When you’re ready to upgrade to a more fully featured solution, though, there are some superb options on the App Store, and here, we’re rounding up four of the best, across a range of price points. One of them is exclusive to iPad, while the rest work on iPhone too; and you can find out how to get them up and running with your EVO 4 in our complete guide and its accompanying video.

Steinberg Cubasis 3 (iPhone/iPad)

The obvious next step for any EVO 4 owner is the full version of the Cubasis LE 3 app that comes free with their audio interface. Cubasis 3 upgrades its free sibling with a wealth of powerful features and enhancements, including an increase in the number of audio and MIDI tracks from 4 each to as many as your iPhone or iPad can handle; 24-bit audio recording and playback; mixer and plugin automation, and MIDI CC editing; time stretching and pitch shifting; track freeze; and Group tracks. You also get 15 more plugin effects (for 21 in total), including the integrated channel strip, Amp Sim, Overdrive, Filter, Limiter and Spin FX, and far more Insert, Send and Master effects slots in which to host them. On the virtual instrument front, meanwhile, LE’s MicroSonic sample-based workstation is joined by the Micrologue synth and MiniSampler sampler; and there’s also a ton of samples, MIDI loops and presets onboard for creative inspiration.

Beyond that, the fundamental workflow and interface are the same as with LE, which is to say a slick, and brilliantly downscaled touchscreen implementation of the full-on Cubase for Mac and PC (which, incidentally, it can export projects to). Far more than just a mobile sketchpad, Cubasis 3 is arguably the most comprehensive DAW on iOS/iPadOS, and we can’t recommend it highly enough.

Apple Garageband for iOS (iPhone/iPad)

Another pocket-sized take on a well-established desktop application, Garageband for iOS does a phenomenal job of squeezing Apple’s entry level DAW into the diminutive frames of its own handheld gadgets. A greatly streamlined offshoot of the professional Logic Pro, Garageband sees the Cupertino leviathan applying its expertise in the simplification of complex workflows to music production, and the result is a user-friendly but surprisingly deep and capable recording, MIDI programming, arranging and mixing environment, complete with 32 tracks, virtual instruments and effects, audio recording, pattern sequencing, automation, on-the-fly arrangement (Live Loops) and compatibility with AUv3 plugins (the iOS equivalent to Audio Units plugins on Mac). And although the iOS edition isn’t quite a 1:1 match for its Mac equivalent, it makes up for what few features are absent with various touch interfaces for inputting drum, keyboard, guitar and string parts. It also supports import and export to and from both Garageband and Logic Pro, and is completely free on the App Store – so what are you waiting for?

Wave Machine Labs Auria Pro (iPad)

Perhaps the most apparently ‘professional’ entrant in our recording app round-up, Auria Pro looks and feels like a desktop DAW ported directly to iPad. Offering playback of unlimited tracks, recording of up to 24 audio tracks at once, extensive MIDI sequencing, audio slicing and warping (the latter powered by zplane’s excellent élastique Pro 3 algorithm), AAF import/export (for bi-directional transfer to/from Pro Tools, Logic Pro et al), and support for AUv3 plugins, Inter-App Audio and AudioBus, it’s a serious workstation for serious music making. And check out that mixer! Each channel hosts EQ, compression, expansion and gating modules (by top-tier plugin developer PSP Audioware, no less), while flexible group channel and bus routing, four effects inserts per channel, six auxiliary sends, and automation of mix and plugin parameters give you everything you need to get your tracks sounding their best.

Aimed at the experienced producer looking to mirror desktop DAW workflows and functionality as closely as possible on iPad, Auria Pro is a monster.

Harmonicdog MultiTrack DAW 6 (iPhone/iPad)

The only app in our round-up that doesn’t provide any form of MIDI recording or editing, MultiTrack DAW 6 is all about audio, which makes it a good fit for singer-songwriters and bands looking to get instrumental and vocal tracks down using their EVO 4 interface with a minimum of fuss and distraction. The base app only features two stereo tracks, but this is upgradable to 32 via In-App Purchases; and all the expected audio editing functions are present and correct, as well as automatic punch in and out, loop recording, track freeze, multiple region bouncing and much more. And despite the fact that MIDI isn’t supported at all, MultiTrack DAW 6 does nonetheless enable AUv3 instruments to be loaded, played using an onscreen keyboard and recorded as audio – useful for sketching synth and drum parts. Mixing is basic but intuitive, with per-track and master EQ and compression, reverb and delay send effects, AUv3 effects compatibility (with sidechain input in plugins that support it), and responsive VU metering.

MultiTrack DAW 6’s strength lies in its straightforward workflow, clutter-free interface and focused feature set, and the whole thing comes together in a nifty mobile recording and (rudimentary) mixing platform, with a diversity of export options facilitating transfer of tracks, stems and mixes to desktop for completion in a more full-fledged DAW if necessary.