Italian versionSaxopedia is a website devoted to sax playing,and more in general jazz/rock improvisation with traditional acoustic instruments. However,I am more and more intrigued by the countless possibilities of the computer as an innovative force in music,from education to training,composition and live performance. I have written a few MIDI-oriented apps for Windows,and sooner or later I will publish them on this site.
I have used my PC to help me in my musical interests for years,yet more recently I really fell in love with the iPhone and the iPad for their enormous potential in virtually any music field. There are thousands and thousands iOS music apps,ranging from toy apps that are just pastimes to professional DAWs that allow you to author a song from beginning to end,with every degree in the middle.
A noteworthy difference between the iPad and the PC/Mac environments is that in the latter case you have relatively few software to choose from:Ableton Live,Reason,FL Studio,Logic,and a few others. You tipically don’t need to purchase and learn more than two or three of them,because they are enough flexible to satisfy most of (or all) your needs.
Conversely -and in spite of the short time elapsed since iPad debut -the number of music apps that run on iOS device is overwhelming. There are a few established leading apps -e.g. GarageBand,Music Studio or SampleTank -but none of them is sufficiently powerful to meet all the requirements you might have. For example,I routinely use no fewer than 30 music iOS apps,ranging from drum machines,synthesizers,samplers,effects,and loop stations to MIDI editors,MIDI controllers,audio processors,multi-track recorders and various utilities.
In recent years I have spent a lot of time and energies (and money!) trying many different iOS music apps,and I’d like sharing the results of my researches with saxopedia readers. For this reason,I am opening a new section titled Best iOS Music Apps,where you can find the list of my favorite apps.
There are many websites and blogs that do a great job in keeping us up-to-date about new iOS music apps,for example dischord and Palm Sounds. I don’t want to duplicate the information you can find on these great sites,which in fact are among my primary sources of information.
However,a quick look at these sites show that many -if not the majority -of existing music apps they review are meant for people who don’t necessarily studied music and who are more interested in ambient and dance music,including styles such as trance,D’n B,techno,etc. With all my respect for sort of music,these styles aren’t at the top of my interests and probably this is true for most saxopedia aficionados,who are more likely to be “traditional”players who can leverage a good knowledge of music theory,harmony,scales,improvisation,etc.
Saxopedia’s Best iOS Music Apps section is going to be different from what you can find elsewhere on the Internet. To being with,it contains a selection of the best-of-the-breed apps that,in my opinion,can be useful to amateurs and professional musicians,with an interest in jazz,rock,pop and R&B and who are interested in adding new possibilities to their live equipment,or in practicing/improvising/composing music in a novel way.
For example,you will find delay/reverb/chorus processors,harmonizers,loop stations and MIDI controllers that cost one hundredth of equivalent hardware devices,including pitch-to-MIDI apps that allow you to convert the acoustic sound of your sax,trumpet,clarinet,flute or guitar into a MIDI message that can drive a software or hardware synth. Likewise,you can find apps to practice ear training,to learn how to improvise with scales and chords or that can replace tons of printed music scores.
Another important difference from the reviews you can find elsewhere is that I am inclined NOT to add an app to my list if the list already contains applications with similar or better features. There are exceptions to this rule -for example,free and less expensive apps are often included even if there the list already includes a similar,nonfree app -but in general the items in the list don’t overlap with each other. To you this means that you can avoid cluttering the scarce memory of your iOS device with apps that substantially perform the same task.
Currently this section includes the description of nearly one hundredmusic apps,grouped by their main functionality:
- Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs)
- Synths and samplers
- Percussion and Drum machines
- Effects for voice,guitar,and other instruments
- DJ-ing and alternative music players
- Apps for learning music
- MIDI controllers
For each application I provide a separate page with a more detailed descriptions,demo/review videos,links to the app home page,manual,forum,etc. Also important is the compatibility list,where you can quickly check whether the app supports specific iOS protocols (e.g. Core Audio,Core MIDI,Virtual MIDI,Audiobus),hardware accessories,direct upload to DropBox or SoundCloud,and more.
UPDATE: in the App Compatibility Table you can compare all the apps in the new section and check which ones support a give hardware or software protocol,such as Core MIDI,Virtual MIDI,or Audiobus.
VERY IMPORTANT: Please notice that saxopedia is NOT associated with any software vendor and that I have not used any complimentary review copy to create the list. An app is in the list only if it meets my personal criteria for inclusion and not to return the favor of a review copy.
Creating the section and keeping it up-to-date has been and will be a major effort. I hope you can appreciate and will benefit from it. Needless to say,please let me know if you use an app that you believe should be added to the list.
NOTE FOR ITALIAN READERS:I have written a book entirely devoted to this topic,entitled Fare musica con il tuo iPad (Make Music with your iPad),where I cover the many facets of this fascinating field. You can find more on saxopedia’s Italian edition.
