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Mixing Music on the Go with Your iPhone or iPod Touch
GET YOUR GROOVE ON
IK Multimedia currently makes 8 versions of their GrooveMaker app with different loops and sounds for specific musical genres. Aside from the free version of GrooveMaker, there are 7 other GrooveMaker apps:
As you might imagine, the free version is a little limited. As you get familiar with the interface, you will most likely want to purchase some of the other GrooveMaker apps that appeal to your particular taste in music. Here's a video of GrooveMaker Free in action:
GETTING STARTED
If you are using GrooveMaker Free, you only have access to the 1 free song called "Juice." After you load Juice, the GrooveMaker interface loads and displays 8 pads, a digital audio display, A/B/C/D Mix buttons, a Tap/Hold Tempo button, and Help/Prefs/Songs/Sequence and a Master button on the left. Once GrooveMaker is open, just hit one of the random A-D Mix buttons. A waveform will appear in the linear audio window and the name of the currently selected instrument will show up just above it, along with the category, Bar/Beat and BPM. You'll hear a full song start up with several pre-loaded instruments.
To change the groove within the song, you can again press any of the A-D buttons (even the same one you just pressed), and it will smoothly and automatically load a new loop into the upcoming downbeat, so there's no stopping or off-tempo shifts. In general, the A grooves are considered 'mild', B are 'percussive', C 'instrumental', D are 'random'. For example, by hitting Pad D, the Groove (Play) button will light up Red and the Green Tempo button will start flashing the songs BPM's. Varying instruments will automatically appear on the Track Pads, such as Bd (Bass Drums) on 1, Loop on 2, Perc (Percussion) on 3, Fx on 4, Loop on 5. To do some DJ style mixing, just hit the Track button and you will be presented with more mix controls. You can also Solo or Mute tracks, Empty them or Lock them so next time you touch a Random Mix button the locked tracks will not change. LOOPS By pressing the Loops button at the bottom of the screen, a selection of currently selected Track Pad loops will appear on the right side. From there, you can again automatically load a new 'sub-loop' into the main groove. Very cool.
GrooveMaker loops are organized in categories according to the loop type:
VOLUME To adjust individual instrument levels or pans, simply hit the TRACK button and select VOL or PAN. You can apply these changes on the selected track or multiple tracks that you can group simply by touching and dragging. To adjust the master volume of your mix, just hit the MASTER key and run your finger over the cool green LED meter. Doesn't get much easier than that.
TEMPO If you want to change the tempo, just tap the TEMPO Tap/Hold button a few times. It will play along with what you've just tapped. But the Tempo Wheel is even cooler to use.
By holding down the TEMPO button, a 'wheel' will appear allowing you to do cool tempo slides (up or down). You can also do small incremental tempo changes by hitting the plus (+) or minus (-) keys. A quick double tap of the wheel will take you back to the original tempo. MAKE YOUR OWN GROOVE If you want to build your own groove sequence, touch the Sequence button. Then drag the selected (saved) upper row of grooves to the bottom row sequencer grid. Up to 15 grooves can used to build your own song.
To add groves to the upper row (to be dragged down into the sequencer), simply hit the GROOVE/Snap button on the main screen while you chosen loop is playing. It will load itself into the empty top slots of the sequencer page. When you're ready, just drag them down into the sequencer and start building your creation. MIX & SHARE Finally, to save your mixes and name them, just touch the MIX BROWSER button. To export the song out as a 16-bit/44.1kHz .WAV file, just connect to a WiFi network and hit the EXPORT button. A dialog box will appear telling you the mix is being exported.
Then a web address will appear on the screen, from which you can go to your desktop browser and enter it in. A GrooveMaker page will appear telling you the mix is ready. By clicking on the link, your song shows up for preview and download.
All the remixes produced with GrooveMaker are royalty-free so you can use these soundtracks in your musical compositions, to make your own remixes compilations or use them as soundtracks for your videos. FINAL THOUGHTS
While it's not perfect and I'm sure it will only get better, you just can't really complain about a free program. And when you're ready, be sure to check out the genre specific GrooveMaker apps like GrooveMaker House and GrooveMaker Techno in the iTunes Store. Features:
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Feel like using some slamming loops to create a nasty, floor shaking electronic/hip hop track for your next party or record? 
GrooveMaker is a series of audio composing applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch from IK Multimedia that enables you to create and share non-stop electronic, dance and hip-hop songs on the go and in real-time just like a professional DJ or music producer.
The first time you open one of the GrooveMaker applications, it takes a while to load. The media has to expand and a message explaining the song is in the expansion process will appear. This happens only once, as the following opening is immediate.
GrooveMaker Free is not only a lot of fun to play with, but it really does have some cool sounds. Sure, you have to spend a little time understanding how it works, but an easy way to do that is to run the Help Menu after loading your first song. That will take you through a quick tutorial of the whole program. From then on, it's time to get busy! 
GrooveMaker is the revolutionary iPhone/iPod Touch app to create non-stop electronic, dance and hip-hop tracks, in real-time, by anyone, anywhere, exactly like a professional DJ.. 
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