Music production can turn into a lucrative creative endeavor. But it can also eat up your budget, especially when you're starting. Thankfully, even the most affordable Android tablet can act as a creative tool. This way, you can experience music production without a huge investment.

There's an abundance of awesome DJ apps and sleek music players on the Play Store, making up some of the best Android apps around. Whether you're a novice or an intermediate user, there's likely an app for you. But how do you navigate this endless sea of options?

Do you need a virtual DJ turntable? Or maybe a beatmaker? Should you go for the Pro version? Or can you make do with the free one?

We answer those questions in today's roundup of the best DJ apps on Android, all to help you create the next hit track.

1 BandLab - Music Making Studio

BandLab allows you to create and share music within a community of 50+ million users and counting. More importantly, at no cost.

Choose from a wide variety of popular genres, including house, rock, and rap, and take advantage of BandLab's music-mixing features to compose your own one-of-a-kind track.

One of BandLab's standout features is the ability to record a sound, almost any, for that matter, and use it within your composition. In addition to that, the app provides you with a tuner and metronome.

User reviews on the Play Store praise the app's ease of use, selection of features, and royalty-free music, as well as lack of ads.

2 Beat Layers: Music, Beat Maker

Even in its description, Beat Layers makes it abundantly clear that the app is aimed at the beginner. A simple UI makes it as easy as possible to add and arrange different sound effects. But if you want to personalize your track, Beat Layers does allow you to record vocals and layer them on top.

Beat Layers features a decent number of sound packs. They include hip-hop and EDM, as well as techno and dubstep. In comparison to some other apps, it might fall short in terms of music selection. In other words, experienced users will likely find its offering lackluster. But beginners could have something to practice with without feeling overwhelmed by options.

3 Beat Maker Pro

Beat Maker Pro offers a rewarding and visually gratifying experience. For one, it shows you how to take advantage of the app's many features. But in addition, the app also gives you feedback on your inputs and showers you with achievements whenever you succeed.

Completing lessons and scoring well on them unlocks new tracks for you to experiment with. In essence, this little gamification element encourages you to learn how to use the app.

Beat Maker Pro offers a paid Pro version, but you can give the Pro version a go for three days and see if it's a worthwhile investment.

4 DiscDj 3D Music Player

DiscDj 3D Music Player offers something that no other DJ app does, a full 3D model of a DJ turntable. And a fairly detailed one at that. You can rotate the digital turntable, zoom in and out, and interact with the various switches and knobs as you would with an actual turntable. Well, almost.

With DiscDj 3D, you can upload tracks saved on your device and remix them into a multitude of genres. Either that, or mix two tracks into a single harmonious composition; select from a vast range of presets, play around with the equalizer, adjust pitch, add sound effects, and much more.

5 Drum Pad Machine

While DrumPad Machine introduces you to the basics, the app does have a fairly steep learning curve. In other words, you may wish to test the waters with a more user-friendly app than this.

The difficulty stems from the fact that the Drum Pad Machine encourages you to use multiple fingers for creating a track. It gives fewer cues for timing each beat and there's little hand-holding. As a result, this app might cater to users that are already somewhat familiar with creating music.

On the bright side, the app offers a paid ad-free plan that you can trial for 7 days to test the premium features that it offers.

6 Easy Beat

Easy Beat offers several styles of music to choose from, including hip-hop, phonk, EDM, and synthwave. Furthermore, the app gets weekly updates in the form of new music packs. It provides you with straightforward tools like leads and bass to compliment your first track. And once you're done, you can easily share your song in an MP3 format.

The app also guides you through the creation of your first piece so you can get a good feel for the workflow. Better yet, no matter what combination of sounds you choose, the resulting tracks sound harmonious, which means anyone can create with Easy Beat.

7 Edjing Mix

Made by the same company as Beat Maker Pro, Edjing Mix is possibly the most feature-packed app on today's list. It simulates a digital turntable and guides you through the necessary steps of using the various tools.

The app also teaches you how to turn the plethora of provided sample tracks into something of your own. Edjing Mix is free-to-use, though it does offer a paid PRO version. But much like with many DJ apps, you can try the PRO features for three days and switch to the free version afterward.

8 Groovepad

Groovepad is developed by Easybrain, the same company that makes Drum Pad Machine. Both apps share a similar intro and UI. That said, the learning curve here is much lower than in the Drum Pad Machine.

Groovepad allows you to create tracks from scratch by combining diverse beats, effects, and vocals. It includes a variety of music genres to choose from, including hip-hop, house, and other varied electronica.

The app teaches you by offering suggestions on which beats to combine and when to incorporate them into the composition.

Groovepad is ad-supported and displays ads between lessons, but every ad can be easily skipped. Should you wish for an ad-free experience, there's an optional monthly or yearly subscription pack that provides access to weekly sound packs that also removes ads. There's also a free 7-day trial, so you can see what the premium experience is like.

9 Music Maker JAM: Beatmaker App

Music Maker JAM is a beatmaker app that caters to users of all levels. It's simple enough for a beginner to grasp but has enough features to keep more experienced users engaged.

The app offers over 300 mix packs and more than half a million different loops. Music Maker JAM also features a plethora of music genres. Styles include hip-hop, house, pop, and rock, but also jazz and Latin.

It gives you a novel way to compose tracks that turns it into an engaging rhythm-based game. How? By shaking your device. On top of the app's in-built community feature, it also boasts integrations for quick sharing to YouTube, SoundCloud, and other noteworthy social media platforms.

10 Remixlive

Remixlive is another drum pad looping app that offers an abundance of options for creating music tracks, no matter your tastes. Add bass, synth, vocals, and various effects to your tracks with a simple press of a button.

Unfortunately, the app doesn't offer a training mode, but its straightforward UI makes it beginner-friendly. On the contrary, Remixlive has a lot of features and options under its sleeve to attract experienced artists.

Remixlive boasts weekly content updates with over 26000 samples for you to experiment with, as well as over 20 musical genres. And on top of using it to compose music, you can use it as a DJ tool during live performances.

11 Virtual DJ Mixer

Virtual DJ Mixer provides you with several options to experiment with. Like Groovepad, this app offers multiple music styles: House, Dubstep, Chill, Trap, and more. Virtual DJ Mixer gives you the chance to create simple tracks by using a combination of beats, bass, and vocal effects.

The app walks you through some of the finer nuances of composing. This includes tips on blending, remixing, and creating your first track. In other words, it's easy to pick up even for complete newbies. Likewise, adept users will probably find the depth of features just as appealing.

Music at your fingertips with the best DJ apps around

While the above collection may seem similar on the surface, these music creation apps vary in features and target audience. For one, they cater to different skill levels, from beginners to competent users. Certain apps, such as DiscDj 3D, give you reigns over a virtual turntable. Others, like Beat Layers and Groovepad, allow you to compose music by combining various sound effects.

Is there a better DJ app than the ones above? Leave a comment down below and tell us about your favorite Android tool to compose music with.