SAVE SIGNIFICANTLY WITH SOFTWARE
SAMPLERS AND SYNTHS!
FIRST TRACKS WITH
ELECTRONIC MUSIC
SOFTWARE
BILL VAN LOO is a
creative technologist,
maker, educator, and
musician from Ypsilanti,
Michigan. A co-founder of
the North Coast Modular
Collective, he uses mobile
apps, software, and
hardware to produce dub
techno, instrumental hip-
hop, and ambient music.
Written by
Bill Van Loo
Software is an affordable way to start making
electronic music. Let’s look at a short list of
popular titles and how you might use them.
But first, think about what’s fun for you. Are you
inspired to craft your own sounds and textures?
Create patterns or small phrases of music?
Produce full songs? Sometimes with electronic
musicianship there’s a strong emphasis on
churning out finished tracks, when it’s fine to just
play for the joy of playing! I approach music apps
like a sketch pad for fun ideas, then take those
ideas into other software or hardware I use.
1
KOALA SAMPLER
iOS and Android, $5 koalasampler.com
Create your own sounds by recording from the
microphone or use samples made in another
program, then combine them with 16 different
effects. To make short patterns or phrases, you
can load a whole bank of samples and easily
create beats with Koala’s grid-style sequencer.
I use Koala to creatively remix stuff I’ve made
elsewhere. I’ll take samples from a studio session,
play with the Koala effects, and record to an audio
file. Then I can post it to SoundCloud, or pull it
back into Koala as a sample and play more, or into
Ableton Live as starting blocks for a new song.
2
ABLETON NOTE
iOS only, $6 ableton.com/en/note
Ableton’s newest product, Note, has some of the
features of their flagship Ableton Live, but in a
really simple mobile app flow. Perfect if you’re
interested in making loops or phrases of music.
58 makezine.com
Ableton, Elf Audio, VCV Rack, Adobe Stock-Neo
DIY USIC: Software Apps and DAWs
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