Four Apps for Making Music Without Even Really Trying

Listening to electronic musicians talk about their favorite methods
for producing music can be boring, intimidating, or worse to outsiders
-- and to some insiders as well.

I've sat through gearheads waxing poetic on everything from the
perfect software for href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiyAJxacEo0&feature=player_detailpage#t=84s">dubstep
wobbles to how no digital compressor will ever sound as good as a
classic LA-2A,
and participated in these discussions, too.

That sort of thing is exactly what we set out to avoid with the
following round-up of iOS apps, all of which toe the line between
hardcore musical geekery and mainstream, wide-audience appeal. These
iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad apps attempt (mostly with great success)
to pair an interface simple enough to engage neophytes with controls
detailed enough to satisfy "real" musicians.

Each presents a different non-traditional way to
make music, with baked-in intelligence so that you don't need to sweat
each note unless you want to. In fact, all but one of the following
apps will make music even without user input.