Ableton Note

What it does

Ableton’s sketchpad for iPhone and iPad, built on a clip grid of eight tracks that behaves much like a Launchpad. Each track holds one of Live’s drum kits, synths or melodic instruments, or a sampler you fill from the microphone or an imported file. Notes can be quantized and edited by hand, effects can be automated as a clip records, and a set exports as audio or syncs through Ableton Cloud into Live.

In the demo

Jade builds a set from nothing: drums first, then bass, editing velocities, duplicating clips and baking in effect automation as it plays. She imports a downloaded bell sample through the share sheet, exports the set to AudioShare, then uploads it to the cloud and opens the same project in Live on her Mac.

Worth knowing

In the version demoed there is no AUv3 and no external MIDI keyboard support, and exported audio is the only route into another iOS app. Jade notes a roadmap, so both may have moved since.