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Melody makers

Tablets are revolutionising the way we make music – just make sure you buy the right model

Have you discovered the smarter world of music production on a tablet? If not, it's time to start: with their mobility, touchscreens and range of music apps, today's tablets are capable of turning into digital audio workstations that previous generations of musicians could only dream of.

"The flexibility is amazing," says Carphone Warehouse's tablet expert Leon Andrews. "You can program in your own music and use the in-built synths to make that music into beautiful songs. You could knock out a tune on an hour's train ride, with drums, synthesisers, everything: some of the virtual instruments that come in these packages are amazing."

If you're going to be producing music on your tablet, Andrews suggests, choose one with a fast processor.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z

A good choice would be a high-end tablet such as a Sony Xperia Tablet Z, which has a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor which, he says, will "eat for breakfast" powerful apps like the well-respected FL Studio Mobile.
FL Studio Mobile is an app which lets you compose and save multitrack studio projects, whether you're inputting MIDI notes with a step sequencer or adding effects.

Because digital studio apps condense a lot of musical information into a single screen, it's also important to have a great display. The Sony Xperia Tablet Z's super-sharp 10.1-inch HD display is perfect for all that fine detail. Looking for a great-value option for production on the go? Then try the smaller, cheaper, 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. Andrews says its 1GHz dual-core processor has "ample horsepower" and overall the device offers great power for the price.

An advantage of both devices is their portability: the Sony Xperia Tablet Z is incredibly light at under 500g, while the Samsung's 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 weighs just 345g.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0

That portability means you can make music on the go. "If you've recorded a few guitar riffs and things at home, and you've got them on your computer, you can bring them in on your SD card or put them in some sort of cloud storage and pull them straight into the app," Andrews suggests. "So you can work on your own pre-recorded music or remix other people's tracks – on the move."

It's not all about music production: there's also a huge range of apps for tablets that make musicians' lives easier, explains Andrews – from metronome apps to tuning apps for your guitar.

"They're not replacing the process of creating music. They're complementing it, meaning you can do it faster – to a higher quality."

To buy the Sony Xperia Tablet Z or Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 or to get advice on tablets, visit carphonewarehouse.com. Its Live Tariff Checker tool compares Carphone's best tariffs against those published in the market, twice a day.

From Tape machine to touchscreen

Carphone Warehouse has launched a short film, as part of its Smarter World campaign, to inspire people by showing the possibilities of smartphones. The film reveals how musicians are using tablets and smartphones to improve their performances. Music producer Darren Sangita, the DJ who worked on a collaborative track for the campaign, says tablet technology is a "dream" to work with.

"I used to work in studios with huge 48-channel decks and two-inch tape machines that cost £150,000. That technology has now been shrunk down to a touchscreen – so you've got everything from synthesis to drum machines, real-time effects and modulations, multi-track recording capabilities and playback."

And with music apps being produced specifically for touchscreen, the creative process is evolving – as Sangita showed while applying multiple effects to the track.

"On a laptop, the mouse controls one knob at a time – so if I wanted to record multiple effects, I would have to go back to the beginning to record each control in. But here I was able to control eight parameters at the same time with four fingers and XY controllers. It's exciting to have that textural control, and it's sped up the process of creation."

"I'm excited about the next three to five years of music-making: people's capability to manipulate, warp and change sound. We're going to hear things we've never heard before."

Darren and four classical musicians have created a special track with the help of smarter technology: check it out here and enter the competition for your chance to win great prizes.