Filed under: Multimedia, Software, iPhone, App Store, Music
Count The Beats: Inspiration... two apps for the musician on the move
Recently I've been preparing to move home and finally did last weekend. Naturally I had to pack up all my musical gear, equipment and of course, my Mac. In the week leading up to the move, I've had my iPhone and nothing else. With no creative outlet and the pressure of looming project deadlines, I found myself scouting the app store for a fix to help me start fleshing out a few creative ideas. This is what I found that worked well for me.
1. TonePad and TonePad Pro
The iTunes Store describes TonePad Pro as "...the easiest way to make music. Discover the inner musician in you. Create songs by simply touching." And this is exactly what I found. With a 16 x 16 matrix, and an easy-to-use user interface (literally start tapping your fingers and music is made), I found myself coming up with little melodies and tunes immediately. Although you only have the 16 x 16 matrix, to me, what initially seemed quite limiting soon became a boundary for creative focus.
You can save an unlimited number of tunes to listen back to, and upload them to a shared server where your buddies can check out what you've been musing. With the paid version, you can save your melodies into a ringtone that will sync back to your iPhone, too.
2. Flourish
Flourish is something a bit more immersive. While having a steeper learning curve, there's loads more to explore here. The user interface is really fresh and unique (especially for the iPhone), and presents a creative challenge in focusing your composition whilst giving you the space to try different approaches to what you are creating. Basically Flourish represents musical phrases as physical loops:
-Record loops with expressive multi-touch keyboards.
-Generate percussive and melodic sequences.
-Build arrangements by ear or by eye.
-Select from a consonant collection of instruments.
-Sequence loops by connecting them in chain.
Check out the Flourish website for a few demo clips.
Let us know in the comments below what other apps for the iPhone / iPod Touch, or the Mac, that are inspiring you to make music.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Yoshi1080 said 7:02PM on 3-10-2010
Basically TonePad is a little Tenorion clone for the iPhone. I tried it (and others like Tripper) and found it to have very few features. I still hope Yamaha will make an official app for the iPad (at a higher price, obviously)!
Reply
jimish said 7:20PM on 3-10-2010
tonepad is a lot of fun but I highly recommend ThumbJam: many different instruments with great sample quality, wonderful UI. You can record and export your own loops. Well worth the $6 price tag and perfect for making music on the go
Reply
Waffletower said 7:43PM on 3-10-2010
Cosmovox is a fun way to make music with the iPhone, and you folks had nice things to say about it too:
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/19/first-look-cosmovox/
Reply
Yann Seznec said 3:27AM on 3-11-2010
How about Mujik? Reviewed on these pages not too long ago:
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/08/07/mujik-for-the-iphone-im-scratching-my-head-but-enjoying-it/
http://www.luckyframe.co.uk/mujik/
It's a totally different approach to making music, charming and lovely.
Reply
bud said 12:59PM on 3-11-2010
Flourish is also a bit like a puzzle game, as you try to figure out its interface. Holding an element with a prolonged touch to change the mode is fairly discoverable, but I think the other trick is akin to double tap. One touch selects next touch activates.
The included instructions and the online help at Flourish is fairly minimal.
Reply
David Wallin said 7:15AM on 3-12-2010
If you're looking for a more serious 'groove box' style app, check out bleep!BOX: http://www.bleepboxapp.com/
Reply
Gregor said 8:00AM on 3-14-2010
A really great blog for mobile music in general, but with lots of emphasis on the iPhone and iPod touch is palm sounds. URL http://the-palm-sound.blogspot.com/
You'll find lots of interesting music applications reviewed there.
Reply