One of our favorite music-making apps for the iPad is now available on the iPhone as well. A new version of Auxy designed for the iPhone's smaller screen will be hitting the App Store today. The rebuilt app has the same look at feel as the iPad original, but it adds 3D Touch support for owners of the latest Apple mobile handsets. It costs $5, and it's available today in the App Store.
It was about a year ago that Auxy for iPad first arrived. At heart, it's a typical loop-based song-builder—using touch controls, you lay out rhythm patterns and melody samples on a grid. If you've used Ableton Live, a sample sequencer, any loop-based music creator, then you can easily just start fiddling with Auxy and get some nice results. But what makes Auxy stand out from the scores of other music-making apps is a smarter and simpler design that makes building a song not only easier, but more beautiful too. The design offers a welcome reprieve from the typically overcomplicated sequencer app designs that try to mimic vintage gear from the Kool Herc era, eliminating distractions and letting you flex your Zen beat-making skills in peace.
Upon release, the app was immediately greeted with accolades from digital composers, earning killer reviews in the App Store. But the biggest complaint was that it was iPad-only. Now the Swedish app-makers have rebuilt the app for the iPhone, keeping many of the same design choices in place, but reworking the sound engine to produce samples at a higher quality level, and adding support for 3D Touch on iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. The 3D Touch enhancement makes it easier to mess with loops—you just press on the loop and the app jumps to the editing interface. As with the iPad version, you can apply effects, save your loops, and record performances for sharing with other apps (or your bandmates). Now you can just do all of that in your pocket.
