Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Smart Apps Allow Anyone to Write their Own Music | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page
Media ID: 55372940
Caption:

Apple Music combines on-demand streaming with playlists
generated by human curators, radio stations including the Beats 1
24-hour live station hosted and programmed by real DJs and artists.
(Reuters)


Berlin, London – The app stores are full of apps for musicians and music enthusiasts, granting help to tune a guitar, produce sound like a synthesiser or even teach you how to play the piano. Whether they can actually replace a real music teacher or a real studio is another matter

In the meantime, there are over 50,000 music apps in the music and audio category in the Apple and Google app stores

Most of these apps are suitable for playing music recordings,” says Matthias Krebs from the app music research centre at the University of the Arts in Berlin.

“Along with the numerous player and radio apps, there are around 5,000 apps that allow users to make music in a variety of ways.”

These apps enhance music-making using traditional instruments such as piano, guitar or voice. Typical functions include tuners, metronomes, chord tables for guitarists, and musical note applications.

With the right app, the touch display becomes an interface for the musical instrument and the phone’s motion sensors act as modulators for the sound. Although studios and large concert halls continue to use traditional mixing consoles, many hobby musicians are using apps as mobile studios.

“In my experience, music apps have replaced the tuner and the metronome for a lot of musicians,” Krebs says. However, he doesn’t believe they’ll ever replace musical instruments.