GarageBand supports third-party plugins and live audio recording, and beginners can take advantage of the app’s instrument lessons and free artist lessons to learn new skills and production techniques.
While not the most advanced mobile DAW available, it is free to download and use and offers a large library of instruments, sounds, and presets. GarageBand is Apple’s own music creation app designed specifically for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Reason Compact is the perfect mobile music creation software for beginners or experienced music producers that use the app’s full-featured desktop counterpart. Support available: Email, Phone, FAQs, Knowledge Base.Subscription plans: Core: $29.99/year Pro: $99/year Ultimate: $199/year.Users can subscribe to Roland Cloud for $2.99 per month, or $29.99 per year, to unlock all of the app’s additional features, including instruments, presets, loops, and sounds. Unlike most of the apps on our list, Zenbeats provides lessons for beginners to get used to the software. Beginners can use features like beat-sync and key-lock to easily create beats and instrumentals without any experience. SampleVerse enables users to record and sample sounds from outside of the app. The app offers several free instruments, including the ZC1, a plugin synthesizer with 60 presets. Zenbeats by Roland is a beginner-friendly digital audio workstation (DAW) that offers generous features in its free version. Support available: Email, Chat, Phone, Forums, Help Center.Cubasis for Android: $29.99, Cubasis for iOS: $49.44.Cubasis also offers version history features, allowing users to go back to older versions of their songs to undo their mistakes.
The app has a full-screen mixing console, real-time time-stretching and pitch-shifting, a sampler to let you create your own instruments, and MIDI support. There’s also a demo version (Cubasis LE) that you can try out for 30 minutes. While the app does not offer a free version, the purchase price gives you access to a large library of effects, presets, and virtual instruments. Many of the apps on our list are condensed versions of desktop-based music creation software, but Cubasis aims to be a full-featured mobile music-making app. Our Music Creation App Reviews Steinberg Cubasis - Top PickĬubasis by Steinberg is our pick for the best overall mobile music creation app.
By doing this, experienced musicians with their instruments can unlock the full potential of these apps and avoid the in-app purchases required to get additional virtual instruments. Most of the apps on our list allow users to connect external instruments, synthesizers, and drum machines to record music. A free app, like GarageBand, might be better in this case.
Cubasis, for example, is our top pick for the best overall music creation app, but at $25 plus in-app purchases, it may not be ideal for beginners that want to try their hand at music production. Many of the apps on our list offer the same core features, so choosing the right music app comes down to two key factors, your price range and your experience level. Choose the music creation app that’s right for you Music-making apps with these features easily enable users to create and share original music with others.
When researching music creation apps, we looked for ones that offer one or more of four key features, a large library of virtual instruments and effects, live audio support, version history, and collaboration tools. How We Chose the Best Music Creation Apps