Intua BeatMaker 3, a MPC-style mobile DAW, is now available for iPhone & iPad.
BeatMaker 3 is a digital audio workstation designed for both mobile production and for complex MIDI/audio studio setups. It features eight banks of 128 pads. Each pad is now a full-fledged instrument, running a multi-layered sampler engine, with additional IAA/Audio Unit V3 hosting.
Additionally, audio tracks and can be added to the mix, for recording and playback of audio clips. Up to eight aux tracks can be added for even more complex routing.
Key Features:
- Compose with high quality instruments & loops, integrated in a powerful and streamlined DAW
- Design your own instruments using a state of the art sampling engine with unmatched modularity (multi-layer, live slice mode, realtime time-stretching/pitch-shifting, Audio Units V3/IAA, full modulation system, …)
- Powerful integration of MIDI hardware to control the app and its instruments in a unique way (MIDI actions, parameter macros, …)
- Arrange songs with instruments & audio tracks
- Play live, remix or sketch ideas with a powerful scene mode
- Export, share, and expand your library with soundpacks designed by the best sound design companies
Pricing and Availability
BeatMaker 3 is available now with an intro price of $19.99.
If you’ve used BeatMaker 3, leave a comment and let us know what you think of it!
Nope… iPad only….
What about the Xbox One?
Looks like an iPhone version might be coming sometime in the future.
I’m liking the app so far. Wish I knew how to add swing to patterns I’ve created.
Settings (in one of the modes???) on top right allows you to turn off quantization. Play it how you want it, or drag around the notes side to side a bit to edit them.
Pretty layout. Now the test is to try making music that doesn’t feel vapid and trendy.
Ugly demo track. Very ugly. Trendy pish.
I know, right. There is nothing more important than the demo track when buying gear.
I only buy these music tools for the demo songs. I keep the song then dispose of the app.
Now if someone made a docking station with a multichannel soundcard could this be the MPC live killer?
Yes, 100%
I have the MPC Live and BeatMaker 3 and an iPad Pro.
BeatMaker 3 is a very good iOS app and its fun, but it isn’t really in the same league as the MPC Live due to iOS and storage limitations.
You would need a good iPad, a good soundcard (multi in/out/phono record etc) and a really good MPC pad controller and associated power supplies, lighting splitters, adaptors etc. to get close. Then if you have any sort of samples collection an external drive as well (I put a cheap SATA in my Live and have 500Gig of samples and audio in a portable package). In reality you would be much better of with a Laptop and NI machine etc. if you don’t want a ‘one box’ package.
I paid £799 for the LIve (and you get MPK software 2 free) and I am pretty sure it would cost close to that even to buy the apple compatible soundcard, apple compatible MPC controller, apple lighting hub/splitters, apple compatible external storage etc.
All that said, if you already have a decent iPad then this is a no brainer of a buy for the odd occasion your iPAD is all you have with you….
I have the iPad Pro, MPD218, focusrite iPad dock and just got beatmaker 3. As I use the iPad and focusrite for other things as well…the only investment I had to make was the mpd2 pads ( which are great). Was less than $100 . Would love to get the live but can’t afford…I DO think this is a good cheap alternative. The fact I can sync with ableton as well. Is great.
i’m curious how you managed to score an MPC Live for 800 GBP Sean
When they first came out they were only £799, that was the price for the first batch that were sold then (perhaps based on how fast they sold AKAI did a cheeky price hike…! I got mine for £799 from DV247 with free delivery!
wow they do that in the UK? never saw that over here in Germany… you can preorder stuff but at the full price (1200 eggs)
The full price of the MPC Live at the time it was announced was 799. Akai raised the price just before it was actually released.
I have both of them too and it pains me to admit that when it comes to ease of sampling, layering and effects a 20£ app trumps a 799£ instrument.
I don’t think I will replace the Live with BeatMaker 3, but certain aspects of BeatMaker 3 make the Live feel quite old and clunky.
On the other hand, no way you can have space for all your samples on an Ipad, even if you’re like me and synthesise your samples each time.
I agree some parts of the BM3 interface are better, love the 64 pads option and of course its a bigger screen (although I find the text very hard to read and some of the most used screens features are not as prominent as I would like,. but that’s personal preference). A lot of the debate will break down to ‘hardware’ Vs ‘software’ (I am aware the MPC Live is just a dedicated computer in a box!) but to me the MPC Live feels like an ‘instrument’ I will invest in (like my Octatrack) and BM 3 will get ‘played with’ a bit…although I think I will still use Samplr more as the simpler interface is just more fun and musical for me.
I disagree.
It’s a far better software program than MPC 2.0 (almost rivaling standard desktop DAW’s), and to think how long Akai have had to develop theirs just shows they take users loyalty for granted.
Never buy into brands, buy into good products.
They only issues are propriety hardware (Alesis IO Dock III?) and that Apple is a closed system and you can’t add more storage. But £20 vs £976 (Sean’s was a pre-order purchase) is easy Mathematics.
I will admit some issues with applying swing and pad selection seem to evade me at present, but the real-time stretching & modulation on everything (even non-destruct slices) is astounding!
Do you have. MPC 2? It’s not out yet (I have it s the beta is open to mpc live hardware users) . I realy can’t see how BM3 is better….it’s a good iPad app, it’s not a hardware MPC or a studio grade DAW ‘beater’ (what ever that means…I don’t think you will see many commercial studios making tracks on iPads) but it’s good fun.
The MPC software on the Live isn’t a beta, it’s the version (now updated).
Technology has changed so much that everything computer based is consumer faced than business based…Logic Pro X is pretty much endemic of that.
Use what you like & what gives you the best results, but in terms of comparison, the software surpasses that of the MPC from my observation of both.
If it were in similar hardware they’d be little room for discussion.
compares beatmaker 3 to discrete music hardware costing many hundreds. Yeah, makes perfect sense… do i buy beatmaker 3 at 19.99 or some 800 hardware pish?
lol.
Im looking to use more ipad midi sequencing in my live setup without computer and magically today these happends …. very very interesting; I’m using MODSTEP because of the “scenes function” for live performance (but it crash sometimes) now BEAT MAKER really capture my attention …
Would love to hear about any experiences with the MIDI sequencing functions for this app.
Yes, I really need an advanced midi sequencer for iPad. Something that can do two measures in one time signature, one in another, etc…tempo changes, lots of polyphony.
Check out MultiTrack Studio!
Might be a MPC live killer 4 shure! And Modstep too! Been messing around with it for a couple of hours, seems stable! ia and au works beautifully. Love that Ableton/Bitwig clips and scenes approach.
Big ups!
Oh, I’m running fine with it on iPad Air 1.
Peace from Sweden!
There are some people out there, myself included, who will never be as comfortable using Beatmaker 3 on an iPad as they are on an MPC. It doesn’t have to do with specs or price – we just don’t feel like we’re using an instrument when using an iPad. Some people who do enjoy using iPads for music making have an almost impossible time trying to understand this.
It is lovely!
It has a couple of short comings, but I am certain, that it will be updated to surpass my expectations. Previous Beatmaker had massively long legs, and this one is so advanced, that I am not expecting 4th one coming very soon either.
But even presently, it is already my favorite daw.
Goodbye Windows!
Downloaded it last night. I can’t wait to really have a proper play with it now!!!
Having used MPC Live and now BeatMaker 3, I can tell you that this ONLY loses out to the MPC Live due to convenience of audio & midi hardware.
Apart from that, It’s fantastic!
£20 vs £976 (current MPC Live price) is an absolute no-brainer for iPad owners, I’m running it on a iPad Pro 9.7 and it uses hardly nothing of the CPU.
The workflow is clever, and there only seems to be one or two things that I feel need resolving (no select all on pads, using BM2 Banks).
One more thing, REALTIME-STRETCHING ACROSS EVERYTHING!
Put it this way, I’m happy I’ve still got my £956…
Well, for some, it will never be a competition between an iPad app and a purpose-built piece of hardware. I have recently been given an iPad Pro, and so I’m trying very hard to build some sort of music-making relationship with it, but thus far, I have had no fun, zero inspiration and plenty of frustration. It’s not just the learning curve, either – my Elektron gear had a big learning curve and was sometimes frustrating, but I always felt like I was creating, and developing a relationship with it. I hope I can develop something like that with my iPad, but experience tells me it is unlikely.
This is my own experience – not a value judgement on tablet versus instrument.
Are you using any kind of external controller?
Touching the glass to play is clumsy. I *love* using my Akai MPK Mini *with* my iPad Mini (and a powered camera kit). Hardware performance controls, and a relatively large screen for synth engine / patch selection and editing.
Disclosure: just using the ‘pad to play along jamming, not to master tracks.
Anyone compare this to Beathawk?
It’s far more sophisticated than Beathawk.
But one thing that I like about Beathawk is; you can record the scenes you setup in real-time, like Ableton.
So far, I haven’t seen away you can do that in BM3…
Easily worth £20 (looking at you Cubasis!).
Wanted something like Beatmaker3 for a long time. Basically Maschine / MPC on an iPad. With per pad hosting of virtual instruments aka Audio Units or Inter-app audio synths and sampling, crushes all other similar apps, which I already own: Modstep, Beathawk, MPC Pro (terrible, refunded), iMaschine.
Especially disappointing for iMaschine because I love Maschine regular, but I’m glad Native Instruments are focused to make that better.
Been using it for a couple of days….I LOVE it. I was skeptical of the au stability but so far it’s rock solid. Also for those who want to know…I’m running ios11 public Beta 2 no problem whatsoever. In fact, I have had ZERO music app issues at all. Hopefully that stays the same with the remaining ios releases.
So far so good! I have yet to use it with hardware, but the sequencing seems to work for my needs so far. A few hangups with audio, notes sticking on my first attempt at a session with Thor and Nave.
BM3 can’t load any sessions you’ve made in the previous version – I haven’t seen another professional title fail that, it’s crazy. They say it’s a coming feature, but you might hold off buying it if you’ve spent any time building up a body of work. Otherwise you’ll have to remake things from scratch.
Also gone is FTP support, which you can work around with iCloud.
iPhone version????????
Midi sequencing of synths both internal and external has been fine so far,with the exception that for the life of me I can’t get a drum machine (any app nor my volca beats) to map. It is most likley operator error, but I haven’t had any luck finding tutorials for this. I could just drop samples, but I’d really like to control the volca itself. Any synth app I’ve tried works without hastle, its just drum machines. If I can figure this out it may be my go to live sequencer,