There should be an official DJTT thread about music creation and production apps for the Ipod and Ipad. I know many of us have seen the Rana June Ipad DJ thread, but I think there should be a serious thread for apps that people in the DJ Tech Tools community find useful. This thread can include Write-Ups, Reviews, Recommendations and Troubleshooting for such apps. DJTT could use this thread to comment and get article ideas about controllerism on Ipods, Iphones and Ipads.
To start, I will talk about 6 apps that I personally find quite useful. Although I am just starting in the digital DJ game, I have found that many iPod apps have helped me not only stimulate my creativity, but also be of actual use when practicing mixing. The most helpful and creative app I have found on the Ipod is Groovemaker. Groovemaker is an amazing music production app that has recently been expanded onto the Ipad. For those of you who don't know what Groovemaker is, it is a tool to create beats and songs on the fly. Equipped with 8 channel slots, it allows you to put together songs of various genres which currently include House, Techno, Reggae, Rock and many more. They also have specials almost every few weeks charging only $2.99 per song pack (which usually comes with 4 songs). It not only allows you to choose from a variety of musical parts such as Bass, Loop, Lines, Pads, BD, Percussion, and FX, but it also allows you to change the pan and the volume of the individual channels. This app has been expanded in the Ipad to let you individually control each of the 8 channels' volume, the master volume and each channels' individual pan. This can seriously be an inexpensive option to anyone new to the Digital DJ world (such as myself) to replace Reason and Ableton Live (although it is obviously not as in depth). Additionally, you can sequence your music. For anyone skeptical, I would highly recommend downloading their free version which gives you a free song; also, if you register you get an additional free song. Registering also gives you the option to be able to publish your sequenced mixes and download them on the internet. This is helpful because you can edit your sequences (each part has uniform timing) in a multitude of production programs and allows you to mix your sequences in via Traktor. When practicing my mixes, I have found that killing the low on a track and adding my own beats from Groovemaker can be a fun learning experience. Please go and see for yourself and comment on its pros and cons; I would definitely like to get a more professional view on this app.
Along with the Groovemaker app, I have found that Looptastic can also be quite useful. Although it doesn't seem quite as in depth as Groovemaker, it can definitely be fun to use and learn, especially for any aspiring producer. It basically lets you control the volumes of each musical part and allows you to put them into 3 groups in order to cross-fade between them, the left and right being the fade-able channels and the middle always being used. I have not had as much experience with this, but I know it has been expanded on the Ipad. I would suggest Groovemaker over this, but I would definitely like to get someone feedback on this app.
Two really fun apps that I have found that can replace cue points (only on these two certain songs) are the iDaft app and the Daft Drum app. Both of these apps are quite useful with Daft Punk songs. However, they are very fun to use and can also take out the need for cue points in both "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" and "Technologic". Both of these apps have every phrase in the songs as individual buttons and the beats to play the songs with. If you have good enough knowledge of these songs then you can even play them only with this app. It is also very fun to improvise over the beats and make your own lyrics for the songs. The iDaft app is free. Its only downside is that the beats included are very limited. However, they are the actual beats from the song. The Daft Drum app is only $0.99 and contains each individual drum and beat part along with 4 loops that are the actual beats from the songs. This app also only includes "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," but it can stimulate more creativity that iDaft. Also, iDaft limits your beat length whereas Daft Drum is endless. If anyone has any more information regarding these two apps or reviews of any similar apps (I know there are other Daft Punk apps, these are the only ones I felt were worth downloading), please share!
For those in the post about a monome program called nonome, I introduce Beatwave. Although I am very naive to the whole monome thing, this is a very good app to learn how to use one. This app includes a 16x16 grid (256 square) and three different "note types" (there are also two additional free ones you can download inside the app). This app is free and allows you to create four layers of sound. I would not necessarily recommend this for set/mixing use but it is definitely a nice, easy, and free way to get your feet wet in the monome field. Anyone who has used a real monome and can compare/give better inside to this, please post!
Finally, I give you the Deadmau5 Touch Mix app. This is a very inexpensive app which breaks down some of Deadmau5's best songs into three individual channels and allows for creative mixing on two channels. Although this is very easy to do inside of Traktor (I have definitely done it myself and was able to almost immediately after getting my controller), it can definitely be a useful tool to not waste your cue points on parts and concentrate on beat juggling. This is a very useful tool to anyone new to mixing and can illustrate the importance of breaking all of your songs down mentally and/or by cue point into different "parts". There are actually two versions of this app however the second one includes all of the songs on the first.
This is a novice view of these apps, but I would definitely recommend these to anyone getting into DJ'ing and anyone looking for a utility to explore creativity on-the-go. If anyone found these apps useful or helpful, please post! Post any other apps that might fit into this field, even apps for more experienced DJ's (I know Ableton has introduced an app to control Live). I hope anyone who reads this finds it helpful!
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