The 4Pockets MultiTrack Recorder plugin is an audio recording application that can be loaded into other music applications. If you’ve ever seen an app like GarageBand or Logic in action, you’ll be familiar with arranging multiple tracks on a horizontal timeline. The MultiTrack Recorder plugin offers exactly that, only it is designed to be used inside other music applications. Applications that do not have their own recording functions.
Multitrack recording plugin
MTR, as I will call it from now on, is an audio unit for iOS. Audio Units are plugins that can add functions to other music applications. They often come in the form of effects – reverb, distortion, etc. – or sound generators (such as synthesizers and rhythm machines).
Photo: Mac Cult
On iOS, a class of applications routes audio (and MIDI) between Audio Units and between other applications. Called host applications, these incredibly flexible applications allow all kinds of creative configurations. But they either offer very basic recording features (like the essential AUM audio mixer app) or no way to record at all.
This is where MTR comes in. It adds a familiar multitrack recorder to any host application.
MTR
MTR accepts audio from its host application and records to one track at a time. It syncs with the host’s sync, so you can record – and play – on time. It does offer some basic effects (reverb and delay), but you’re more likely to use specialist AU plugins for this sort of thing.
Photo: Mac Cult
You can then drag and drop these clips for editing. You can also do fairly advanced things, like time-stretching an imported audio clip to fit the rest of the song. (GarageBand on iOS can’t do this.) And, speaking of importing, you can drag and drop any clip in and out of the timeline, and also drag and drop from the Files app.
There is more. Because MTR is an AU plugin, you can run multiple versions, all of which record and play different things. But the smart thing is that they all share the same “audio pool”. That is, all of them record in a shared storage area. It also means that you can drag a record from one MTR instance to another.
A whole new way to record music
This is pretty wild stuff, and the MultiTrack Recorder plug-in even works on the iPhone. Well, most of the time. Members of the AudioBus forum, the largest and best iOS music apps forum, report difficulty using some of the advanced editing features on the iPhone’s small screen. I haven’t had any problems yet, despite my dodgy iPad.
4Pockets’ MultiTrack Recorder plugin is changing the way you can make music on the iPad. Now, there’s no need to try and route all of your other music apps to something like GarageBand (which is extremely clunky when it comes to audio units and other sharing mechanisms). You can instead bring the recorder to your music applications. It’s a pretty radical reinvention of computer music creation, and I appreciate it.
Multitrack recording plugin
Price: $ 9.99
To download: MultiTrack Recorder plugin from the App Store (iOS)
