DIY
Play music, your way
Behind every great melody, every chord, every pitch-perfect note, there are countless hours of practise and effort. Perhaps, also, a few calluses from one or 100 too many strums on a guitar. But let’s get real; playing music is still one of life’s most joyous pleasures.
And the following apps really emphasise the “play” in this beloved activity. All that’s required is the placing of a few shapes, arranging of pieces and swiping of lines. Next thing you know, you’re in perfect harmony, creating music that brings a little burst of joy to the world.
Symphony of collisions
Did anyone else love to bang pretty much anything on a table as a kid, or was that just us? We’ve all learned from a very young age that knocking different objects off each other creates lots of different sounds – the good, or the not so good depending on who’s listening. But now Musyc turns this basic principle into a really fun game.
You set different coloured shapes in motion, which then bounce off lines and other obstacles you’ve arranged. As your shapes bump and swing around, each collision creates a different timbre. From there, you can rearrange things how you want and shape the music based on what you see. Hearing how it all plays out is magical, and surprisingly relaxing.
Jazz up your beats
We’ve yet to master it, but beatboxing is the awesome art of creating drum beats using only your mouth and voice: no other instruments required. And that’s the idea behind Incredibox, which lets you mix effects, melodies and voices to create your own beatbox symphony.
Start by choosing a musical style and up to seven characters to join your group. Styling them and selecting their clothes is an important element of the creative process here. When your cool troupe open their mouths, out comes all kinds of musical wizardry with interesting beats and effects. Then try a quick costume change to mix up the sounds each of them makes.
This merry band of beatboxers would have you believe that without style, there can be no music.
Find rhythm in swipes
Swiping shapes back and forth sounds mega simple, but in Playground it brings to life some incredible rhythms and helps you unearth your inner star power.
There’s no need to worry too much about how your swipes look. You can use your fingers to float like a butterfly, pull figure eights, sign your name or just get random. The app’s rhythmic algorithm takes care of the rest, composing a knockout beat within seconds.
Once you’ve nailed something really funky, select Enable Looper from the menu and tap on Loop to hear it on endless repeat.
If there’s more than one device in range, select Two-player mode in the bottom-left corner of the screen and jam out with your pals.
You can also share your banging tunes on any social media app that’s installed on your iPhone. It’s your ultimate musical playground.