Sound Trends Makes Music Production On The iPad Easy, Plus Win A Copy!
by Luke Patrick
July 25, 2011
Thanks to developer Sound Trends, creating quality music on your iPad or iPad 2 has never been easier. With grüvtron, studio.HD, and Looptastic HD in tandem, users have the ability fill everything from their one-room apartment to an entire amphitheater with brilliant, loop-based music. Take a look at the following tips, tricks, and exposés, and then stop small time gigging on your iPad: Use Sound Trends to take your music to the next level.
Each of the Sound Trends apps we’ll be talking about works great on its own, but when combined with Sonoma Audio Copy/Paste (which comes stock in each) some truly incredible creative options appear. To kick things off, let’s take a look at how to make killer grooves on your iPad:
Grüvtron Helps You Get Your Beat Back
Grüvtron is Sound Trends’ utility for creating simple, loop-based beats on the go. You can check out our full review of the app here, but its worth noting that the app’s grid-based interface could not be simpler to use. To “play” the app, simply drag a finger across any open square, and listen to the sweet sounds of music.
More importantly for us, though, grüvtron is the best way to make unique loops for Looptastic HD and studio.HD.
The app’s Korg Kaossilator style interface makes music creation easy without any instrument experience whatsoever. Grüvtron even automates the recording process, meaning you’ll only have to hit the record button, and then play your piece: The app does the rest. Once created, loops are saved in a handy list for exporting elsewhere. Audio can be sent directly to either Looptastic or studio.HD, making for an easy transition into the next chorus.
With 46 quality presets available, grüvtron is the working man’s synthesizer, and a great launching pad for our next Sound Trends pitstop.
Looptastic HD Makes Live Music Creation A Reality
Once you’ve created an army of loops in grüvtron, what the heck do you do with them? If you’re looking to make music in a live or performance setting, Looptastic HD is your new best friend. Check here for our full review of the app, and then keep reading, cowboy, because this rodeo is only getting started.
Looptastic HD provides users with a quick and dirty interface that makes looping music together a simple affair. And as stated, adding your unique sounds from grüvtron is as simple as clicking the copy button. Once loaded, sounds can be dragged onto one of the app’s three live decks, and looped straight into your speaker set-up.
Using Looptastic HD’s built-in effects and scratchpad, adding another layer of intensity to your grüvtron tracks could not be simpler. But what if you want to do some studio recording with your iPad, or just want to edit a live mix made in Looptastic HD? Sound Trends has you covered there, too.
Studio.HD Is The Final Stop For Audio Mixing
In studio.HD, Sound Trends has created an all in one resource for mixing audio on the iPad (our review is here). The app allows would-be musicians to load their grüvtron tracks straight into a mix, or even an entire Looptastic HD performance for fine-tuning.
Using studio.HD’s eight-track interface, users can edit the individual pieces of a live mix, or stretch out their grüvtron loops to create full-length performances. Not only that, but the in-app loops and audio presets make slapping in a drum track or guitar lead easy as pie. The 13 included effects are the best in the App Store, and whether your Looptastic HD creation was missing a reverb or a flanger, you can have your cake and eat it, too.
Studio.HD may be the last stop in Sound Trends excellent music production suite on the iPad, but that doesn’t mean the creativity has to stop as well. There are literally millions of combinations available for your on the go music. For inspiration, check out this video of grüvtron, Looptastic HD, and a MIDI controller working together to create some fat beats.
With Sound Trends’ apps, the music is in your hands. To help you get cracking, we have one copy apiece of Looptastic HD, studio.HD, and grüvtron to give away! For your chance to win one of these apps, simply leave a comment on this post (with a valid email address so we can contact you if you win) with which app you want to win by July 28, 12:01 p.m. PDT. Good luck!