Turn Every Day Sounds into Music with MadPad HD for iPad
Attention all you music aficionados! MadPad HD is a new musical app from Smule, the geniuses behind the popular music-making apps Magic Piano, I Am T-Pain, and Leaf Trombone.
MadPad allows you to turn sounds and video clips from every day life into musical masterpieces. Combine the tinny sound of a tap on an empty soda can with the lilting chink of a fork on a glass, then add the thump of a cardboard box, or any other sound you can dream up and create wherever you are.
The app opens with a short tutorial, explaining the simple menu system. There are three options: browse, create, and share. Tapping create will take you to the recording interface, where it displays the video camera (you can switch between front facing and back facing). Generally the idea is to focus the camera on the object that you’re using to create a noise, such as a soda can.
Tapping record will make a short recording of an environmental sound, such as a tap on an object, humming, singing, playing a musical instrument, or any other sound you can possibly think up. The record button also records a short video at the same time, which is played back whenever you tap on the icon for the recorded clip. On this screen, you can also import previously recorded sounds.
Completing an entire music board will require 12 different sounds. When you’ve recorded them, you can save the set and access it later for experimentation. Any set, including sets created by other people and by Smule, can be loaded onto your iPad using the browse button, and you can then use those recorded clips to make music of your own.
To play sounds, you simply tap on the picture to make it play. You can tap fast and furiously, slowly, or somewhere in between, and every option will produce a different result. Swiping with two fingers up or down on a picture will change the video speed and alter the resultant sound.
Using the record button on the main screen, you can capture your sound remixes to share on YouTube. The pitch and volume of each clip can be altered using the icons on the bottom of the screen. Your musical creations can also be shared with Twitter, Facebook, and via email.
There are some fantastic sets included with the app, from traditional musical instruments like pianos and guitars, to silly sounds and mashups from cafes and automobiles. In all, there are more than 50 free sets included, and new sets available from the community every day.
MadPad is an app that anyone can use to create music from every day items, even people with no innate rhythmic talent. Children and adults of all ages will love this intuitive, easy to use music making app.
What I liked: This is a fun app and I can see it being used in a myriad of ways, with friends, with kids, at parties, on the street, etc. There are so many possibilities. Recording a set of sound clips and then combining them in new and unique ways is a great way to express creativity.
What I didn’t like: Sounds needed to be fairly loud to register. I couldn’t get my keyboard typing to record, but most other noises were okay. I’d like an option to record with less than the requisite 12 noises.
To buy or not to buy: Even if you don’t usually purchase music making apps, you may want to give this one a close look. It’s a lot of fun, even if you’re not musically inclined. It’s a great deal at just $2.99, since you’re sure to get a lot of use out of it and impress your friends and family while you’re at it.
- App Name: MadPad HD
- Version Reviewed: 1.0.0
- Category: Music
- Developer: Smule
- Price: $2.99
- Score:
