FL Studio Mobile brings the robust capabilities of FL Studio to mobile devices, making it an excellent choice for music production on the go. It features high-quality synths, drum kits, and many must-have audio recording capabilities, allowing users to create full-fledged tracks directly from their smartphones or tablets. The app’s intuitive interface simplifies the process of composing, arranging, and mixing music, which is ideal for beginners exploring electronic music production.

From Ableton, Note offers a streamlined version of the popular Ableton Live DAW, tailored for electronic music production. It includes session view for live performance, MIDI sequencing, and audio recording functionalities, among other amazing features. These make it an invaluable tool for beginners looking to experiment with loops, samples, and live performance setups directly from their mobile devices.

BeatMaker 3 stands out as a powerful DAW designed exclusively for iOS. It combines sequencing, sampling, and beat-making capabilities into a single platform–your phone! The app is particularly useful for beginners due to its intuitive interface and comprehensive tutorial resources, guiding users through every step of music production.

Reason Compact brings the world-renowned Reason synthesizer to mobile devices. It offers a rich collection of high-quality instruments and effects optimized for making electronic music, specifically on iOS devices. Reason is already famous among beloved musicians, so the app version should also be counted on for excellent music creation opportunities.

NanoStudio 2 stands out as a powerful iOS app that integrates virtual instruments, a sampler, and a sequencer. It is especially well-known for its sampling capabilities, which have become more and more useful in today’s changing music industry. It caters largely to electronic and experimental music producers, though not exclusively.

How could this not be included on a list of the best apps when it comes to creating music? Garageband has been a staple for literally millions of musicians for years now, and as people have migrated from computers to their phones, the company has followed.

When you search for Garageband in the app store on iOs, Apple has highlighted its own creation as an “essential,” and while it would be fair to normally be suspicious of such a promotion, this time, the label is actually appropriate. If you’ve already used Garageband on your Mac, download it onto your iPhone and keep the music production going.

Sometimes you have some really great words in front of you, but what you read doesn’t quite make a song. If you need a bit of help moving things along, try Songify, which turns whatever you say (the keyword here being “say,” not “sing”) into music. It might not get you anywhere, but if you are really, truly stuck, give this free program a try. You could wind up with something you never would have even considered on your own.

It might not be free, but it’s a music-making app from the legendary company Moog, so can you really argue with it? The first app from the musical titan, Animoog is described by Moog itself as the “first professional synthesizer” for all iOs devices. That sentence and the fact this comes from Moog should entice you enough to shell out the $6 it costs to download this program and give it a whirl.

If you’re already using Moog products, this won’t be too difficult to pick up, though of course there is always a bit of a learning curve when it comes to a new app. But hey, you already know the sounds and how to use them, so this is a semi-safe bet when it comes to which app will have you creating real songs in no time.

Remember a few years ago when virtual alternative dance band Gorillaz came out of nowhere with their album The Fall? The record was released just one year after their critically-acclaimed full-length Plastic Beach, which is surprising for the group, as they usually needed a few years in between albums.

Part of the reason why The Fall’s drop may have been pushed up is because it was very clear the band’s frontman, legendary rocker Damon Albarn, wanted to claim the distinction of having produced and released the first album created entirely on an iPad. Well, this is the app he managed said feat with.

Since then, Korg (also a power player already in the instrument industry) has released a special version that features all things Gorillaz. I’d suggest sticking with the original, but if you’re a huge fan of the band, go for the special edition.

At first glance, this free app sounds like nothing more than a memo-taking program, but it does so much more and in no time you could soon find yourself visiting and revisiting this app as you start creating new tracks from scratch. Music Memos lets you record snippets of ideas for future compositions as they pop into your head. Those could be vocals, pieces of guitar, piano, or so on.

From there, you can name everything, tag it, and perhaps most importantly, rate them. That lets you immediately identify which ideas you want to focus on when you return to them later. The app also allows you to hear what your brilliant new idea might sound like with a lush orchestral backing track, perhaps a drum, or maybe even more bass.

This will help you when it comes to ranking everything, and before you know it, you may have hundreds of ideas, but just a few on their way to becoming finalized songs.

This app may only be available for Android users, but there are so many other fantastic options exclusive to iOs, let’s just give this one to the Android fans. This app is loaded with features (as are hundreds of others), but the full list of what this program offers seems to be longer than any other I noticed. I don’t even fully understand some of them, which just means there is a lot to discover and learn here.

One item I found particularly interesting was the ability to search lyrics with an integration with a company called Musixmatch. Every musician has had a difficult time finding the perfect words at some point in their career, and even if this feature only helps once, that’s still enough to make it worthy of your time.

The name may sound strange, but this app is also easy to add to this list, based solely on its association with another incredibly well-trafficked program. Propellerhead is behind Reason, which is one of the most popular music-making pieces of software in existence.

This version, which is its own thing entirely (but you know must be good if it’s connected in any way to Reason) is free, so why wouldn’t you try it out? It’s rather simple, but sometimes having too many options can stifle true creativity and be overwhelming.

According to a number of reviews, WaveMachine Labs Auria Pro is the closest thing you’re going to find on a phone that looks like what you’re doing on your computer. In fact, a number of people have claimed this is not just the best product they have used, but also the most ambitious. There are literally no restrictions when it comes to what you can do with this app, but the phenomenal functionality does come with some downsides.

The download comes at a hefty price and one which may scare many musicians away. The app costs $50 which seems extravagant for something housed solely on an iPhone or iPad, but considering how much it can do, this figure is still something of a steal.

In addition to the monetary restriction, this app is not for beginners, and if you’re not used to creating music on your phone, it might not be a good fit for you. I’d suggest working with other, perhaps free options (some of which are on this list) to get the feel for working on such a small screen. Once you’ve become more familiar and used to making finished tracks on your mobile phone, think about moving up the ranks and investing in this option.

In doing my research for this piece, this app’s name kept coming up, so I decided to check it out. It’s incredibly simple to figure out from the beginning, which is a lot more than I can say for many other mobile-first music creators. One issue many of these apps have is they are complicated, and they take so long to learn where everything is that the setup time can truly be prohibitive.

Caustic starts you out with easy-to-use presets and effects, and while those may seem basic, you can still actually do something with them (or at least have a lot of fun). From there, the possibilities are endless, and while this may be the case with many an option, this one gets you to that point much faster.

If you’re not liking the sound of the effects and presets, keep this one user’s review in mind: “There are deep sound design possibilities but the fx are so good you could get by just with presets and fx.”

Okay, this one is not nearly as serious as the others I’ve listed, but it’s worth downloading and playing with, and you never know, it might actually come in handy. The app takes vocals, be they spoken, sung, or rapped, and fits them onto beats in a way a novice rapper might not be able to.

Will it turn you into a chart-topping rapper? No, absolutely not, but it could help you learn a thing or two about rhythm, and it may be useful when it comes to adding a rap verse to a track that could use a little something extra.

People have a difficult time shelling out any amount of money when it comes to most apps, so many have probably turned away from signing up for this top-notch option. At $30, it can be tough to justify for many of those with extremely limited funds, but it’s also one of the best choices out there and it’s backed by a fantastic name…so when the money is there, it’s worth it.

Cubasis is the mobile form of Cubase, a popular application for computers that has earned its success over the years. The mobile version has literally everything you could want and more, so that also means it might be too much for a newcomer to handle.

Hungry for more awesome music-making apps? Check out our pieces on the Best Music-Making Apps for Android, Best Music Apps for iPhone, Best DAWs for Apple iPad and iOS, Best Music Production Laptop, Best Guitar Learning Apps, Online Music Makers, and Musical.ly App.

When diving into the world of music production apps, understanding the key features that distinguish one option from another can significantly impact your creative process. It can also help you whittle down the seemingly countless programs from too many to sort through to only a handful that might work best for you. As you begin your search, here are some features you may want to focus on when it comes to music-making mobile apps.

Multi-track recording is essential in music production apps–it’s a must. The function allows you to layer and record multiple audio tracks independently, enabling you to record vocals, instruments, and other sounds separately. It also gives you the flexibility to edit and mix each track individually. Most songs these days couldn’t be crafted without this option, so don’t choose any app without it!

The availability of virtual instruments and synthesizers within a music production app significantly expands your creative possibilities. These digital emulations of traditional instruments–as well as innovative synthesizers that have never been heard in nature–provide a wide range of sounds and textures to enrich any and all compositions. A multitude of offerings is common, though some programs provide more than others.

MIDI sequencing is a fundamental feature in music production apps these days. The function allows producers to create and manipulate musical notes, velocities, and durations with precision. MIDI–which is actually an acronym that stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface–allows you to control virtual instruments, as well as both external hardware synths and samplers. Simply put, MIDI is everything, and you need it.

Effective audio editing tools are crucial for refining and perfecting your recordings within a music production app. Making sounds is great, but everyone who creates anything knows that editing is king. These specific tools can be used to trim, cut, and arrange audio clips. Advanced features such as time-stretching, pitch correction, and waveform visualization can also be included, though they take more time to understand and use appropriately.

Ever created something on a computer or a phone and lost it, as it didn’t save? How annoying is that? Cloud integration and the ability to quickly and seamlessly backup any and all work are game-changers. They provide users with secure storage, accessibility, and saving solutions for your music projects within a production app. By syncing your projects to cloud services such as iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive, you can access and collaborate on your work from multiple devices seamlessly, which is an amazing possibility.

No great tunes go out into the world without being mixed and mastered. Some apps and programs made for phones can do all of that, in addition to actually producing the work in the first place.

Comprehensive mixing and mastering capabilities within a music production app allow you to achieve a balanced and polished final sound. Mixing tools enable you to adjust levels, panning, and EQ settings for each track. Mastering tools provide final touches, like dynamic range compression, stereo enhancement, and loudness normalization.

Understanding how to do these things is another story, but having the capability is a great start.

What’s a music production app without effects and plugins? Effects might be reverb, delay, chorus, or distortion, and they can add depth, texture, and character to your sounds. Meanwhile, plugins expand functionality with virtual instruments, synthesizers, and specialized processing tools.

Compatibility with various file formats is essential for seamless integration and collaboration within almost any music production workflow. Music production apps that support common audio formats (e.g., WAV, AIFF, MP3) ensure compatibility with external audio files and recordings imported from other sources. Additionally, support for MIDI file formats enables easy interchangeability with other MIDI-compatible devices and software.

Trying to get two different file formats to work together is something that many people have run into, and not just music producers. Any app that can alleviate those issues is already a great choice.

Music is rarely made entirely by one person these days. Collaborations are more common than ever, whether they be between two artists, or perhaps taking place behind-the-scenes. If that’s the case, shouldn’t working on tracks together be made easier?

Real-time collaboration features let multiple users work on the same project simultaneously, regardless of their geographical location. These collaborative tools facilitate seamless communication and file sharing, allowing musicians, producers, and engineers to collaborate on compositions, recordings, and mixes in real-time.

No more do you need to travel to a studio to work on something with another musician, an engineer, or a producer. Now, everyone can do what they need from the comfort of…wherever they may be at the time.

Learning a new music production app can be an exciting journey, whether you’re just starting out or have been making music for years. It’s all about getting to know the app’s interface, exploring its features, and developing your skills through practice. Of course, it’s not necessarily easy–if it was, everyone would be doing it–but if you’re dead-set on making music on your phone, you should follow these steps to better acquaint yourself with various popular apps.

Getting to know the user interface is your first step in understanding a new music app. It’s the first step in learning any app, really. Spend some time clicking around to see what the menus, panels, and workspace options can do. Try resizing windows, moving things around, and customizing layouts to make your workflow more efficient. The better you understand the interface, the smoother your music production tasks will become. Don’t rush this step, either!

Presets and templates are a great way to start creating music in a new app. Use pre-configured templates designed for specific genres to jumpstart your projects. Don’t worry about sounding generic at the outset! Play around with instrument presets, effects, and mixer settings to see how they affect your sound. One day, you’ll learn how to customize and save your own presets, which will be a future time-saver.

Getting comfortable with the basic controls and menus included within the program is crucial when it comes to navigating any music app. Learn the primary controls for playback, recording, and editing. Explore menus for managing files and project settings. If you’re interested, you can familiarize yourself with keyboard shortcuts to speed up actions like zooming, selecting, and more.

Learning by doing is great, but there’s also room for learning by…learning.

Video tutorials are fantastic for visual learners who want to see music production in action. Watch tutorials by experienced producers and educators to learn both basic operations and advanced techniques for whoever app you’ve chosen. Practice alongside these tutorials to reinforce your newfound skills.

You know the saying, “Practice makes perfect”? It’s true! Practicing with your music app builds muscle memory, hones your own techniques, and increases your fluency with the program. Set aside time to explore features, try new ideas, and tackle projects that push your skills. Focus on specific aspects like sound design or mixing to deepen your understanding over time.