I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t tried my hand at making music with various iPad apps. I’d also be lying if I said any of that music sounded even halfway decent. Imagine someone getting into a fist-fight with a duck. Add some reverb and a terrible bass track. It generally sounds like that.
That’s clearly a limitation of my own musical abilities, though, as dudes like the one in this video are managing to make entire songs with nothin’ but the iPad, a handful of apps, and their own golden pipes.
There’s at least a dozen or so apps in play here, with the likes of Garage Band on the guitar/drums, Animoog on the bass, and a bunch of Smule apps (MadPad, Magic Fiddle, Magic Piano, etc.) making up the rest of the orchestra. Total cost? Probably around $100 bucks. You might be able to find one of these instruments in decent (but definitely used) shape for that much.
We’re entering a new era here, folks. One in which people can not only simulate just about any instrument in the world, but in which they can do so without battling an unnatural user interface (thanks to touch input). Want to play a guitar? Done. Want to play a moog? Sure, why not! It’s by no means a substitute for the real deal, but it opens up a world of possibilities to people who never would have even tried before.
The future is wonderful.
Update: Another (arguably more awesome) video in the same vein, though the iPad instruments are joined by traditional instruments in the end. Thanks to commenter Jason Allen King for the heads up: