It’s a remix app and a different way of jamming with music – but go deeper, and it’s also a sampler, looper, buffer shuffler, and multitrack production tool. Version 1.5 of Jamm Pro from Coldcut and Ninja Tune gets more production powers – and goes from iPad exclusive to availability on iPhone and even Android devices.
The app is free to start including a selection of free SoundSets, with additional production features and sounds available for purchase.
Disclosure: I worked as a consultant on the launch with Matt Black (Coldcut) and Dr. Walker (Liquid Sky). I also have a previous music release for the platform.
Jamm Pro is deceptively powerful – though maybe its ninja-style glyphs and tons of controls give you some clue there’s more under the surface. But it’s the result of over a decade of development on iOS, plus 36 years of bleeding-edge production chops from Coldcut. (More on that separately, because they had a huge influence on how we think about this kind of tool, both for music and visuals.)
So on one level, you can browse Ninja Tune classics from Bonobo, Odezsa, FaltyDL, and Roots Manuva, plus new artists like India’s Kiss Nuka, and remix their work. This isn’t like initiatives like STEMS or even recent AI-powered DJ tools; you’re not restricted to just mixing a track differently. You get not just stems but pre-sliced patterns, presets, effects settings, and an entire multitrack production remix effects powerhouse. You can completely reimagine a track. The app is deep enough that it’s honestly useful to have these sets to give you a starting point as you learn what it can do.
Jamm Pro is unique and potent enough that the producers might want to use Jamm Pro as one of their primary remix or production tools. (It’s a killer secret weapon for finishing remixes fast, actually.) And that brings us to the next side of this: Jamm Pro is a full-fledged production/remix/sample instrument, with the lineage of decades of Coldcutter software and production technique behind it.
You can record your samples or import them from your device. You can export full multitrack stems. There’s modular patching, smart pitch bend, dub-style effects, and distinctively glitchy and rhythmic Coldcutter processing. And the essentials are there, too – Ableton Link support, and Inter App Audio (IAA) on iOS. (There’s no plug-in support, but as you’re using this for the built-in effects, that’s less of an issue – and you can still sample from elsewhere via IAA.)
I know some folks told me they just couldn’t get past the dense interface, but my advice – fear not, and just start jamming. Here’s a feature-by-feature demo of some of what it can do now on iPhone/Android, with some ideas as to what to try first.
And note that the new phone-sized screens also give you the chance to focus more on one thing at a time. (The full-fledged Play screens and whatnot still remained usable to me on an iPhone 12 Pro Max – enough so that I didn’t find myself reaching for the iPad any more.)
To put this another way – now you have multitrack Coldcutter on your phone. Bluetooth support also means you can use it on the go with something like AirPods, since Apple ditched the headphone jack. (Note that you may need to toggle Bluetooth audio a couple of times; iOS gets weird with input devices.)
It’s all free to start, with a stupidly inexpensive In App Purchase unlocking additional production features (like sampling).
New in version 1.5:
Growing selection of SoundSets across genres to fuel your own tracks.
Action Sequencer records and loops your actions to build live layered sequences.
SHAKE your device to trigger Superfill FX.
Improved time stretching with greater audio fidelity.
BeamScope visualizes your touches as you play.
Customize your Jamms with your own artwork / photos.
Sharing with video, for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more.
Bluetooth support for wireless earphones and speakers.
iPhone, Android, Apple Silicon Mac support.
This is almost like more than one app – multiple sequencers (gate sequencers, modulation sequencers, slice sequencers), looping, stabs, multi-FX, and so on are all packed inside. There are various demos of those functions that have accumulated over time; if anyone has a specific request for a new one, let us know.
Jamm Pro: HowTos [Coldcut YouTube channel]
Lots of other relevant demos on the Coldcut channel – a great mix of Coldcut / Hexstatic music production, curation (with recent outings from Machinedrum, for instance), and the technology getting packed into Jamm Pro.
Releasing music this way does hold some potential. I can certainly say from personal experience it allows a track to take on a different life – somewhere between just doing an album and remix release and trying to make your own custom app. (And, well, good luck trying to top Coldcutter.) We’ll have to watch to see if other artists try out that potential. But as a production app, Jamm Pro is utterly wild.