If you are familiar with GarageBand, BeatMaker will be a very recognizable and welcome addition to your iPhone or iPod touch. BeatMaker is a mobile music studio with many features that you would normally see in computer studios such as Fruity Loops or Reason. Some of these features include recording new samples on the fly (only available on the iPhone or second generation iPod touch), a full-featured step sequencer, live improvisation, and audio effects. All of these are accessed through an interface of 16 multi-touch buttons.

BeatMaker's interface resembles GarageBand more than any other competing software, allowing those who compose with Apple's studio to transfer their prowess to BeatMaker with relative ease. The mobile-specific feature of BeatMaker is synchronization, which allows you to download beats and songs from any computer as well as back-up your projects to any computer. Another nice feature is the ability to export to MIDI, which can then be imported into any commercially available sequencer for further work.

While BeatMaker is well-featured, it doesn't include some specialities such as analog step sequencing or complicated chains of effects. It also uses mostly proprietary sample formats, although you can import (but not export) samples under standard audio formats such as MP3 or WAV. However, it is the cheapest studio software we've seen at $19.99, compared to the desktop alternatives like Reason that can be as expensive as $699.