iOS Music Production New, Free Loops, and Hardware

So you’re looking for a Tenori-On for your iPad? Well we’ve decided to list the top three apps that fit the bill.

Yamaha TNR-i

First off, this is the latest Tenori-On app and it took Yamaha long enough to come out with this because there were quite a few apps to come out way before this one. All Tenori-On inspired.

The iOS version of the world-renowned TENORI-ON brings you a completely new musical interface. Even if you don’t know much about music, you can create music intuitively as if you were arranging sounds in space. The music that you see on the 16 × 16 grid of buttons is the music that is performed.

On the 16 × 16 grid of buttons, basically, the horizontal direction is time, and the vertical direction is pitch.By laying sounds on these buttons, you can combine rhythms and melodies to produce music. A button will glow when its sound is produced. The movements of the glowing lights produce a visual performance.

TNR-i can produce 16 types of sounds at the same time (16 layers), and it can remember up to 16 song patterns produced using those sounds (16 blocks). By switching between song patterns in real time, you can produce a rich variety of musical expressions.

There are six different types of performance modes that you can select for each layer. You can make elaborate music by combining different modes. In score mode, the most fundamental of the modes, you can arrange sounds horizontally (temporally) and vertically (by pitch). In the exciting random mode, the sounds that you arrange are not just played in order—the melody and rhythm constantly change as twists are added. In draw mode, you can perform music by tracing your finger across the buttons as if drawing a picture. In bounce mode, the glowing lights are like bouncing balls that produce sound when they fall. In push mode, you can continuously change the sound as you perform. In solo mode, which is fun for solo performances, you can easily adjust the speed of repetition and the pitch.

Price $19.99 – Buy Yamaha TNR-i on iTunes here

Beatwave by Collect3

Features Include:

Wave Beat Visualizer 10 years of piano lessons? No way man. Lay down your music the touch way. FEEL the music flow from your fingers and see the patterns performing before your eyes.
Instruments An assortment of High-Quality samples of garage, hiphop and funk keyboard & synth sounds to get you started.
Tone control Variable pitch control lets you adjust your sounds on the fly.
Tempo control Adjustable speed settings to let you move your tunes from the dancefloor to setting a more intimate mood.
Unique “Layers” Feature Lay down up to 4 seperate tracks allowing you to have multiple instruments playing at once.
Tune Sharing Created the next No.1 smash hit? Don’t keep it to yourself! Invite others to get onboard and enjoy your masterpiece or create their own for FREE.
Enhanced iPad visuals Built-in support for the iPads large higher resolution display.

Extra Features (requires purchase)

Additional Instrument Packs Choose from an ever increasing library of super hi-quality digital samples available individually or as packs via in-app purchase, giving you virtually unlimited ability to create custom sounds.

Audio export Have your wicked beats prepped for their debut in the real world. Beatwave exporter creates .WAV , .MP4 and even Ringtones (M4R) for your iphone!

Price FREE – Get Beatwave on iTunes here

Aurora By 4pockets – Highly Recommended by iPad Loops!

Whether you are an experienced musician or don’t have a musical bone in your body, you can make great music on your iPad

Aurora is our pattern based musical sequencing software. By simply choosing a musical scale every note you play is in perfect tune, leaving you to make your own great sounding music.

If you are a more accomplished musician you simply switch Aurora to advanced mode and you get full control over the built in instruments and effects, as well as many advanced modes such as the Atomizer and XY Mode which allows you to manipulate sound in real-time. You can create your own instrument from recordings made using the built in microphone. Just think, a full drum kit of you beatboxing into the microphone!

Aurora allows a mixture of pattern based recording and live performance. You can piece together complete compositions or simply improvise a performance. All of which can be captured to a file, for use as a ringtones, or to share with others.

An integrated mixer, combined with the ability to add audio effects and layer automation means that you achieve a sophisticated sound in a fun and user friendly way.

The online Aurora Song Library allows Aurora users to share their tracks with the rest of the Aurora Community. Browse the library to download the latest tracks, or search the library to see what your favorite Aurora Artist has published. The Aurora Song Library can be found at http://aurora.4pockets.com/

The program includes a comprehensive help facility and video tutorials are available on YouTube.

Features Include:

14 Instrument tracks
12 Notes polyphony per track
4 Independent Engines – Drum Machine, Analog Synth, Pad Synth and Sampler
32 Patterns per song
Chain up to 199 Patterns in Song mode
3 Effect sends per track.
9 Effects including – Delay, Reverb, Chorus etc
Allows creation of custom instrument patches.
Layer Automation
XY Mode
Splice and Dice Audio with Atomizer Mode
Inbuilt Sample Recording
Export Songs as WAV and AAC

Aurora for the iPad expands on the iPhone version making use of the extra screen size to offer additional functionality such:

Full Screen Mixer
New Effects Rack View
Ability to Solo and Mute Individual Layers
New Layer Mix Palette
Synth Engine Features Combined into Single Screen
File Sharing via FTP
Use Accelerometer to Control XY Mode
Upload and Share Songs on the Online Song Library
MIDI Export

Price $13.99 – Buy Aurora on iTunes here