Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
UK EditionUK US EditionUS AU EditionAustralia SG EditionSingapore
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Black Friday
  • Artist news
  • Music Gear Reviews
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Controllers
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Guitar Amps
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About us
Don't miss these
An Apple MacBook Air M4 on a desk with audio interface, headphones, and MIDI controller
Computers Best laptop for music production 2025: For home studios and mobile music-making - tested by experts
An Asus Aspire 5 laptop
Computers Best budget laptops for music production 2025: Affordable laptops for making music
Sennheiser in ear monitors on a lit up dj controller
Studio Monitors Best budget in-ear monitors 2025: My pick of cheap in-ears for every type of musician
Kids hands on a beginner keyboard
Keyboards & Pianos Best keyboards for beginners 2025: Get started with our expert pick of beginner keyboards for all ages
Apple iMac M4
Computers Best PCs for music production 2025: Apple Macs and Windows machines for your home studio
A PRS McCarty 594 on a hard case
Electric Guitars Best electric guitars 2025: Our pick of guitars to suit all budgets
A Fractal Audio VP4 Virtual Pedalboard multi-effects pedal on a concrete floor
Guitar Pedals Best multi-effects pedals 2025: Our pick of the best all-in-one guitar FX modellers
Man in green jumper received a gift from a man in a red jumper
Guitars Best Christmas gifts for musicians 2025: 21 affordable festive present ideas for music-makers (which they'll genuinely love)
An Arturia MicroLab Mk3 on a desk with a pair of headphones
Midi Controllers Best MIDI keyboards 2025: Find the perfect match for your studio workflow
Quentin testing a Yamaha piano
Keyboards & Pianos Best digital pianos 2025: I'm a professional piano and music gear reviewer, and these are my top picks
An Arturia MiniFuse 1 audio interface on a desk
Audio Interfaces Best budget audio interfaces 2025: Cheap USB interfaces for home recording, streaming, podcasting, and more
Close up of a Taylor GS Mini acoustic guitar lying on a wooden floor
Acoustic Guitars Best acoustic guitars 2025: Super steel string acoustics for all players and budgets
Pair of Audio-Technica in-ear monitors sat on a case
Studio Monitors Best in-ear monitors 2025: IEMs for stage and studio
Yamaha CSP-255 review
Keyboards & Pianos Best digital pianos for beginners 2025: 8 beginner-friendly pianos handpicked by a professional piano and music gear reviewer
Virtual drums
Music Production Tutorials How to make virtual acoustic drum performances sound like the real thing
More
  • Pete Townshend on smashing - and fixing - his guitars
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • AI slop hits #1
  • The pain that birthed Don't Speak
  • Europe vs AI
  1. Tech
  2. Software & Apps

iPhone/iPad iOS music making app round-up: Week 55

News
By Ben Rogerson published 22 December 2011

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

A seasonal selection

A seasonal selection

We’re rounding up a sizeable herd of apps this week; developers have clearly been rushing to get their software into the App Store in time for Christmas so that they can attract some of the many people who’ll be getting an iTunes gift voucher or two in their stocking. Enjoy…

Also make sure you check out these regularly updated features:

The best iPhone music making apps

The best iPad music making apps

If you've got a new iOS app, make sure you let us know about it by emailing musicradar.pressreleases@futurenet.com with all the details.

NEXT: Retronyms Tabletop 1.3

Page 1 of 12
Page 1 of 12
Retronyms Tabletop 1.3, £0.69

Retronyms Tabletop 1.3, £0.69

More new devices for Tabletop in this update. A 3-band EQ now comes included, while a bassline sequencer, drum machine, glitch effect and distortion effect are available as in-app purchases. The price above is a limited-time sale one.

Buy now from the App Store

Page 2 of 12
Page 2 of 12
Moog Animoog for iPhone, £0.69

Moog Animoog for iPhone, £0.69

The title says it all, really: Moog’s Animoog iPad synth is now available for smaller iOS devices, though you’ll need a model that has an arm7 processor in order to run it. Get it quickly before the price shoots up to $9.99.

Buy now from the App Store

Page 3 of 12
Page 3 of 12
Pulse Code Rhythm Studio 1.05, £0.69

Pulse Code Rhythm Studio 1.05, £0.69

The latest update to Rhythm Studio is another significant one, adding a two-oscillator synth and new effects including a phaser, reverb, distortion unit, EQ and auto filter. The app is now fully multi-touch enabled, too.

Buy now from the App Store

Page 4 of 12
Page 4 of 12
Shape of Sound Sketch Synth 3D, £22.99

Shape of Sound Sketch Synth 3D, £22.99

We’re getting into decidedly futuristic territory here, with an app that not only enables you to draw sounds in 3D on your iPad, but also allows you to hook up Xbox Kinect and create them with that (you can also use it as a MIDI controller). It’s probably best if we point you in the direction of the intro video so that you can learn more.

Buy now from the App Store

Page 5 of 12
Page 5 of 12
Damien Di Fede WaveShaper, £3.99

Damien Di Fede WaveShaper, £3.99

“Create unique sound effects using any audio file” - that’s the pitch of this ‘audio synthesis’ app. You can use white, pink and red noise as a control source for the algorithm, while there are two control points for controlling noise generation and the location in the source audio.

Buy now from the App Store

Page 6 of 12
Page 6 of 12
Bit Shape TC-11 Multi-Touch Synthesizer £20.99

Bit Shape TC-11 Multi-Touch Synthesizer £20.99

A synth that’s designed to max-out the iPad’s multi-touch capabilities; there are no knobs, keys or sliders - everything is tweaked by the way you touch the interface. There are 64 presets, or you can make use the 21 modular synthesis objects, 22 oscillator waveforms and three controller modules to create your own.

Buy now from the App Store

Page 7 of 12
Page 7 of 12
Simian Squared Ltd Physynth, £0.69

Simian Squared Ltd Physynth, £0.69

A generative synth that sports a 3D interface. You can ‘charge’ physical objects with sound and collide them with each other to trigger them. We’re told that this is an “entirely new way of creating music”, and one that’s accessible to everyone. The price listed is an introductory one.

Buy now from the App Store

Page 8 of 12
Page 8 of 12
Alkex Instruments Magic Midi, £1.49

Alkex Instruments Magic Midi, £1.49

You might not think that there’s much magical about a 16 pad MIDI controller app, but this one differs from the rest in that it actually uses an audio signal to send its MIDI signals. Just hook up a mini-jack cable between your device and computer, install a free desktop application and you’re away.

Buy now from the App Store

Page 9 of 12
Page 9 of 12
Imaginando Livkontrol

Imaginando Livkontrol

This isn’t the first Ableton Live controller app to have been released, but its developer claims that “it’s the most effective and affordable”. You can launch clips or entire scenes, mute, stop solo and arm tracks and control track and master volume.

Buy now from the App Store

Page 10 of 12
Page 10 of 12
Naughty Panther Phaedra, £2.99

Naughty Panther Phaedra, £2.99

A 4-bus analogue-style MIDI sequencer. Each bus can use up to 32 steps and run at several multiples of the base time, while each step has programmable note, velocity, gate time and two MIDI CC outputs. Note that Phaedra has no built-in sounds - it’s designed to be hooked up to a synth.

Buy now from the App Store

Page 11 of 12
Page 11 of 12
Yonac Inc Shredder, £3.99

Yonac Inc Shredder, £3.99

A new synth that’s designed to be controlled by your guitar (you don’t need a special synth pickup - just plug it in or mic it up). You can customise the guitar tracking, while the synth itself is an FM/subtractive hybrid affair. You can also send 16 channels of MIDI Out. This price is an introductory one.

Buy now from the App Store

Liked this? Now read: The best iPhone music making apps and The best iPad music making apps

Connect with MusicRadar: via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

Page 12 of 12
Page 12 of 12
Ben Rogerson
Ben Rogerson
Social Links Navigation
Deputy Editor

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it. 

Deals not to miss
An Apple MacBook Air M4 on a desk with audio interface, headphones, and MIDI controller
Best laptop for music production 2025: For home studios and mobile music-making - tested by experts
 
 
An Asus Aspire 5 laptop
Best budget laptops for music production 2025: Affordable laptops for making music
 
 
Sennheiser in ear monitors on a lit up dj controller
Best budget in-ear monitors 2025: My pick of cheap in-ears for every type of musician
 
 
Kids hands on a beginner keyboard
Best keyboards for beginners 2025: Get started with our expert pick of beginner keyboards for all ages
 
 
Apple iMac M4
Best PCs for music production 2025: Apple Macs and Windows machines for your home studio
 
 
A PRS McCarty 594 on a hard case
Best electric guitars 2025: Our pick of guitars to suit all budgets
 
 
Latest in Software & Apps
melosurf
Is this the future of the DAW? Melosurf is a voice-controlled AI assistant that lets you talk to Ableton Live
 
 
ValhallaDSP ValhallaFutureVerb
“As close to perfect as we have ever heard”: ValhallaDSP’s new plugin is the product of eight years R&D
 
 
Tidal Upload
Tidal’s new artist-aimed upload service is currently offering ten independent artists $100,000 for publishing directly to the platform
 
 
A selection of Waves plugins on a fluorescent green background
Waves just made the first move on Black Friday with 3 jaw-dropping offers - and one’s completely free
 
 
autotune
"Metamorph isn't about replacing the human voice – it's about expanding what's possible when human creativity meets responsible AI": Antares unveils MetaMorph voice modelling plugin
 
 
Ableton Live MIDI tools tutorial
Stuck for ideas? Here's how to create fresh basslines and melodies with Ableton Live 12’s MIDI tools
 
 
Latest in News
Beatles
Giles Martin explains how AI de-mixing has resulted in fresh live audio for the Beatles Anthology remaster
 
 
PRS Mark Lettieri Fiore HH, pictured here in its blue gloss and red satin versions against a pair of PRS tube amp stacks.
“It’s been on stage with everyone from Deep Purple to Janet Jackson. It kind of blows me away that people ever responded in that way”: PRS reworks Mark Lettieri’s signature Fiore as super-versatile dual-humbucker model with serial/parallel switching
 
 
Ace Frehley's 1999/2000 Gibson Les Paul 'Smoker' is up for auction and has a sunburst finish, is routed for three humbuckers, but has been modified to emit smoke from the neck pickup cavity
Ace Frehley’s ‘Smoker’ Les Pauls were spectacular but dangerous – now one from his final Kiss tour heads to auction
 
 
Fabric DJ Getty Images
UK electronic musicians aren't getting the royalties they deserve, according to a new report
 
 
swift
“I did that by myself at my house in about 20 minutes”: How Bon Iver’s Taylor Swift collab came together in record time
 
 
Great Eastern FX Obsolete Devices Distortion Filter D312A
Great Eastern FX finds stash of NOS germanium diodes and makes a distortion with a cocked-wah twist
 
 

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...