A few weeks ago I bought my iPod since I think with all the applications that have recently appeared it should start being considered a serious tool to make music with and after some research I decided to purchase BeatMaker.

The start window has some buttons from where we can load kits, save a project and export. If we click on the upper left corner button a little popup window comes out. The first one is used to navigate between the different sections of the program, the one on the lower left corner are the song controls, with play, stop and tempo buttons.

First thing we do is in the Home window press the Load button. That takes us to a screen where we select a sound kits, there’s plenty to choose from ranging all sorts of styles, from Hip Hop, Drum’n Bass, Funky, Jazz, etc. There are also artists’ kits and with the help of a software called BeatPack that we can download from the company’s website for free we can import our own kits. Each kit is limited to 16 sounds what somewhat limits the possibilities of the application.

The Pad matrix is very intuitive to use

The main windows from where we are going to work are called Pads and Sequencer. The first one shows a nice matrix of 16 buttons with a graphical style that imitates an Akai beatbox and makes it very intuitive. You press and it sounds, easy. The responsiveness is good and if you press play and record we’ll hear the metronome and we can start creating loops immediately.

The pattern sequencer

Once we are satisfied with our first loop we stop and head to the Sequencer window. This Sequencer has two levels of resolution, a pattern and a note one. The one we see first is the pattern sequencer. Initially it will contain our only pattern and we can change the loop settings to control the length of the song. For each bar just pressing on the same row as a pattern will switch it on or off to copy it across the song. By clicking on the first box of a pattern row we’ll zoom in to the note sequencer and from there we’ll be able to edit the 16 tracks in that pattern, sound by sound and to delete or add new notes according to the quantize level. Now, if we want to have slightly different versions of the same pattern we only have to click on the bottom popup button bar select “pattern edit” and “duplicate pattern”. That’ll create a new pattern track that from the main sequencer window we’ll now be able to see and edit.

Let’s go back to the Pads window. Now that our song is taking shape now we’ll want to do a bit of mixing and FX. On the left side there’s a number of control buttons. From here the first thing to do is choose the pattern we want to edit by pressing the “pattern” button and locating the one we’re interested in. Then on the “mixer” button we can select any of the sounds and adjust the volume and pan and very importantly, the output bus, by default all tracks are sent to the FX 1 bus. There are only 3 buses to choose from the main out, FX 1 and FX 2, so this is somewhat limited.

Pressing on the upper left button the popup menu appears and we head to the FX screen, which is divided in two identical halves. The left side is for FX 1 and the right one is for FX 2. By clicking on the bypass button we’ll activate the effect. We have no way of changing the order but the available effects sound good and are fun to use. There’s a delay, an EQ, bitcrusher and a filter.

From the pitch editor we can create simple melodies

Melodies, let’s say we have an amazing rythm track and want to add a little melody. Just create the base pattern on the sequencer or with the pads and then go to the sequencer window, click on the pattern editor and on the lower popup control choose “step editors” and click on “pitch” in the following choice of buttons. Now we’ll be able to control the semitones from the root note we want each note to sound like. We won’t be writing a symphonic orchestra arrangement this way but for electronic music bass lines and simple melodies it should be fine.

Export, now from the upper popup menu let’s select “home” and there first “save project” and then “export”. That’ll give us the option to export as a .wav or a Midi song and save it locally in the iPod/iPhone. Next with the help of the Beatpack tool we’ll be able to retrieve it to our computer.

Conclusion, I think this is to date the most powerful tool to make serious music in the iPod/iPhone. Its interface takes full advantage of the touchscreen. The kits are good and for the price it would be worth to buy this just for the sounds. If we add a sequencer and pad controls then it is a clear choice.

However, there’s loads of room for improvement. I would be delighted to have it include some simple synth to make bass lines and melodies with and a few more FX sends and even insert effects with more effects to choose from like compression, reverb and distorsion. The biggest inconvenience to stop me from using it more is the choice to only export to a stereo .wav file or a .mid file. I’d love to have the possibility to do a multitrack export to quickly add it to our favourite sequencer. The only option we have is to download the drum kits to our computer and use the MIDI export, takes a bit more work but is more flexible.

All in all a highly recommended music tool.

Below I’ve posted an audio example song just a few bars long that I created as I was learning to use this tool.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.