Digital Deluge: The Best Apps For Musicians

Remember the days when in order to be a musician, you had to learn how to play an instrument, operate a four-track and send it out to potential record labels? For better or worse, those days are behind and now anyone with access to a smartphone or tablet has an infinite amount of tools at his or her fingertips regardless of musical ability. That said, not all apps are created equal, so we decided to profile some of the most innovative ones here. Just remember that you need to take a break and sleep at some point, OK?

The days of lugging along a metronome, tuner, and book of chord diagrams are over because GuitarTooklit handles all of those jobs from the convenience of your iPad or iPhone. In addition to working on your electric guitar, it also has settings for bass, banjo, ukulele, mandolin or whatever weird instrument that homeless-looking guy is playing at the subway station this week. If you're feeling really inspired, you can upgrade to the premium version of the application which features a drum machine so easy to use that you'll sound like a pro even if you can barely hold a pair of sticks.

What's left to say about the ubiquitous GarageBand? Before it came along, you had to pay a ton of money for a ProTools rig and interface—now it seems like every Apple product comes bundled with this recording app which is so easy to use that it's changed the landscape of music altogether. Whether you're using one of their sampled instruments or plugging in your guitar to toy with the host of included amps and effect simulators, the quality and ease of this app are second to none. Plus, you can upload your masterpiece to iTunes, which is much easier for sharing than, say, a Minidisc. Not like we ever had to use those.

If you need to get out of your comfort zone and explore new sonic textures, look no further than Scape. Developed by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers, Scape is dubbed as "music that thinks for itself" and uses shapes and colors to create unique compositions based on a series of interactions between the background and elements. You also have a series of "emotional tone controls" that can alter the entire feel of the piece—and since all of the elements interact with each other, the possibilities of compositions here are infinite. In other words, if you are capable of moving shapes around, you can create something jaw-dropping.

If you've exhausted the virtual stompbox options on GarageBand, check out AmpliTube which was made by IK Multimedia, the same company who makes the equally amazing iRig guitar interface. Featuring a host of different stompbox and amp options, you can handle every genre under the sun with this set up and if that isn't enough you can add on legendary amps from Soldano and Ampeg. Plus they have signature settings such as the AmpliTube Slash and AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix which allow you to shred through these legendary players' rigs without spending a small fortune on vintage gear. It's so captivating in fact that you may end up peeing in bottles for the first few days you're using it.

Moog are one of the most influential companies in music so it should come as no surprise that Animoog, the first pro-quality polyphonic synth designed for the iPad, blows its competitors out of the digital ether. Thanks to a remarkably intuitive interface you can control the modulation, pitch shifting, tones and filters all by swiping your finger across the screen. Better yet, the sampled sounds come from the classic Moog analog synths which change the game so you've essentially got the best of both worlds here. If you've been waiting to start that Rentals cover band, you've got no excuse now aside from, you know, having an audience.

Finally if making beats is your forte, you can't get better than Beatmaker 2 which features enough drum machines, samples, and effects to create professional sounding tracks in less time than it takes for Dr. Dre to order a latte. Better yet, you can also import sounds from your own musical library and connect the program to MIDI accessories to control the program on the fly. Upload your latest track directly to Soundcloud in order to allow the record label offers come rolling in, then remix your hits on the app and do it all again. Just don't forget to give us a cut of the royalties, OK?

Jonah Bayer holds the high score on Guitar Hero. Follow him on Twitter - @mynameisjonah