Beatmaker 3 vid/review

For anyone already owning a semi powerful ipad and an interface to sample with, this is looking like a no-brainer…Pretty much function for function with MPC Live + stuff like multiple parameter macros, realtime timestrech with elastique 3 algo, probably more lfo source/destination, 3rd party fx, what looks to be a better thought out OS/screen UI layout etc etc… Out this week with introductory pricing.

https://youtu.be/30wJMzr8sl0

Woah, wasn’t expecting it to have the ableton/push feature where you can timestrech + change pitch via pads/keys (without it necessarily re-triggering the sample from start.) -
https://youtu.be/cvqrTL-z-CA

How does the live slicing work? If I can record live to a pre-defined slice grid a la Octatrack, and then sequence it, I’m sold.

@vehka not sure man, drops tomoro, I’ll try to check it out over wknd :wink: Think intro price runs for a week. Wouldn’t be surprised if it jumps to £50+ after that…

Looking at how many features bm3 has and looking at mpc live and DT… Pretty ridiculous state of affairs :wink: £600+ purpose built sampler hardware vs $20 app that’ll run on a tablet… and the app has more features than the hardware?? :confused: I know you gotta take into consideration the cost of an ipad and the cost of DT/Live hardware etc, but even so… Just reinforces how clearly DT should have had timestrech and slicing and insert fx. And mpc live should have realtime timestrech etc…

Or even looking at Elektron’s overbridge premium software for 99euro. Ridiculous price in comparison. Especially after paying for one of their new mkii revisions…

Can it work with hardware pads like Akai LPD8 wireless?

Guess so? From the feature list it seems like they had controllers in mind when coding it but dunno what works/doesn’t yet…

Definitely going to grab this app. I had beatmaker2 since it’s release. Used it a few times on holidays but never really gelled with it as a longterm solution. This version 3 seems pretty fantastic though.


I’ve been hearing a LOT of good things about the ‘new’ Akai MPD Controllers - The pads are meant to be fantastic!
MPD218, MPD226, MPD 232
Think they’d match up pretty well with Beatmaker3 - especially the 218 as a mobile solution.

Yup looks like they nailed BM3. Worth the wait. I’m same as you, always had BM2 but never really used it. Looks like they totally re-thought the workflow/UI/Layout and massive improvement + new features. Feels kinda like I’m getting an mpc live for $20. Sweet deal :wink:

Dunno yet if I’ll cop a controller specifically for it but might look at something pretty small and wireless. Might grab the smallest of those Akai’s you mentioned… Or poss a used Korg Nanokey Studio (shame only 8 pads on those tho :/)…

If you want to be hitting pads and getting good response then I’d go with the new MPD’s.

For keys nanokey is nice n cheap. The qunexus is worth a look in though as it’s really expressive. Maybe even one of the new little Roli’s? :wink:

Cool looking app. The only faff (for me at least) is getting my vinyl samples into the ipad…Whats the best interface these days?

Cool looking app. The only faff (for me at least) is getting my vinyl samples into the ipad...Whats the best interface these days?

Yeah this is the biggest hassle of iPad music making. IMO easiest is Dropbox. For audio interface, Behringer UCA seems to be the standard mini interface, with stereo RCA in and out.


BM3 is looking pretty awesome, wonder if it will run well on a Mini 2.
Cool looking app. The only faff (for me at least) is getting my vinyl samples into the ipad...Whats the best interface these days?

Yeah this is the biggest hassle of iPad music making. IMO easiest is Dropbox. For audio interface, Behringer UCA seems to be the standard mini interface, with stereo RCA in and out.


BM3 is looking pretty awesome, wonder if it will run well on a Mini 2.

Yeah man, I hate using/installing iTunes too. Apple need to move on and open things up somehow. Won’t happen tho :confused: Dropbox seems ‘ok’ as a solution… Be killer if they someday went the Akai route and made a vst to run in Daw for total integration between environments…

I’ve got a mini 2 as well. BM3’s not in the iTunes store yet but when it shows up I’ll report back with how well the mini 2 handles stuff… If BM3 blows me away I might upgade ipads and give the Mini2 to my daughter :wink:

Yeah, it’s so dumb. With my android phone I can use a £5 OTG cable and plug in any USB cable, then copy any file to anywhere. With the iPad I paid like £30 for a cable that if you plug in a USB stick, you’re only allowed to transfer pictures. WTF? That’s before we even get to the arbitrary power limitations for interfaces and midi controllers. And yeah, iTunes is an absolute turd of a program.


Sorry for the rant, this is still a sore spot for me, got my iPad cheap but I thought it would be much more useful for music the way people speak about it. Anyway, it’s cool that you have the same one, let me know how you get on. Personally I think the hassle of sample transfer will prove too much for me and I’ll just continue using mine as a Patterning machine. Patterning makes everything OK!

There is hope with the iPad

https://arstechnica.co.uk/apple/2017/06/ios-file-manager-app/?comments=1

So I’m right in thinking we could sample via the op-1 and drag drop samples via cck into something like BM3 as there is finally an accessible file management system in the forthcoming ios11

if it runs well on older models I might finally pick up a used ipad mini 2.

Had a half hour on BM3 this morning. First impressions.

The UI is gonna take a few sessions to get used to. Some functions/workflow that aren’t immediately apparent or maybe just aren’t there. (stuff like you can set a sample’s filter to be modulated by lfo/env etc. But after selecting one of those options I couldn’t see where the lfo or new env parameter settings are…also slice by transient - I read that was a feature but can only find slice grids etc so far… ). Couldn’t edit notes for a ‘plugin’ synth. Recorded a pattern with Animoog as a plugin. Can hear notes but not seeing them in piano roll afterwards… Lots of little things like this to figure out if bug/ommisions/user error…

Sampling functionality is killer. If they added warp markers it would basically be as flexible as sampling on ableton. Timestrech sounds decent and is useable in any way you like. Instruments/loops etc.

FX are OK. Nothing incredible but the saturation parameter is useable and reverb not too bad. Obvs you can also use 3rd party for that stuff if want better…

Cpu/stability. No crashes but at 128 latency settings with a sample of me mumbling in to the ipad mic, then sliced and the individual pads/slices set to realtime timestrech and pitched chromatically and polyphonic and a bunch of fx… My ipad mini 2 was having a heart attack. I put latency up to 1028 and it was OK. Will probably buckle pretty quick with a few synths and 3rd party fx going tho…

Automation record/edit seemed pretty well implemented but only had couple minutes looking at that.

Haven’t used macros and a bunch of other stuff yet.

I barely scratched surface but seems killer overall tho. Need to spend more time with it but might even grab a new ipad + controller and sell my Op1… :confused:

Sounds promising. Will wait until Apple sort this file structuring out in ios11 before purchasing, I just won’t end up using it otherwise

Sounds promising. Will wait until Apple sort this file structuring out in ios11 before purchasing, I just won't end up using it otherwise

Yeah that’d be pretty huge if Apple have chilled out in those kind of areas… Might even be able to finally have one sample library folder for all music apps instead of having to import to each app and lose a ton of diskspace + ballache…

AFAIK they haven’t said what the price will jump to after intro yet…can see it being £50+…might be worth jumping in on the intro price and just bank the app til ios 11 drops :wink: Could use the time in between to get fluent with it.

I’m gonna check Dropbox transfer out later and hopefully throw a bunch of stuff across without too much hassle…

Sh*t… it s only for iPad… :frowning: