20 Best Apps For Performing Musicians (To Make Life Easier) 

Written by Ramsey Brown.

As we all know, the internet is full of valuable tools that are literally built to make life easier. In this era, we’ve been over-flooded with technology and the capabilities to improve our everyday tasks and lives. Especially for musicians, this has created new avenues for us to succeed and thrive doing what we love and are passionate about. 

Making music and performing it has never been a simple process, but thanks to current advancements with computer programs, apps, and technology,  it has definitely become easier. Whether you are a singer, instrumentalist, live sound engineer, or anything in between, it’s not only helpful but almost necessary to have a solid app or software to rely on to make your live performances better and trouble-free. 

As the saying goes, “work harder, not smarter”, and with so many assets available, all musicians should be taking advantage of any and every resource they can to increase their chances of success. That is why we’ve listed the 20 best apps for performing musicians to use in order to make life easier.

It is known as a music reader for iPad that includes various functions other than storing sheets. This app is a composer's best friend and used by the world’s leading music makers. It is the perfect solution to create, modify, manage, organize, and digitize your sheet music and songs.

forScore is a user-friendly application. Its interface and design are attractive and have easy-to-read notes feature. You can add your sheet music as PDF via Dropbox folder and organize, edit or display it differently.

If you want to turn your Android device into a pocket-size studio, then n-Track Studio DAW is the perfect option for you. It is the best music app that offers all the necessary functions you need to make your composition. There is a 64 beat audio engine available with two effects of every tract that supports multichannel USB.

Record a virtually unlimited number of audio, MIDI & drum tracks, mix them during playback and add effects, from guitar amps, to vocal tune & reverb. Edit songs, share them online & join the Songtree community to collaborate with other artists.

The VoCo app provides industry standard exercises in the form of scales & arpeggios which when used correctly will increase your vocal range and power and improve your tone, style, pitch and control. This will help you achieve and maintain a great voice. 

Many famous singers and vocal coaches rely on the VoCo Vocal Coach to overcome common struggles such as singing out of tune, getting out of breath, timing, voice breaks, weak spots, limited range, tone quality, vocal fatigue, and more.

Are you looking to compose awesome hip-hop music for your next party or event? If so, Hip-hop Producer Pads can be helpful for you. It is a virtual sampler and drum machine that gives you the opportunity to create your own Hip-Hop audio tracks. 

You can use loops, one-shots and samples to create melodies on the fly. It’s metronome features will help you to keep the rhythm and you can even play together with your friends and create a truly outstanding hip-hop hit.

You no longer need to stress about the sound engineer misplacing, messing, or forgetting backing songs when you have Backtrax. BackTrax helps you organize the supporting materials for your show, and helps minimize mistakes and down time. It can load backing tracks along with lyrics, chord charts and other visual aids quickly and easily.

If you are a music composer or performer, you know the struggle of keeping all your song ideas and notes organized and in one place. Well, SongMemo addresses this problem and has all the necessary functions to search for recording tracks keeping your notes in one place.

The chord keyboard of SongMemo allows you to write chord progressions more quickly. Chords are automatically detected while you are taking a note and easy to find when you are on stage performing.

Beatmaker is one of the best iOS apps as it is a sample and MIDI-based music creation app. You can control AudioUnit apps that have an on-screen keyboard or external MIDI controller. It’s streamlined workflow lets you perform and shape your ideas quickly and effectively, turning your instruments into full productions.

Inspirational performance tools such as repeat, roll, swing, key scales & chords and macro controls will boost your creativity tenfold. Take control of it all with your MIDI gear and the new smart binding system.

Warm Me Up for Singers is tailored to your specific vocal type and creates a unique warm up for you. There are 50 vocal exercises split over five different categories, specifically designed to guide you through a warm up that will gradually ease any singer's voice into its full range.

It can generate a warm up based on how much time you have available or you can browse the individual tracks and create your own warm up as you desire. The exercises are recorded in high quality audio. The app is specifically designed to be used by both the amateur and professional singer and can be used by both soloists or large groups.

This is a free interactive metronome app and speed trainer designed by musicians. It has over 10 million downloads and is used worldwide for solo and group music practice, teaching and live concerts. It can also be used to keep a steady tempo during running, dancing, and many other activities.

You can also use Metronome Beats at the same time as other apps, allowing you to read sheet music off your Tablet while playing the metronome to check your tempo.

AmpliTube gives you a massive collection of virtual gear that you can use to practice, play and record with world-class tone anytime and anywhere. AmpliTube gives you 17 stompbox effects, 8 amplifiers, 10 speaker cabinets and 2 mics, a free Loop Drummer Rock groove pack and a 2-track recorder.

With AmpliTube’s Live Mode, it offers an optimized GUI for live use, with all the settings and controls you need in an easy-to-read format.

If you are searching for a feature-rich and free to use app, then GarageBand is a great application for you. It is effortless to use and has many features to create entire compositions on your smartphone. There are different versions available for Android, iOS, and Windows.

This app comes pre-downloaded on all Apple devices and is easy to use for beginner musicians and professionals of all genres and types.

If you want to have a studio in your hand, FL Studio mobile is a fantastic choice. Fruity Loop Studios is used by many famous and professional musicians, and you can have the same software on your phone.

It features all-powerful instruments where you can be creative with tonnes of notable and remarkable features. You can use MIDI files without any problems. FL Studio Mobile also has an in-built multifunction mixer that controls effects, volumes, pitches, solo, and so on.

SongSpace is the last on the list but is the best music-making app for Android users. It will enhance your musical career path and creative sessions. SongSpace is helpful for any music performer who is looking for quick note-taking, saving lyrics, recording vocals, etc. 

You can work both online and offline according to your convenience with high-quality music files. You have cloud storage available to store your music files without any worries about losing them.

Before concluding anything, please read out the features and pros/cons of all these music apps precisely. Everyone has different needs and preferences so read the reviews and choose according to what will work best for you and your music career specifically. 

Some of these apps are available for free and can be considered for pretty hefty budgets, but you may find that the convenience of these apps are worth every penny.  Whether you need a small on-the-go studio in your pocket for developing compositions and remixes, or an on-stage toolkit that can help you organize your lyrics and remember the chords to your songs — any of these apps can assist you with that. 

Comment below with any of your success stories from using these apps, or if you have any other apps you recommend any fellow musicians downloading and using!

© 2023 Omari MC, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.

© 2023 Omari MC, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.