Anytune is a handy tool for musicians, dancers, singers (and now runs on M1 Macs)

By Aaron Lee

Anytune for macOS has a limited audience, but for that audience, it can be extremely useful. And with version 2.4, it’s compatible with Apple Silicon (M1) Macs.

Anytune allows musicians, dancers, and singers to learn to play or transcribe songs by slowing down the tempo, adjusting the pitch, repeating loops, and setting and sharing marks. It uses iCloud to integrate with the Anytune app for iOS and boasts a solid set of music practice and transcription features. Anytune for Mac will be familiar to musicians who use Anytune Pro on their iPads. They can search, filter and import their iTunes music or use Anytune for Mac’s folders and playlists to organize their music outside of iTunes.

The double waveform displays in Anytune allow musicians to visualize and quickly navigate to sections of interest in their songs. Tempo and pitch changing let artists practice at their own pace and pitch without unwanted audible artifacts. Loop marks and audio marks used for practicing or transcription can be created and shared via email to collaborate with others, or via iCloud to iPhones, iPads or other Macs.

The FineTouch EQ and built-in presets help to pinpoint instruments for practicing. A LiveMix feature makes musicians feel like they’re playing in a band; they can plug in an instrument or microphone and perform along in a mix with a favorite track.

Anytune’s Step It Up Interval Trainer allows learners to start off slowly and gradually increase the speed over a looped section of a song. For musicians who need to transcribe music, the tool simplifies transcription work flow by changing play-pause to pause-repeat, allowing a track to be traversed and repeated phrase by phrase more easily and in a more natural way for transcribers.

In addition to Apple Silicon compatibility, Anytune 2.4 adds: audio processing opimizations, lower latency settings (32 and 64 frames for LiveMix, and virtual MIDI support. 

Anytune for Mac requires macOS 10.14.6 or later. You can buy the product for US$34.95 at the Mac App Store.