Alexis Kestler
Mobile phones have become so powerful these days that you can create complete music tracks and even albums just using your smartphone. The app stores are packed with music making apps ranging from sophisticated DAWs to fun jamming tools. With the right music production app, you can craft beats, melodies and full songs with pro-grade instruments, effects and editing capabilities.
Here are 15 of the top picks for Android and iOS to produce music on the go:
1. FL Studio Mobile (Android, iOS)
FL Studio Mobile packs the power of the popular FL Studio DAW into an easy-to-use app. You get a sequencer, drum pads, piano roll editing, effects, sample playback, automation and 133 quality instruments including drums, bass, synths and sampled instruments.
The intuitive touch interface makes beatmaking and sequencing very easy. You can create complete multi-track songs by recording audio tracks live or programming patterns with the sequencer and drums pads. The piano roll view helps easily edit notes and chords.
FL Studio Mobile has advanced mixing capabilities like effect buses, sidechain and EQs to polish your tracks. Finished songs can be shared online or exported to desktop FL Studio.
Availability: Android, iOS
Price: $13.99
2. Korg Kaossilator (Android, iOS)
The Korg Kaossilator apps bring the popular handheld synthesizer to Android and iOS devices. It offers 150 diverse sounds spanning synths, drums, vocals and acoustic instruments. The intuitive X-Y touchpad makes it easy to perform and create loops simply by stroking and tapping.
You get multiple synthesizer engines like the voice synthesizer that converts voice to synth tones. The drum synth offers kick, snare and hi-hat sounds. You can create complete tracks by layering and looping parts then exporting as high quality audio.
The apps include effects like reverb, delay, filter and modulation to enhance your sounds. The key/scale feature ensures you stay in tune. Overall, Kaossilator makes synthesizer performance and music production accessible to anyone.
Availability: Android, iOS
Price: $19.99
3. Roland Zenbeats (Android, iOS)
Roland Zenbeats provides an easy way to create electronic pop, hip-hop and EDM music with its library of beats, loops and instruments. The intuitive interface has large touch buttons and creative features like gesture controlled pitch bend.
You get drum kits, bass synths, keyboard sounds and other instruments totaling over 70 different types. Hundreds of MIDI loops and tempo-synced oneshots are included across genres. The smart song arranger helps build full tracks from your ideas.
Zenbeats has a mixer with effects like compression and eq to polish your sound. You can even connect MIDI hardware like keyboards to control instruments. Finished tracks can be exported to major DAWs.
Availability: Android, iOS
Price: Free
4. Beat Maker Go (iOS)
Beat Maker Go transforms your iPhone into a groove production studio and drum machine. It provides an authentic experience of beat making with MPC style drum pads and classic Roland-style buttons.
The pad sampler lets you load one shot samples or record live audio. Tweak sounds using effects like bit crusher and reverb. Choose from over 200 sound packs in genres like hip hop, trap, grime, house, techno and more.
Edit beats using quantization, reverse sample and pitch controls. You can even automate mixer and effect parameters. Export your beats at high quality to share online or with other apps.
Availability: iOS
Price: $4.99
5. BeatMaker 3 (iOS)
BeatMaker 3 offers a comprehensive production environment for crafting tracks on iPhone and iPad. Its sampler lets you record audio directly or import samples. The range of instruments spans classic analog synths to piano, organ and strings.
The sequencer includes automation lanes, so you can easily draw in parameter changes. Effects like filtering, stutter and glitch help add interest. You can edit and manipulate samples in the clip editor.
The mixer provides EQ, filters, compression and tube saturation for polishing the sound. Export your finished tracks via Audio Share, Dropbox or iTunes File Sharing. Even with all its capabilities, BeatMaker 3 maintains an intuitive workflow.
Availability: iOS
Price: $19.99
6. Figure (iOS)
Figure makes it easy to sketch out melodic ideas on your iPhone and turn them into complete tracks. It’s designed for both music producers and those just starting out in beatmaking.
Start with one of over 100 professionally designed presets spanning genres like hip hop, trap, house, grime and more. Tweak the sounds on the touchable drum pads, bassline and lead synthesizer. Change patterns to create variations.
Figure’s XY pad provides automation-like control to add effects. For example, you can filter a sound or manipulate distortion intensity. This brings your beats to life. Export your creations at up to 24-bit quality to share online. Figure is also AUv3 compatible for use in GarageBand and other DAWs.
Availability: iOS
Price: Free
7. Garageband (iOS)
Garageband turns your iPhone or iPad into a feature-packed music creation studio. It offers a massive sound library with thousands of loops, synthesizers, drum kits and sampled instruments. You can even record vocals and acoustic instruments live into your tracks.
Its flagship feature is Live Loops. Just tap cells in a grid to trigger loops and samples. Record new loops on the fly. Drag cells around to experiment with song arrangements. This makes jamming and songwriting intuitive.
Garageband provides pro mixing tools like volume automation, EQ, compressors and send effects. You can refine vocals with pitch correction and distortion effects. When your track is ready, export it or share a full quality version with Garageband users.
Availability: iOS
Price: Free
8. KORG Gadget 2 (iOS)
KORG Gadget 2 offers a collection of over 35 virtual synthesizers and drum machines modeled after legendary hardware. You can build complete electronic and hip hop tracks by combining these gadgets, which include synths like Dublin, Madrid and Sydney.
The Gadget line also spans signature KORG gear like the M1 organ synth and Wavestation. Each gadget has a set of presets but also gives deep editing control to sculpt your own sounds. The intuitive sequencer makes it fast to build patterns and songs.
Gadget 2 has effects like compression and delay to give your mix professional polish. You can even record audio tracks like vocals alongside the synths. A great pick for producers who like hands-on electronic sound design.
Availability: iOS
Price: $39.99
9. BandLab (Android, iOS)
BandLab offers a full-featured music studio experience on mobile for free. It gives unlimited audio and MIDI tracks using synths, drum machines and sampled instruments. You can even record vocals and instruments live into your projects.
Import audio, apply edits like chopping and time-stretch then add effects. Mix your tracks with volume, pan and EQ controls. Best of all, everything is stored in the cloud – so work on songs wherever you go.
BandLab provides a library of loops, samples and presets covering genres like EDM, hip hop, house and pop. The songs you create can be shared to its social network for feedback. Well-suited for collaborative music making.
Availability: Android, iOS
Price: Free
10. Caustic 3 (Android, iOS)
Caustic 3 provides a rack of 14 machines to create electronic tracks from scratch. The synths offer versatile options ranging from retro monosynths to advanced modular gear. Samplers enable loading one-shots or recordings done within the app.
You get multiple types of drum machines – with both analog and digital vibes covered. The effects rack gives distortion, delay, filtering and dynamics control. Automate parameters using the modulator or directly on the rack.
Caustic 3’s mixer channels, buses and master effects let you polish your song‘s mix. You can export your completed tracks as uncompressed WAV files. Despite providing deep sound design options, Caustic 3 maintains a user friendly workflow.
Availability: Android, iOS
Price: $9.99
11. Music Maker JAM (Android, iOS)
Music Maker JAM makes it easy to create complete tracks from loops using just your phone. It offers ready-made musical ideas spanning EDM, hip hop, house and pop genres to get you started. Just pick parts you like and combine them.
Tweak your mix using volume faders and basic effects like filter and reverb. Add flourishes with one-shot scratches and impacts. Record new audio or midi patterns over the existing loops. The gesture controller makes realtime sound manipulation intuitive.
Finished tracks can be shared on SoundCloud, YouTube, TikTok and more. While JAM is great for quick creative fun, it may lack depth for more serious music production. But simplicity is the focus here.
Availability: Android, iOS
Price: Free
12. n-Track Studio (Android, iOS)
n-Track Studio provides an accessible DAW for recording and mixing tracks on mobile. You can record vocals and live instruments using your device or microphone. It offers MIDI piano roll editing and a library of quality synth and drum sounds too.
Its mixer has volume, pan, mute and solo controls for your tracks. Apply pro effects like EQ, reverb, delay, distortion and more. You can edit waveforms directly by cutting, copying and pasting audio clips.
Finished songs can be exported via the n-Track community, Dropbox or sent to your DAW by WiFi. While not as fully featured as desktop options, n-Track Studio gives you lots of capabilities in a free mobile DAW.
Availability: Android, iOS
Price: Free
13. Groovebox (Android, iOS)
Groovebox provides an all-in-one studio for making beats and melodies on your phone. It offers three synthesizers with hundreds of presets for bass, leads, pads and more. You can even record your own sounds using the mic.
The drum machine has an expansive library of one-shot percussive samples. Sequence patterns on the grid or tap them live into the quantizing looper. Add automation using the mod wheel for interesting sound variations.
Groovebox makes finished songs easy to build using its arrangement timeline. Adjust length, copy/paste sections and finalize arrangements there. Export your music in uncompressed WAV format. A great free starting point for mobile production.
Availability: Android, iOS
Price: Free
14. Groovepad (Android, iOS)
Groovepad aims to make music production easy and fun. It provides drum pads, a synthesizer, loop sequencer, effects and auto-chords to spark ideas and build songs. Over 70 free loops give you lots of genres to explore like EDM, hip-hop, trap, dubstep and more.
The synthesizer offers catchy presets designed for mobile users. Apply effects like bit crusher, filter, reverb and delay to polish your mix. Create variations and breaks using the loop drop and reverse controls.
Groovepad‘s interface is designed to be simple enough for first-timers. More advanced producers may desire more depth. But as a sketchpad for music creation on mobile, it hits the spot.
Availability: Android, iOS
Price: Free
15. Soundtrap (Android, iOS)
Soundtrap provides a full online DAW accessible through mobile and desktop apps. It’s great for collaborative music production thanks to built-in sharing tools. You can store all your projects in the cloud.
It offers 1,000s of loops, software instruments, drum kits and effects. Record audio live or import existing files. Mix using volume, pan and EQ. Apply mastering with compression and stereo widening.
While the free plan is quite limited, premium subscriptions unlock greater capabilities like more tracks, auto-tune and expanded libraries. But Soundtrap’s seamless cloud-based workflow makes it stand out for mobile production.
Availability: Android, iOS
Price: Free or subscription
Pick the Best Music Making App For Your Needs
The music creation app you choose depends on your production style and device OS. Here are some top picks in different categories:
- Best for polished songwriting – Garageband (iOS)
- Best for pro-grade production – FL Studio Mobile, BeatMaker 3
- Best free DAW – BandLab, Soundtrap, n-Track Studio
- Best drum machine – Beat Maker Go (iOS), Groovebox
- Best collaborative apps – Soundtrap, BandLab
- Best for beginners – Music Maker Jam, Groovepad
While iOS has more fully featured production apps like Garageband, Android has quite competent options as well like FL Studio Mobile and BandLab.
Keep in mind that phone apps work best for sketching out musical ideas, beats and recordings. For full fledged mixing and mastering, a desktop DAW is recommended. But with the right mobile music app, you can create amazing tracks anywhere inspiration strikes!
