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I had a recent discussion with Cecil Hallum about music apps he could check out for his new iPhone 4S. He recommended I post my list here also. After having my iPhone 4 for about a year, I put together this short list of indispensable (for me) music-related apps. The list is in two groups: production/performance, and listening. Each list is in alphabetical order, not order of importance. I have tried many additional music apps that do not appear on this list, and perhaps this list will give someone a head start on some basic apps to research. The list was developed for an iPhone and I do not know which of these may work full-sized on an iPad. For music production or performance:
A-7CoreMini -- remote control for SONAR
BandInABox -- BIAB player
BBRemote -- BIAB remote control
Chordbot -- similar to BIAB and much simpler but self-contained
Cleartune -- basic tuner
Decibel -- sound level meter
FiRe -- audio field recorder
iRealB -- the RealBook and other tunes for practicing
iStroboSoft -- strobe tuner
iTempo -- metronome
MultiTrack -- mini-DAW
Shazam -- to identify songs that are playing
Virtuoso -- mini-piano
For listening enjoyment:
5-0 Radio Pro -- world Internet radio services (the new shortwave)
Pandora -- personalized Internet radio
TuneIn Radio -- genre-based Internet radio
Note: This list is not meant as an endorsement of any app. I have no financial connection to any of these apps, with the exception that I do appear as an artist on Pandora.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Nice list, thanks. Congrats on the appearance on Pandora.
I bought a 32 GB iPod Touch last month solely for music creation, jamming, and practicing on the go. Several months ago I posted a thread requesting advice on a portable/mobile keyboard and got very good ideas. However none quite fit the bill for me so I decided on an Akai Keystation 25/iPod Touch combo. It only has 25 mini keys which I didn't want but the price and flexibility with the available apps were right up my alley. I velcroed a mini stereo speaker on top when I didn't want to use headphones. And it is all battery powered to be truly mobile.
Here are the apps I have gotten so far:
BB Remote
Band-in-a-Box
AC-7 Core Mini
GuitarStudio
iShred
PocketGuitar
G.U.I.T.A.R.+
Guitar Pro
Songineer
Seline
ThumbJam
Song Writer
Animoog
iReal b
Music Studio
NanoStudio
SynthStation
50in1 Piano
ezComposer
GarageBand
JamUp Pro
Voice Band
SongCatcher
ChordBot
I am enjoying most of them but some have been less than productive to me.
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That's a good list. You have several guitar apps that I did not explore, but there are others I will check out.
Yes, I left off several, even some I bought and do not use because the ones I listed were better.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Time to update this list, since it's been six months and I also use an iPad now.
V-Control Pro replaced AC Core Mini (iPad only).
Splashtop Streamer, while not a music app, allows remote control of my computer. The combination of V-Control Pro and Splashtop Streamer means I can control my production PC from the studio, replacing the old Frontier Design Tranzport with a far more powerful solution.
I still don't like any of the mini-DAW apps, but Multri-Track seems to be the best of those available.
BackTrax has some promise as a performance jukebox.
And while it's not a solution most of you will be able to use, as a programmer, I wrote my own "non-app store" app in HTML5 and CSS with links to various music sites I find helpful.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Hi Keebo, I already have had the Synthstation 25 to use as a very small portable USB MIDI keyboard controller for a laptop. That slot for an iphone/ipod touch finally inspired me to buy the same unit as you, the Ipod Touch 32GB, which I should receive tomorrow. I recall reading somewhere though, that all IOS music apps do not recognize the MIDI input of the Synthstation. Is that true? Highly unfortunate if so, as that keyboard seems to be the most convenient input solution for iphone or ipod touch, not needing a separate interface nor any cords. (I think they may even make a new one now for Ipad, with a slot to hold that device.) Do all of the apps you list accept Synthstation input? Quote:
Nice list, thanks. Congrats on the appearance on Pandora.
I bought a 32 GB iPod Touch last month solely for music creation, jamming, and practicing on the go. Several months ago I posted a thread requesting advice on a portable/mobile keyboard and got very good ideas. However none quite fit the bill for me so I decided on an Akai Keystation 25/iPod Touch combo. It only has 25 mini keys which I didn't want but the price and flexibility with the available apps were right up my alley. I velcroed a mini stereo speaker on top when I didn't want to use headphones. And it is all battery powered to be truly mobile.
Here are the apps I have gotten so far:
BB Remote
Band-in-a-Box
AC-7 Core Mini
GuitarStudio
iShred
PocketGuitar
G.U.I.T.A.R.+
Guitar Pro
Songineer
Seline
ThumbJam
Song Writer
Animoog
iReal b
Music Studio
NanoStudio
SynthStation
50in1 Piano
ezComposer
GarageBand
JamUp Pro
Voice Band
SongCatcher
ChordBot
I am enjoying most of them but some have been less than productive to me.
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Matt,
I'm in unison with you as I too had to get the new iPad (64 GB this time). I haven't tried Multi Track but I have read good things about it. Meteor has been my main iDAW lately. I also have BackTrax but haven't had a need to use it yet.
I have been taking advantage of when apps go on sale or for free and stockpiled more than I probably should. It sure is a lot of fun to have so many different types of tools on the go.
It is interesting to see that you created your own app though I'm not familiar with CSS. Sometimes you have to roll your own.
Speaking of which, I recently bought Codea and am trying to learn Lua to program an app on the iPad for the iPad. It is pretty cool to see your progress (or lack of it) instantly on the iPad. It doesn't have much support for sound or music yet but it should be forthcoming.
maiki,
I have seen a list of compatible apps for the SS25 but I cannot remember where. I'll post the link if I find it. When I get a chance, I will put the SS25 through its paces and see which apps I have that recognize it.
Good luck an enjoy your new iDevice.
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maiki, Here is a list of compatable apps for the SS25: http://www.synthstationapp.com/Not sure how updated it is though.
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you got it all... I may try to upload some of the list you gave for iphone 4s....
Last edited by richardedisons65; 06/27/12 07:11 PM.
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I'm new to iphone and very much on a learning curve. With the Band in a Box app that Matt referred to in his first post, does this mean that I can download my BIAB songs from my PC and play them back on the iphone? Sorry if this is a dumb question. 
Cheers,
Keith
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Yes you can download your files to your device. The device needs to be connected to BIAB via WIFI (or perhaps internet) to generate the songs in order to hear them play on your device. They will not play untethered until they are generated on the device.
At least that is my memory of how I did it.
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Quote:
I'm new to iphone and very much on a learning curve. With the Band in a Box app that Matt referred to in his first post, does this mean that I can download my BIAB songs from my PC and play them back on the iphone?
Sorry if this is a dumb question.
Yes, but not really. You do not download the BIAB files to your device, and play them as BIAB viles, with accompaniment generated by the IOS device. What you are doing basically is rendering the BIAB files to audio files (done on your oomputer), and transfer the audio files to the IOS device for playback. Being audio files, they are no longer configurable--cannot be transposed, tempo cannot be changed, etc.
One could do the same thing without the BIAB mobile app, by rendering BIAB files to audio within desktop BIAB, then transferring them to the mobile device with Itunes, and playing them back on the device with Itunes. Some result--perhaps a fwe more steps involved--may be worth the 99 cents to do that in less steps.
I am hoping that BIAB will come out with a truly mobile version, that will work totally in the mobile device and not be dependent on the desktop, although hopefully it could use the same file formats to transfer files between desktop and mobile. Of course RealTracks and RealDrums would not be possible with current mobile devices, but BIAB worked great for decades before RT and RD, including on computers much less powerful and with much less storage than current mobile devices. (I was using BIAB back in 1989 on DOS computers,. back when all storage was on floppy drives, with the 186 processors.)
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Thanks for all the info, including the list of synthstation apps.
I think with MIDIBridge one can use SS25 with other CoreMIDI apps as well. (MB seems to be a useful app in general, a MIDI router.)
I will add that I think that Music Studio looks like a good MiniDaw, with MIDI as well as audio.
Thumbjam has some nice sounds, and I can play it with IRealB playing accompaniment in the background.
By the way, IRealB is not just a chart-displaying program, but an auto-accompaniment program like BIAB. It is the best one I have seen for IOS, much better than Chordbot. (I have bought both, not comparing the free versions.) Once one has bought it, one can download for free many charts for it from their forums. (One can also purchase additional sound packs for it at a low charge.) (I think an actual mobile BIAB would likely be much better, but that is not currently available. IRB is the best current one I am aware of.)
By the way, there is a version of the music notation program "Notion" available for Ipad (not Iphone nor Itouch though), currently only $6.99. (One wonders if mobile versions of Finale and SIbelius are forthcoming?)
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Quote:
maiki,
Here is a list of compatable apps for the SS25:
http://www.synthstationapp.com/
Unfortunately, that link now only goes to the Akai site, advertising their SS25 app (which i have not found much use for), and no mention of other compatible apps at all.
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About the BIAB apps: it would probably be a good idea to move questions about the BIAB apps to a separate thread where they would be more visible to those who want to know about that, and leave this thread to the topic of other music apps.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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By the way, although a long-time Windows guy, I broke down and ordered an Ipad as well, a refurbished 32GB Ipad 2.
Some of the software I have downloaded and bought says for both Iphone/Itouch and Ipad. But for others there is a separate version to download for the Ipad. For instance, the BIAB and BB remote apps, have a separate download for the Ipad version.
If the Ipad version is separate and it is a paid app, does one have to pay again to buy the Ipad version, if one has already bought the Iphone version?
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I've seen it both ways but in most cases, yes, you buy the iPad version separately.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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By the way, I would recommend that all musicians using an IOS device get GarageBand.
As an Apple product, I thought previously that it came with IOS, but it doesn't. It only costs $4.99 though, and is worth it.
Although not geared towards pro musicians specifically, there is much in it that a pro would find interesting, and perhaps usable in some way. It take some experimentation to find out all its capabilities. It is certainly better than a large percentage of music apps out there.
It is a large download, almost 1GB. (One download/purchase will work for both Ipad and Iphone/Itouch.) I assume most of that download are the samples. It doesn't have a lot of instruments, but those it has are quite high quality in sound for IOS. Some real cool loops as well.
It includes a cool sampler. Record yourself singing one note with it, then play your voice (or anything else) all over the keyboard.
One limitation that I hope they overcome- although I think it can export to audio, I don't think there is any way to import or export MIDI, although the program clearly involves MIDI as well as audio, no way currently to export the MIDI for further work on the desktop./
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Sorry for the bad link above, it was working correctly at one time. I don't have a working link but a Google search should come up with something useful.
Yes, GB is an excellent app. The smart Instruments are worth the price alone. I agree that more importing/exporting capabilities would be quite helpful. I am a PC user so I cannot test this but other users say that GB can export to a format that a MAC/GB system understands and can further develop the song in Logic.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
All of our XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs are on sale until May 15th, 2026!
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Mac Videos
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
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Check out this forum post for "One Stop Shopping" of our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Videos!
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Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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Update to Build 10 of RealBand® 2026 for Windows®!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
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