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10 best musician apps for Android
Musicians come in all shapes and sizes. You may be a woodwind player in an orchestra or a guitar player in a rock band. That makes the subject of musician apps a little difficult to approach. There are many types who have many needs. We have a decent list here that should help most people. However, we encourage musicians to leave a comment with apps that have helped them. Here are the best musician apps for Android.
Please note that these won’t be close to professional software you find on PC or Mac. However, they should be good enough to get some groundwork going until you can get some more complex software. Steinberg does have a mobile version of Cubase, called Cubasis (Google Play link). It runs for $54.99 with a free trial (Google Play link) if you want it.
The best musician apps for Android
Audio Evolution Mobile Studio
Price: $6.99 with in-app purchases
Audio Evolution Mobile Studio is a decent mobile DAW (digital audio workstation). It has a lot of the required stuff, including MIDI sequencing, multi-track recording and playback, looped playback, a metronome, latency correction, and all kinds of neat little tricks. Like most DAWs, it’s a little bit cluttered on mobile phones, even ones with large screens. However, it is manageable to use. The app goes for $6.99 up front with in-app purchases for extras if you want them. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but it’s above average in this space. FL Studio Mobile is pretty good in this space as well.
See also: The best guitar tuner apps for Android
Caustic 3
Price: Free / $0.99
Caustic 3 is another mobile DAW app. This one is more for electronic and vocal-centric styles. It’s similar in scope to apps like Fruity Loops and Edjing (two more excellent musician apps). You pick a bunch of virtual machines that make virtual noises. You then combine them together to make songs. The app also lets you record your own vocals, cross-platform support with its PC app, and more. Apps like this usually go for vastly more than $0.99. That makes this one a steal and easier to recommend than the others, even if the others work just as well.
gStrings Tuner
Price: Free / $3.99
gStrings Tuner started out as a guitar tuner app. It now works for virtually everything. That includes woodwinds, stringed instruments, and even your own voice. It also supports a variety of frequencies. A simple UI rounds out the experience. This is a good app for practically any musician. You can tune virtually anything with it. You can get it for free as long as you don’t mind advertising. The paid version costs $3.99. It’s definitely one of the best musician apps.
See also: The best sound apps for Android
Hi-Q MP3 Voice Recorder
Price: Free / $3.49
Hi-Q is a competent voice recorder app. It does the basics like record your voice and that’s really all it needs to do. However, there are some extra features here as well. It includes 44kHz audio sampling, MP3 recordings, and support for WAV, OGG, M4A, and even FLAC formats. There are also gain controls. This should work great for musicians who want to record new ideas or songs that they are working on. Most voice recorder apps will do that. However, this one just adds that little extra, and we liked that. It’s also relatively inexpensive at $3.49 for the pro version.
iReal Pro
Price: $13.99 with in-app purchases
iReal Pro is another powerful app for musicians. This one is basically a massive toolkit with a bunch of interesting things. That includes chord charts, emulated music to practice with you, 1,000s of songs to play with, and tons of tools for learning more stuff. This isn’t a DAW or a sound editor or anything like that. However, we found it useful when practicing playing along in a band setting and you can even print chord charts for various instruments to help you learn better. It’s very expensive up front with some additional in-app purchases for extra content, but Google Play reviewers seem to really enjoy it.
KORG Kaossilator
Price: $19.99
KORG Kaossilator is a synthesizer app with a bunch of neat little tools. It features a virtual touch pad along with over 150 different sounds. You tap and swipe in the pad to create various sounds. The app also comes with a scale feature to eliminate wrong notes, a loop sequencer to keep your stuff going while you think of more good ideas, and you can record it as well. It seems purpose built for live performance, but you can record some neat stuff with it. The app goes free occasionally, but the retail price is $19.99.
Metronome Beats
Price: Free / $3.99
Metronome Beats is one of many metronome apps. This one happens to be free. It supports one to 300 beats per minute. It can also accent the first beat of a bar, show Italian tempo markings, and more. You can even tap the screen to define your own beat. The app supports background play. Thus, you can move over to other apps while the beat plays. It certainly won’t work for everyone, but it should work for most. Thankfully there are plenty of other options out there as well.
MuseScore
Price: Free / $6.99 per month / $49.99 per year
MuseScore among the best musician apps for sheet music. It offers a ton of sheet music options from its online community. There is also a desktop version. The desktop version allows you to notate music. You can even upload your own as long as it’s in the right format. It takes a bit of work to properly get into. However, it’s a great little community. You can also play the sheet music at various tempos. It can display only portions that you want to practice as well. It works well. There was also a redesign in late 2018 that made everything look and feel much more modern.
See also: The best soundboard apps for Android
Perfect Ear
Price: Free / Up to $2.99
Perfect Ear one of the better musician apps for aural skills. It teaches how to learn sounds by ear. The app can also do rhythms. Some of the other features include customizable exercises, customizable scales, music theory articles, and more. It may not get you to professional levels. However, ear training is valuable for most musicians. The app is free to download. You can purchase additional stuff as in-app purchases.
SoundCloud
Price: Free / Optional subscriptions
SoundCloud and ReverbNation are excellent musician apps. They offer cheap, quick spots to upload music. That’s helpful for things like sharing your music with other people or listening to it on multiple devices. SoundCloud allows you to upload a certain amount of music for free. You’ll have to pay for it after you hit your limit. ReverbNation also offers free services. You can get more features if you pay for their subscription. Either one (along with YouTube) is an excellent spot. Plus, you can find royalty-free music there for incorporation into your own work.
Bonus: Whatever gear shop you like
Price: Free
There are a lot of places to buy music gear. Guitar Center, Sam Ash, regional stores, used stores, and even large retailers like Amazon. Musicians need their music gear, obviously. They may also need headphones for mastering, amplification, picks, reeds, replacement parts, and other stuff. Google Maps is another excellent app for finding local shops that may not have their own apps. It’s worth knowing where the good stuff is in your town. Those looking to learn more music should check out Yousician, but otherwise, every app on the list should aid in the creation of actual music.
If we missed any great musician apps for Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists!
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