PadGadget’s Sound Stage: Composer’s Piano Turns Your iPad Into A Multitrack Recorder

With so many different music-related apps in the App Store, it is difficult to filter out the bad ones and find the gems. Here at PadGadget, we love music, whether we are listening to it or creating it. That’s why, every week we spotlight an app or accessory that we think musicians and audiophiles of all genres will enjoy.

Last week, we told you about Chromatik, the sheet music app that lets teachers and students communicate with each other in the cloud. This week, we have an app for all of you songwriters out there.

Composer’s Piano – Think in music! is a keyboard synthesizer and multitrack recorder in one. Users can scribble down their ideas, record a melody, and add full chord tracks with just a few simple steps.

The app allows users to record a song with one track, and then modify the tempo, instrument, and volume, while at the same time, creating a second track. You can record a lead melody on one track and the corresponding chords on the second.

There are 15 different instrument sounds, including piano, trumpet, flute, violin, and more. Each instrument can be fine tuned with a variety of functions. You can record one instrument and change it during playback. You can adjust sustain and tempo on the fly and in real-time during playback. You can even add a second instrument on top of the existing one by layering the tones.

The keyboard displays 24 keys at a time, but users can change the octave of visible keys by adjusting the left and right Octet buttons.

The best feature of this app is the multitrack recording and playback audio adjusting. Not only can you record your lead and backing melody tracks, but you can speed them up, change the key, use a completely different instrument, and increase or decrease the volume of each track. You can even play a third part of the song at the same time as the first two prerecorded tracks.

You won’t be sending your new creations to the pressing plant. The quality of the synthesizer sound is not particularly good. However, this app is perfect for the songwriter on the go who tends go get inspired at the most inopportune times. You can just pull out your iPad and start composing. No more humming into your voice memo app and trying to recreate it when you get home.

The price is cheap for the features you get with this app. Composer’s Piano is available in the App Store today for only $1.99.

Thanks for checking out our music column. If you have any ideas or suggestions for apps and accessories you’d like to know more about, leave a comment below, or send us a message. We’d love to hear from you.