BeatMaker 3 4+

I’ve tried every DAW on the App Store

I’ve been a long time user of Cubasis but it’s unusable on iOS 13 and the new version is unusable full stop, so I’ve been hunting for a replacement. For some reason I tried this one last, after every other DAW. BeatMaker 3 is astonishingly good, and rock solid even when using AUv3 plugins that crash every other DAW out there. I managed to work out all the basics of BeatMaker enough to make a pretty decent song in a single day, but it’s also clear how much more there is for me still to discover. The UI is superb, well thought out and puts everything you need just a touch or two away. I can pretty confidently say that this is the best DAW on iOS.

I used to absolutely love this daw

It is the easiest and most functional daw I’ve used on the iPad, so much so that I sold most my gear and used this primarily. I’ve gone through a stint of using my mpc as I needed to learn it better and have now come back to bm3 as I prefer mixing in digital then analogue style. Coming back to this now has made me realise how buggy it is. Things like au effects just dropping during playback, deleted automations resetting. Tracked out stems having missing audio. It’s a shame as bm3 used to be that guy but it needs updating, or at least realease a bm4. Also how do we still not have bm3 on the iphone, it would be great to work an idea on the go and bring it back to the iPad. I thought maybe the devs were putting out different apps and that’s why there hasn’t been a new bm or update for a long time but they just have this and the previous bm’s, unless they release other apps under a different company. It’s a shame as there’s more and more people moving to iPad production but there doesn’t seem to be another app as easy to use and as functional as bm3, I just wish it didn’t have all these issues (not to mention constant crashes) the devs do seem to respond to feedback though.

I think for now I am just going to have to find an alternative and hope that this issues get resolved as I’ve spent around 2 hours trying to get 1 effect to work properly in bm3.

Am I missing something? Really!

I wrote the review below over a year ago and still you can’t set the midi channels. Well you can but next time you load up it goes back to channel 1 on all channels. So you still cannot use an external keyboard to access the banks on different channels. This app still has not got to the level of BeatMaker 2. Thank the lord for NanoStudio 2.

I was so looking forward to this app, the app to end all apps - great reviews and positive comments. But just one snag - it doesn’t work. OK you can sample and map and sequence, but you can’t play it from an external keyboard. The most fundamental function to set midi channels for each Bank does not work. You set them but they are ignored and it plays the open bank on every midi channel. Also the few bundled samples are ‘pants’ to say the least, discouraging me to purchase any content if that is the standard. All I can say is that this app has made me realise how good BeatMaker 2 is. It works on all channels and comes with loads of good content. So I will stick with BeatMaker 2 and perhaps in time these midi failings and lack of any good instrument samples will be addressed. Very disappointing.

Developer Response ,

Hello Jedgones,
You can definitely setup MIDI ports, channels, per bank or per pad even, for input and output.
That being said, if you only have one controller, the best way is to bind your actions within settings. This way you can control everything in the application with one controller (switching bank, changing modes, record, play notes or pads, etc...).
This guide should provide useful information:
https://intua.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003870673-MIDI-Controllers-Routing

Should you need more help about setting it up, please contact us: support@intua.net.
All the best,
INTUA