How to Make Music With Your iPad

Much has been made of the iPad's musical capabilities. As it turns out, more and more working musicians have integrated one or more iPads into their rigs—and sometimes even go solo with one (or two, or six).

To get a better idea of what's out there, we rounded up and tested a bunch of iPad music apps. As we found out, as a composition tool, the iPad's time has arrived. First, the sound quality from many of these apps is stunning. The iPad clearly has enough horsepower for complex sample playback and virtual synthesis, although it's somewhat constrained on storage space and multitasking ability next to a PC or Mac.

Even if you normally work with regular desktop recording software, who could deny the appeal of a device that fits almost anywhere, boots instantly, weighs less than one and a half pounds, and only requires a pair of headphones, with no audio interface drivers or complex software updates? Think of a musical idea, and you can lay it down immediately, well before the inspiration fades.
 

For these reviews, I tested sound quality with various pairs of earphones. But even through a revealing pair of Sony MDR-7509HD ($249.99) studio headphones, I heard clear, crisp sound across the full range of frequencies. I chose these closed-back headphones, incidentally, because they have very low impedance, and the iPad 4's headphone jack has no problem driving them to clean levels with plenty of punch. Even so, less costly pairs of headphones and earphones also did the trick.

Getting back to the iPad, in addition to being a great scratch pad for musical ideas, it's a phenomenal accessory to a PC-based workstation. We didn't have time to review these separately, but apps like AC-7 Core ($7.99, pictured below) turn the iPad into a control surface for major digital audio workstations, and serve much of the same purpose as a $1,100 Mackie Control Universal Pro. And programs like forScore 3 ($4.99) arguably turn the iPad into the best sheet-music tool ever. Some new apps like Touch Press's The Orchestra, Korg iPolysix, and Steinberg Cubasis look to take the iPad to a whole new level on its own, too.

To be sure, we're not quite there yet, but it's only a matter of time before you won't need that separate Mac or PC. And it's already possible to use an iPad alone for certain kinds of music projects, as these reviews demonstrated.

Composing Music, iPad Style
In this roundup, we tested seven of the most popular music creation apps on the iPad. We started with GarageBand—the natural place to begin, and still one of the best out there for general purpose use—but then branched out into electronic synthesizer emulations and alternative recording studio software. Below, you'll find reviews of four of the best recording tools, and three virtual synthesizer apps that stand alone and generate sound on their own. Read on for the details, choose one (or more than one) that look good to you, and go for it.

Virtual Synthesizers