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Making a whole song just with an iPad Pro

By Preslav Kateliev

Published: May 13, 2020, 5:43 AM

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*video tells the whole story, song at 8:23

Apple's iOS ecosystem (now including iPadOS) has always been home to a plethora of apps for creatives, musicians included. You've got tons of tools for composing, production, recording, mixing, and mastering. So, I wanted to ask the question — is it possible to create a whole song, from scratch, using nothing but the iPad Pro (and a guitar with an audio interface in my case)? Yeah, for the memes, I even recorded vocals with the iPad's internal microphone.

So, to answer my question — yeah, it's possible. It can even be fun... until you get to the mixing and mastering stage. Now, that's a nightmare, mostly because the mobile operating system still displays only one app at a time, one effect at a time, and you need to juggle between them like crazy when tweaking every little slider.

Here are the apps I used to make this song:

Navichord (song structure)
Auxy Pro (MIDI editing and synths)
Beatmaker 2 (MIDI editor, EQ, effects, mixing)
GarageBand (for its Live Drummer)
SampleTank (samples)
iGrand Piano (samples)
Bias FX (guitar processing)
Grand Finale (mastering)

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Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.

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