Apple's Music Memos iOS app enables musicians to capture ideas for new choons

Plus there's a big update for GarageBand

Apple has released a new app - Music Memos for iOS.

The idea is that musicians can use it to record ideas for new music and then use the basic recording to develop further. Apple even got serial happy-merchant Ryan Adams to comment on the new app, which will be available for free in the App Store.

“Sometimes ideas come faster than I can get them into my notebook so I've used Voice Memos and Notes to quickly capture songs before they're lost. Music Memos is like if those two apps came together to form some kind of superpower for songs,” said Adams.

With Music Memos, you can record any musical instrument as uncompressed audio through the iPhone's built-in microphone then name, tag and rate it to start building a library of your ideas.

“It quite literally blew my mind how Music Memos could transform a single guitar idea into a whole composition with a virtual drummer loose enough that it felt like you were having your mind read by some A.I. musician and a choice of stand-up or electric bass accompaniments.”

According to Apple, the app can analyse rhythm and chords of acoustic guitar and piano recordings, and instantly add drums and a bass line to match the feel of your song. Music Memos can even provide basic notation that displays the chords played. You can then open the Memos in other apps via iCloud.

A new update to GarageBandboasts a bunch of new features, including Live Loops that enables anyone to "make music like a DJ using only their iPhone or iPad".

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Dan Grabham

Dan is a previous Editor for T3.com and covered the latest in computing, home entertainment and mobile tech. He's also the former Deputy Editor of TechRadar and former Editor of Lifehacker UK. Dan has written for numerous computing and lifestyle magazines and has also written a book, too. You'll see him pop up in numerous places, having been quoted in or on The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, ITN News, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4 and Sky News Radio.