mutually enhancing, best results will be enjoyed by iPhone owners who have built an iCloud Music Library for themselves, sync their iPhone with their Watch, and can take advantage of Wi-Fi or LTE data connections. Cnet editors considered the battery life adequate for a day's casual usage or to get through a workout before recharging.

Because users cannot type on their Watch, the choice is to either navigate using their iPhone or to count on Siri. The Music App grants library access but Siri uses the streaming Radio App for playback. The editors suggested users will want to set up shortcuts to both apps. The Radio App can access whatever is on the air from CBS Radio, ESPN or NPR as well as Apple's own Beats One music station.

The tech experts at Cnet are accustomed to navigating gear that does new things and they present useful tips, but public adoption has shown training is not a prerequisite before jumping in. Waiting for WatchOS 4.1's public release is required, however, for now. But soon Siri will be hard at work, analyzing the moods and favorites of upgraded Apple Watch users whose musical engagement is hopefully more intuitive than ever. Although Siri cannot actually jump to conclusions, the A.I. can keep track of every preference and detail to match music tracks with moments in a way that should soon seem more intuitive as well.

Apple, General Electric: What's Their Common GRAMMY Link?