KVR Audio

stikygum · Post by **stikygum** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:04 am

I basically want an app for my iPhone to record ideas I hear in my head throughout the day, when I'm away from my computer. I'm wondering what the easiest and quickest most effective app would be. Or maybe there is quite a few that work as good sketchpads. I don't need a really involved creative synth or anything excessive. Though I was looking at Nanostudio and it seems quit cool and possibly easy to get some ideas down.

I would like for the app to be able to record in realtime as well as sequence like with a piano roll (or maybe there is 2 apps that excel at each?).

audiob0t · Post by **audiob0t** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:27 am

Nanostudio is great, but for a sketchpad I find it's hard to beat Garageband. Very no-nonsense and the smart instruments can help you get an idea down pretty quickly. Not so great for finishing tracks though (unless you are exporting to Logic or Garageband Mac).

Depends on what kind of music you are making though... for strictly electronic you may be better off with Nanostudio (or possibly Beatmaker 2, if you are more hip-hop oriented).

These are just generalizations of course, a lot of it also comes down to personal preference and working style.

mrufino1 · Post by **mrufino1** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:26 pm

Definitely garage band. I have music studio as well, which is cool, but garage band's interface is really good for just getting ideas down quickly. I'm on iphone, not ipad, if that makes a difference. I also found out how to load exs24 samples into the iphone garageband to use in the sampler, so you can expand your palette a little bit, but the included instruments sound really good and get the job done. The smart instruments are great in the way they work, perfect for fleshing out the idea while out and about. I also bought voice band, which supposedly allows yo to sing in your parts and it replaces with samples, but haven't had any time to really investigate it. In theory it's a neat idea though, you could almost do it while driving. Almost- don't do it while driving!

BERFAB · Post by **BERFAB** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:43 pm

To get ideas down QUICKLY, I do what many have done for years--I record right in to a recording/dictation app. iTalk is my app for that, but there's dozens of 'em.

I've actually heard of people leaving voicemails for themselves with song ideas, etc. I never went that far, but I love being able to record right to my phone if I need to quickly get an idea out there.

-B

peanut_gallery · Post by **peanut_gallery** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:52 pm

As someone touched upon above, if you are using a Mac, the huge plus with using Garageband on the iPhone/iPad is that you can then fully import that track into Garageband (and then also Logic, if you are using Logic) on your computer. It's a one way trip, though - once you import the track into the desktop DAW, you can't send it back to your iPhone/iPad.

If you're on a PC, Garageband doesn't have any useful export features (other than an audio file). If you want to transfer parts and you are using a PC, NanoStudio is probably one of the more user friendly options, and you can export MIDI and individual track .wav files. Where it excels over GarageBand is its super intuitive and flexible MIDI editor and its drum pad interface. You can record audio, but you need to record it as triggered samples from the drum interface. That being said, NS doesn't have much in the way of "real" sounding instruments. GarageBand's piano, organ, EP, strings, guitar and basses pretty much blow away anything NS has, though NS's electronic sounds and ability to work with samples (though not multi-samples) blows away anything GarageBand has to offer in that area.

stikygum · Post by **stikygum** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 5:52 pm

Voiceband sounds useful. I use to use a voice recorder to remember ideas I had, but it was a one and done kind of thing and couldn't have more than one voice note. You could do it in the car even, but those commercials on TV that show the last text message someone sent while driving before they died speaks volumes. Anyways, cool app.

Anyone think Easyband Studio is any good? Seems cool to flesh out chords progressions. Don't think it's for iphone though. Any program like that with easy to compose chords for the iphone?

Garageband for the iphone does indeed seem like what I would want. Music Studio seems very nice as well. I'll end with one of these, probably GB.

And because I make electronic stuff, I'll probably go for NanoStudio as well.

peanut_gallery · Post by **peanut_gallery** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:03 pm

In terms of working on chord progressions, you may want to check out Chordbot. I've never used it myself, but I know a lot of folks who love it, and it's fairly highly rated in the App store (and apparently has some great export features).

stikygum · Post by **stikygum** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:17 pm

I'll check that out and from what I can see, it seems like a good tool. Though I can't see that it has a timeline to hear your chord transitions like Easyband Studio. Pro Chords looks like a good one too.

Do most of these music apps allow you to export the midi or wav files?

peanut_gallery · Post by **peanut_gallery** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:40 pm

Most of these apps do have a way to get audio and MIDI out, though the methods (and ease) vary by app.

GarageBand can export audio via SoundCloud, email or iTunes file sharing. It doesn't export MIDI, unless you export the whole project (via iTunes file sharing) to GB or Logic on a Mac and open it there.

NanoStudio uses a tool called NanoSync, which lets you transfer files from NS to your computer via WiFi. It exports .wav files and MIDI files. You can also e-mail .wav files and also upload them to SoundCloud. NS also uses audio copy/paste so you can move sounds/recordings from one App to another this way. GB has paste only (i.e. you can paste recording into GB, but you can't copy them out). NS also can import .wav and MIDI files from Dropbox.

Chordbot looks like it has .wav and MIDI export and supports audio copy export.

DrApostropheX · Post by **DrApostropheX** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:15 pm

Another great songwriting app I've been fooling around with lately is VCVCBC (Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Chorus)from Okeedoke Studios. It's a little buggy in its present form and lacks the ability to record audio snippets (that'll be coming, they say), but once you get the hang of it, it's a really powerfull tool for capturing lyrics, melody ideas, and chord changes (and rhythms too).

What I find most valuable about it is that it keeps me from getting too far down one path before considering other aspects of the song I should be working on. For example, I have tons of completed tracks I never wrote lyrics for because I completed the track before I thought about what the lyrics will be and it's too hard to shoe-horn in lyrics to a completed arrangement. With VCVCBC, I can work on the lyrics, melody ideas, and chord changes simultaneously, print out a lyric/chord sheet, and then use that as a reference to build the track in some other app.

It does take some getting used to and is a little buggy as I said, but I find it pretty useful.

Keebo · Post by **Keebo** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 2:32 am

I'm not in a band but besides the nifty ChordBot, which I like quite a bit, other similar apps to look at are iReal b and ezComposer. Both are very easy to come up with chord progressions on the go. I generally email the MIDI files to myself and continue the composing process on my PC DAW (Sonar X1, Reaper, BIAB, etc.)

If you have Band In A Box on your PC or Mac, they have a somewhat limited app as well.

I have VoiceBand which is a cool app but my voice is very limited so I have yet to be productive with it.

There are several more apps that will let you get your thoughts down quickly without getting too involved with the mechanics of synthesis. Search the app store for apps that may pique your interest.

Good luck.

michael2 · Post by **michael2** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 3:37 am

i use garageband for ideas, but if I want to just remember a melody I will just sing it into the voice recorder that comes stock with iphones. does the job when I don't have time to figure out chord changes and rhythms.

SpyApp · Post by **SpyApp** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:29 am

Nanostudio is a good option to keep your ideas and best collection into your mobile.But mobilestudio is most compatible application for iphone in which you can keep your best collection and ideas. Other application which you can keep in your mobile garageband and sketchpad.

Derek Buddemeyer · Post by **Derek Buddemeyer** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 2:09 pm

I really like GarageBand mobile for sketching quick ideas....nice easy workflow. EZ composer is kind of cool too, but I like GB better. Also, Nanostudio is awesome!

stikygum · Post by **stikygum** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 3:46 pm

You guys think Nanostudio is better than Music Studio? I bought GB already because I can see it is perfect for getting ideas down quick. But I would also like to try one of these others for composing and maybe lean on the sequencing side of things. And I'm sure I'll get into some of the other synth type ones soon enough, but for now I'm going to focus on sketching and composing chord sequences.

I wish Easyband studio was for the iPhone. For some reason, I really like the layout of that one. Seems easy to just try different chord sequences, for a sketchpad.

Best app to get ideas down quickly