Out of the huge number of piano apps available Pianist Pro has the essential features that make a piano app on the iPad simply amazing. One of the coolest features is the wireless MIDI support this enables a musician to use an iPad as an input device in professional notation software such as Finale or Sibelius as well as other audio software on desktop OS machines. Pianist Pro has practice and performing tools that make playing by yourself not a bad thing. The interface is dead simple, the feature set rich making this the essential piano app for the iPad.

If Magic Piano is a little light for you and you're a serious pianist then Pianist Pro is the app for you. This app turns the iPad display into a photo-realistic piano keyboard and the multi-touch display enables you to press as many keys at once as you like. It even has MIDI support and File Sharing so you can digitally transfer your opus magnus.

There are many cheaper piano apps in the store but Pianist Pro provides users with a range of innovative features that make it more compatible for live performances and music creation in the home studio. Pianist Pro comes with full recording, standard MIDI file export, and MIDI via OSC for wireless control of your DAW and hardware synths. The 88 virtual piano keys produce realistic piano sounds which can each be configured with soft and sustain pedals.

There are hundreds of apps out there that turn the iPhone into a musical instrument, and we've reviewed dozens. Here are some favourites. From MooCowMusic comes several apps including Bassist, Organist, Guitarist, and our favourite: Pianist. While it's impossible to fit a whole keyboard onto an iPhone screen, this app lets you easily shift between octaves. What's more you can record several layers of tracks and save them as one file. All MooCowMusic apps let you record and save your work, and for four bucks a pop, they're a musician's answer to creating melodies on the go.

To Strike Just the Right Chord, Pick the Right Guitar App
"I’m amazed at the quality of some of the apps out there," said Mike Mueller, contributing editor at Guitar Edge magazine and manager of GuitarInstructor.com.
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With simulators like Guitar: Play and Share ($4), iShred ($5) and Guitarist ($4), players can finger chords, pick strings and hear a fair approximation of how it may sound on the real thing. These can be good for practicing when you’re way from your instrument - that is, if you can get accustomed to them. Jon Francis Lucow, a professional musician in New York City, has used Guitarist and iShred during performances, and to record, learn songs and jam on the subway.
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Some of the more adventurous musicians, like Mr. Lucow, are even plugging their smartphones into amps and performing with them although, as he put it, "it would be hard to make a solo look sexy".

Tapping Your Inner Clapton
There’s something about an iPhone music app. For musicians, it’s like having an instrument in your pocket. For nonmusicians, it’s a way to coax sounds -- often programmed to stay on key no matter what note one actually plays -- out of what may be the only instrumentlike device they ever pick up.
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Sheer simplicity, however, isn’t the only route to success. Moocow Music [sic], which offers apps for bass, guitar, piano and organ, suggests on its Web site that its creations can be used "as a ‘musical notepad’ for working out riffs to play back in the studio on a real (instrument)." This is true. It’s also a tacit admission that the apps are not meant to replace real instruments. Still, the care that goes into these apps’ creation is obvious. Rather than simply offering one sound per note, Moocow has loaded multiple guitar and bass samples for each fret and string, which are played randomly when that note is struck. Because real guitar strings are plucked or strummed slightly differently each time, this lends a subtle air of authenticity to the sound.
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A multi-instrumental app like Moocow’s Band gives novices the opportunity to record and edit tracks with drums, bass and guitar, and make sure it all sounds pretty good (even if one doesn’t know how to play a lick of music). It’s as much a game as Guitar Hero, only instead of trying to keep up with prerecorded music, the goal is to make music of one’s own.

"Best iPhone Apps - The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders"
[Josh Clarke. O'Reilly Media, Inc. (July 23, 2009)]

"With over 50,000 iPhone apps to choose from, there's a mind-boggling number of ways to make your favorite device do just about anything you can imagine. But how do you which ones are the best? Best iPhone Apps shines the light on over 200 gee-whiz apps that delight, empower, and entertain. Author Josh Clark stress-tested thousands of titles from the App Store emporium to hand-pick apps that will make the biggest difference in every aspect of your life."

Link to O'Reilly Site
Direct link to the 'Band' page at safaribooksonline
Link to amazon.com

Band was one of the first applications to show off the iPhone software being opened up to developers and it didn't disappoint.
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This is a truly splendid app for beginners and pros alike who want to enjoy the freedom of music making on their iPhone and want to have a lot of fun while they do it. We really love this app.