In 2025, Apple's Voice Memos app is probably one of the most commonly used audio tools on the planet.
From Taylor Swift and Lizzy McAlpine to Michael Bublé and Fred Again, countless musicians have used Voice Memos not only to capture ideas, sketches and demos in the moment they arise, but to record material that's ultimately made its way into chart-topping songs.
A 2024 update introduced Layered Recording, giving users the ability to layer multiple takes within Voice Memos, but the app remains a relatively basic tool – and unsurprisingly so, considering it wasn't originally developed as a recording app for musicians (Apple already has one of those) but merely as a kind of digital dictaphone for convenient note-taking.
And though Voice Memos is a useful tool for spontaneous recording, its organizational capabilities are also a little lacking – many musicians (myself included) have found themselves stacking up a mountain of untitled audio snippets so high that the prospect of separating the wheat from the chaff has become a little too much to face.
That's the problem that Vochlea – the brand behind genius voice-to-MIDI tool Dubler 2 – is hoping to solve with Dubnote, a new AI-powered iOS app that the company claims is a smarter alternative to Voice Memos designed to "help musicians capture, organise and revisit their roughest, most vital ideas", offering a "much-needed solution to the formatting and storing of those lightning-strike moments of inspiration".
Recording with Dubnote is as simple as hitting a big red button, but once you've got an idea down, the app opens up organizational possibilities that go beyond the capabilities of Voice Memos and other native voice memo apps.
Using Dubnote's on-device AI, recordings are automatically split into useful sections and tagged based on content. These can then be organized into notebooks with customizable covers and titles, before being backed up to iCloud. (Vochlea emphasizes that Dubnote processes all audio locally, and no recordings are sent to external servers or used to train AI models.)
"Most musicians use the native voice memos app not because they love it, but because it’s convenient"
Vochlea CEO George Wright
When working with longer recordings, sections can be favourited and time-stamped notes can be added to review later. Dubnote also offers automatic tempo detection and transcription of both speech and lyrics, and audio can be imported from elsewhere (including Voice Memos) to take advantage of the app's features with existing recordings. Both full recordings and sections can be exported as WAV or AAC files when you're ready to take audio to another app or a DAW.
"Most musicians use the native voice memos app not because they love it, but because it’s convenient," said Vochlea CEO George Wright in a press release. "In fact, 63% of musicians say audio note apps are essential, but they hate the ones that are available to them.
"We’ve built something better, designed with musicians in mind and made for the scrappy, messy stage of songwriting. No more digging through a sea of untitled waveforms. With Dubnote, ideas are easy to capture, organise and actually find again."
Dubnote is available in both a Free tier with limited features, and a Premium tier priced at $24.99/year, but if you're reading this on Wednesday 9th July, you'll be able to access a lifetime Premium subscription to the app completely free.
Visit the App Store to download Dubnote or find out more on Vochlea's website.
Watch a video of UK-based post-hardcore band Millpool using Dubnote during the recording of their debut single High Speed Pursuit below.
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