Among the roster of free music apps available for download to iPhone is a rudimentary matrix sequencer called “TonePad.”
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As described at http://www.tonepadapp.com/, this plaything is quite user friendly: “Create songs by simply touching the screen and seeing notes light up.” (This reminds me of what Stanley K. said about a different pleasure: “Having them colored lights going.”) TonePad allows you to create a short (about 4-second) snippet of music that repeats hypnotically. You can then build upon it with new tones and rhythms, mimicking the accretive style of composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass. After some practice, what’s you’ve mastered is a kind of dime-store minimalism, except you don’t need to cough up even ten cents. Since I needed music for the soundtrack to my second iMovie, I decided to give TonePad a try. The result, available on YouTube and Vimeo:
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