6 BEST APPS FOR MAKING MUSIC

The best apps for bedroom bleeps and rowdy rock

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Macs are amazing for making music. Digidesign Sound Designer, which would become the legendary studio system ProTools, launched on Macintosh in 1985 and started a recording revolution that changed the way we make music for ever. And GarageBand's launch in 2004 started a second revolution, making music production easier, more accessible and more fun than ever.

Macs and iPads have helped generations of musicians and producers turn their talents into tunes. And there have never been so many options to choose from, with apps designed for all kinds of musicians, all genres of music and all kinds of destinations, from stage to streaming.

For this group test, we're going to stay focused on very specific kinds of music apps: those that are suitable for aspiring and amateur musicians rather than purely for pros; apps that enable you to go from initial inspiration to finished tracks that you can share or sell; and apps that run on your device, not in the cloud, so you can get the maximum music power from your Mac.

How we tested

We used all six apps on a MacBook Pro and a Mac mini, both of which have Apple silicon processors, SSD storage and 16GB of RAM. For apps with equivalent iPad versions, we tested them on a fifth-generation M1 iPad Pro. In addition to any software instruments, for apps that support audio recording, we used a Komplete Audio 6 USB interface for live instruments and microphones. For MIDI instruments and drum kits, we used an AKAI MPK Mini as a controller.

Things to consider...

1 What's your sound? Apps that are brilliant with samples, beats and loops aren't always the best for recording live musicians, especially full bands that require lots of audio tracks.