Like a lot of beat sequencers, this one records in a loop, adding parts as you bang on the pads. You can ameliorate the latency issue somewhat by taking advantage of the program’s overdub feature. Recording from the Pad view is a little cumbersome because you can only record one measure at a time (and a 4/4 measure at that as the program doesn’t support other time signatures) and, as I said, latency can be a problem. You assemble projects by stringing together patterns within the Song Sequencer. Additionally, you can select a sample and edit it as a waveform within a separate screen-dragging your finger across it to trim the front and back. Tap an Edit button and you can change the pitch of each sample, but it’s not very musical as doing so also changes its duration-increase the pitch and the sample plays faster, decrease pitch and the sample slows down. Within Pad view, you’ll find controls for recording patterns, changing the global volume of the kit as well as the tempo of the recording. At the bottom of the screen you tap yet another icon to produce the Transport bar, which contains Stop/Play, Record, Loop, and Metronome controls as well as readouts for BPM (beats per minute) and bars and beats. Buttons on the Home page let you load kits (collections of samples mapped to the drum pads). Within that toolbar you find buttons for accessing the Pad, Sequencer, and FX views. Instead, you have a series of screens accessible from buttons on the program’s Home page as well as from the Navigation bar that pops down from the top of the display when you tap the BeatMaker icon. You’re not going to find interface elements that resemble anything within Apple’s default apps-even the keyboard is a custom job.
BeatMaker is deep-though clearly still a work in progress.īeatMaker looks nothing like your typical iPhone application. With its multiple screens-including screens that offer 16 drum pads for triggering samples, song sequencer, effects (FX), waveform trimming, and an editing screen for adjusting velocity and groove-BeatMaker is anything but a bare-bones mobile application. Those accustomed to thinking of iPhone and iPod touch applications as stripped-down mini-versions of desktop applications need only spend a half hour with BeatMaker, Intua’s mobile music-creation application, to change their minds.
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