9 weird ways to turn your iPhone or iPad into a music machine

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Keeping music on iOS weird. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Keeping music on iOS weird. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
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If there’s one thing we humans like to do, it’s make music. Seriously, we’ve been doing it since prehistoric times, so it’s no big surprise that we’d find many ways to bring music to our latest tool: the iPhone and iPad.

While there are a ton of different ways to play or make music on your iOS device of choice, here are nine rather weird ones, plus some fantastic videos to hear and see just how its done.

Maybe too many iPhones

Sure, they’re not all iPhones, but this is surely my favorite video of the bunch. Here’s Steffest Maker doing his best Neil Diamond impression while playing that songwriter’s hit from 1970, “Cracklin’ Rosie.” The best part? When Maker drops into the metal version, complete with drum machine and fuzz-tone guitar. This guy really knows how to multi-task, with all the music app-holding phones connected to a speaker that rests on his belly, guitar-style. Great song and great performance.

Shredding plastic guitar

Rockband and Guitar Hero players have nothing on this amazing guitar-style iOS peripheral that lets you slap an iPad right into the body of said plastic instrument and then rock out with the weird button-style fretboard. You’ll need to strum and play individual strings on the flat touchscreen itself, making this kind of touch to play without looking at it — I wouldn’t recommend doing too many rockstar moves with this one. Still, it’s a weird, one of a kind instrument that could get a party rockin’.

https://youtu.be/AmYHsbSyxnE

iPad recording studio

I don’t know which is weirder, the tiny little MIDI guitar thing called a JamStik, or the way the singer is all decked out like Kid Rock, but either way, this demo is pretty impressive. The JamStick is a little guitar controller by the same folks that make the PUC interface for iOS or Mac, and it’s pretty cute for an itty-bitty headless stringed instrument. The guys in the demo connected two iPads together via Bluetooth and GarageBand’s JamSession feature to let them all play and record at once. Pretty slick, and pretty weird, as well.

https://youtu.be/ruXYMlf1HZA

Put it in your mouth

This fascinating app lets you play harmonica on your iPhone the same way you’d do it with a real harp: with your mouth. Sure, you can just touch the side of the screen with your fingers, but be authentic, man! Put it in your mouth and blow. You can even choose the key of harp, making it super easy to jam with any band without having to carry around more than one mouth instrument, like a real harmonica player would. Need a towel?

iPad’s got a squeezebox

The accordion has a long and storied history, but fast forward to now and you’ve got this delightfully weird yet strangely authentic sounding squeezebox made for your iPad. Of course, if you can play the accordion on your iPad, you’re going to need one of those bizarre chest iPad holders for the true experience.

Orchestral maneuvers

Here’s an oddly brilliant way to make orchestral music on iPads, with an app that creates a weird visual scheme for musicians to play together. The simulated clarinet, flute, cello, and violin sounds make some beautiful music as the four players sat together to perform simultaneously. I can’t find the app on iTunes any more (the video was posted in 2010), but I’d sure like to try this app out with a few friends one night.

For the uke player with everything

Why settle for an app that only works on one iOS device when you can put your iPhone and iPad together with a special case designed to turn both expensive, high-end computing devices into a wacky ukulele simulator? The Futulele (and it’s older sibling, OMGuitar) app works on the iPad with a free remote app on the iPhone to totally give you that Hawaiian vibe in your very own home.

Drumming up a storm

This guy has some serious drum chops for someone who taps on a screen to rock out. Using the drum set that comes along with the iPad version of GarageBand, YouTuber Appleman puts on a hell of a metal show with his two hands and an iPad. Close your eyes and you’d be hard-pressed to know this wasn’t a live drummer somewhere.

Horning in to your music

Ok, so this isn’t quite the same as all the rest, but it’s seriously weird and it uses a real musical instrument as a speaker for your iPhone music. You can buy your very own weird analog amplifier, or analog tele-phonographer, made from salvaged trumpet and brass instrument parts over at Heartless Machines and have the coolest conversation piece around.

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