Keep in mind the iPod Contact? The fourth technology mannequin of Apple’s newbie good system was my entry into the iOS ecosystem, the world of cellular apps, and good gadgets as an entire. Because it seems, the iPod Contact – and its included GarageBand music manufacturing app – would kickstart a lifelong love of digital music manufacturing.
On the time, there was nothing else like GarageBand – the power to rearrange songs with a wealth of sounds and samples on such a pocketable system was distinctive. However ultimately, I discovered myself hitting the bounds of each the software program and {hardware} of the time, and when Ableton put Stay, its premium digital audio workstation (DAW), on an prolonged free trial in 2020, I made the leap to desktop.
Within the years since, I’ve taken the occasional look over my shoulder to see if cellular music software program has accomplished any catching up. There have been some strong efforts, however most have put me off on account of excessive worth tags, and whereas Ableton itself launched an inexpensive, scaled-down model of Stay for iPhone and iPad known as Be aware in 2022, I’ve by no means discovered it as helpful as its studio-class large sibling. Now, although, I feel I’ve discovered my answer for making music on the go: BandLab.
BandLab is a cellular DAW and social community that provides you a fairly complete music-making expertise in your pocket. Although some options are locked away behind a subscription ($14.95 / £15.99 / charged in USD in Australia), it’s free to obtain the app, make an account, and get began making music – and I’ve received to say, when you begin, it’s very troublesome to cease. It tracks (get it?) that the app boasts greater than 100 million customers.
Homescreen heroes
That is a part of an everyday collection of articles exploring the apps that we could not dwell with out. Learn all of them right here.
That reputation has translated into wider recognition; on the 2025 Webby awards, BandLab picked up the Folks’s Voice Award for Technical Achievement within the Apps and Software program class. Talking solely to TechRadar, BandLab Applied sciences CEO Meng Ru Kuok stated: “We consider that there needs to be no limitations for individuals to make music, and actually that everybody ought to have the chance to be inventive and categorical themselves creatively.”
“I feel the Webby is not only clearly a fantastic milestone for the staff, nevertheless it’s a fantastic milestone for each BandLab person all over the world, who can really feel validated by the win saying: ‘this can be a means you genuinely could make music and a means that you would be able to genuinely have success.’”
So, with BandLab put in and a three-day free trial of BandLab Membership (which auto-renews, so watch out), I launched into a couple of classes to cook dinner up beats on my iPhone 15 and Oppo Discover X8 Professional.
Put merely, BandLab is essentially the most intuitive cellular music software program I’ve ever used. It launches as a social media-style feed, however the giant ‘plus’ button on the backside of the display makes it fast and simple to launch into the DAW itself. Inside, you’ll discover a bounty of digital drum machines, synthesizers, reproduction devices, pattern libraries, and results, a lot of that are surprisingly customizable and usually sound glorious.
I discovered myself wanting by way of the pattern-based drum machines, inserting notes within the piano roll, and arranging tunes in the primary view. I used to be shocked by simply how fluid all the things felt – coming from a desktop to cellular means giving up all of the keyboard shortcuts I depend on to get issues accomplished, however BandLab’s well-tuned menu system retains all the things feeling nimble.
The flipside of that’s that issues are a bit less complicated than you’ll discover on a correct desktop music program like Ableton Stay, Logic Professional, or Cubase. Melodic devices have fewer choices to tweak, drum machines are usually comprised of preset samples, and audio results (whereas nonetheless very customizable) are offered in preset bundles.
That’s by design, and truly considered one of BandLab’s upsides – I can’t see many music makers choosing BandLab for lengthy classes, and having the important controls at your fingertips makes it simpler to immerse your self in sketching out concepts.
Simplicity is actually Bandlab’s biggest power. It’s stuffed with tutorials, ideas, and hints that make it much less arcane than GarageBand at first launch. Its UI is obvious and stuffed with distinction, and the built-in social community even provides you a option to rapidly share your creations. There are some AI-powered instruments, which I’m traditionally not too keen on in music, however from what I’ve seen up to now, these are optionally available.
Bandlab CEO Meng Ru Kuok added: “Actually all you have to turn out to be an artist, to really have a profession within the trade, is a dream, a pair of wired headphones and BandLab on a cell phone, proper? And everyone on the market has a smartphone, and everyone has expertise. It does not matter what nation you are in or the place you’re from.”
Persevering with, Meng Ru stated: “In the present day, everybody on this planet is a hypothetical photographer, whether or not they prefer it or not. And everybody all over the world is a videographer, simply through the use of their telephone.
And so with one thing like BandLab, sure, there’s nonetheless a barely steeper studying curve, however everybody can play the piano, study rhythm, and make music by way of their telephone. Everybody has the instruments of their pocket to now turn out to be a profitable recording artist.”
As talked about, that is all accessible on the go – I discovered myself tapping away at beats within the park, on the bus, on the sofa, and at my desk. These are all locations you’ll be able to convey a laptop computer to as effectively, however having a DAW in my pocket was a fantastic asset to catch inspiration because it struck, wherever, anytime.
So, if you end up tapping out rhythms on the commute or whistling melodies in your lunch break, you may get pleasure from giving Bandlab a go. In case you do determine to provide it a strive, tell us the way you get on within the feedback under.
