Apple today released a brand new app for iOS devices called Music Memos that allows songwriters to quickly and easily record audio and develop song ideas.
Apple’s press release for the new app notes that Music Memos was inspired by the fact that many musicians have long used the iOS Voice Memos app as a way of quickly capturing ideas in audio on their iPhones and iPads:
Musicians and songwriters around the world have used the Voice Memos app on their iPhone to quickly record ideas, and many hit songs first started as Voice Memos. The new Music Memos app is inspired by Voice Memos and takes the functionality even further by adding musician-friendly features designed specifically for songwriting and developing musical ideas. With Music Memos, you can record any musical instrument through the iPhone’s built-in microphone in a high-quality, uncompressed format, then name, tag and rate it to start building a library of your ideas.
So like Apple’s old Voice Memos app, you can quickly start recording snippets of audio, but the Music Memos app adds in features for musicians including automatic notation so you can see the chords you’re playing. And much like features it has in GarageBand and Logic Pro, the app will build a song by analyzing what you’re playing and automatically adding in, for example, drum and bass parts. Additionally, you’ll find a built-in tuner tucked under the icon in the upper right hand corner of the app.
Once you’re ready to take the Music Memo and start an actual composition, you’ll be able to access the recordings from within Garageband or Logic Pro across all your devices. You can also email your Music Memos to share your ideas with collaborators, or for those that distribute music on Apple Music, share directly to your Apple Music Connect artist profile page.
Here’s a look at the app’s features in action on the iPhone:
And the iPad:
The new app comes alongside an update to Apple’s GarageBand iOS apps that enhances the app for iPad Pro users and adds 3D Touch functionality.
You can download the new Music Memos app for free on the App Store now.
And The Verge has a video walkthrough of the new app:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSDCbXGIovM]
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Not available on US App Store whatsoever.
Stay tuned, iTunes catching up.
I have a ton of riffs in voice memos. Is there a way to import voice memo files to music memos? Thanks.
Yes, you can drag anything from your Mac into Apps>File Sharing>Music Memos.
Oddly enough, my Voice Memos are split into two groups in two different locations: 1) a Voice Memos playlist (where they were synced to) and 2) in On My Device>Voice Memos. You can drag from either location into a folder on your Mac, and then into Apps>File Sharing>Music Memos.
Hmm, maybe I spoke too soon – I can drag tracks into Music Memos using iTunes File Sharing, but they don’t seem to be accessible from within the Music Memos app. Moreover, recordings from the app aren’t currently showing up in File Sharing.
So it looks like Music Memos stores things in .caf format in a folder called Ideas, but I haven’t had success in adding new documents to it. Even if I duplicate an existing document in the folder, it doesn’t show up in the app for some reason.
I have a bunch of riffs saved in Voice Memos is there a way to move them to Music Memos? Thanks.
All over this, will post some thoughts later.
This is going to make podcasters happy I think.
Brilliant. Love it already.