If you’re still looking for apps to put on your brand new MacBook or iMac, then you need to check out this list. This list is music and writing heavy, but that’s what Mac’s are for, right? For you to explore the creative side of yourself and understand your full potential. We live in a world where we are constantly having this battle of how to fulfill ourselves in terms of our creativity and pay the bills. Maybe with some of these apps, you can do both?
Logic Pro X
Logic Pro X puts a complete recording and MIDI production studio on your Mac. It’s the perfect environment for writing a song from scratch all the way to mixing it down for a worldwide release. All in an intuitive interface that puts the tools you need right where you need them. This one is a little pricey, but worth it if you’re into music. You can download Logic Pro X on the App Store for $199.99
Sound Studio
Record, edit, and produce your audio with Sound Studio, an easy-to-use Mac app for recording and editing digital audio on your computer. Digitize tapes and vinyl records, record live performances, create your own mixes with crossfades, tweak the levels and EQ, apply digital effects, and save in all major file formats. The Mac’s most popular audio program for many years, Sound Studio continues to be regularly updated to add new features and to take advantage of the newest Apple technologies. With Sound Studio you can record professional-sounding Podcasts and other audio dialog. Spoken word, speeches, presentations, music, and other audio can all be recorded and edited with the same high fidelity. Sound Studio will cost you $29.99 from the App Store.
Capo 3
Capo helps you learn to play the songs in your music collection by ear. Its sophisticated, easy-to-use features will have you learning to play more songs in less time. Capo analyzes the songs you load by “listening” to them and then displays all the chords it hears. In addition to naming the chords, Capo can show diagrams for guitar, ukulele, banjo, mandolin and 4-6 string bass players. When Capo misses a chord or gets it wrong, you can correct the detected chords easily, and your changes get saved with the song. You can specify alternate chord voicings, and for all you lefties out there: we’ve got you covered with our left-handed display mode. You can download Capo 3 from the App Store for just $49.99.
Vox
iTunes is dead, so you should download Vox for all of your music-listening needs. Vox plays FLAC, it can pull files from NAS devices and it integrates with SoundCloud. It has the kind of drag and drop support loved by iTune haters. What’s great about this music player is that it’s free in the App Store. Note, if you’re trying to get Vox for your iPhone, there is a cost for that app. Try not to get these two confused.
Scrivener 3
They say everyone has a book in them. Scrivener 3 can help you get it out. It’s a hugely powerful writing tool, for hammering out drafts, rearranging text, stashing notes and research, and then exporting the entire lot to PDF, EPUB or plain old text. The app will also sync with the excellent iOS version. If you want Scrivener 3, you’ll have to head over to the Literature and Latte website. For $45, you will get a full version of Scrivener 3.
iA Writer
iA Writer is the best kind of writing app – great for quick posts and articles, and with iCloud storage smarts and a brilliantly designed two-up Markdown preview mode. iA Writer is designed to provide the best digital writing experience: Keep your hands on the keyboard and your mind in the text. Include images from Library in your documents (.png, .gif, .jpg)—images are uploaded to Medium and WordPress when sharing a draft. Include comma separated value files as tables in your documents (.csv), or create advanced tables using MultiMarkdown. Build a manuscript from several chapters, embed source code files as code blocks, or nest text files into each other. iA Writer is available for $19.99 in the App Store.
Ulysses
Sort of half-way between Scrivener and iA Writer, Ulysses wants to be a repository for all your writing. There’s a minimal full-screen mode, but slide open the sidebars and you gain access to a library of everything you’ve ever written in the app, which can be arranged, compiled and exported. Ulysses also seamlessly syncs with its iOS sibling. What makes Ulysses amazing is that it’s free!
Mindnode 5
Flowcharts and mind-maps might seem like something dull people do in boardrooms, but they’re a great way to organize thoughts, whatever you’re working on. MindNode 5 is superb for visually representing ideas, connecting thoughts, and outputting your genius to share with others. Or being boring and creating an org chart. Part of me thinks this would be beneficial just so I can get all of my thoughts out on “paper”, and out of my head. Maybe MindNode could help me to make something out of it? You can try Mindnode 5 for free for two weeks. After that, it will cost you $39.99. It might be worth it if you need help organizing your thoughts and ideas.