DrumPerfect for iPad

hobbio

Just downloaded this, and it looks very complicated. I was expecting at least a few pre-recorded patterns but they're either not there or I can't see them.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for help and maybe some downloadable patterns I can import and mess around with?

hobbio

What, you're all seriously going to make me do my own friggin research?

Lol, if I find anything I'll post it here in case anyone else gets DrumPerfect.

TTony

I've been looking for a drums app for the iPad for a little while.  If its any good, I'll take a closer look - review please!!

steamabacus

I can't really comment on Drum Perfect as I've never used it and I'm a total Luddite when it comes to iPads (I don't even have a smart phone) so I'm not a lot of use, haha.

What I will say, though, is that I'm using an old version of Addictive Drums which is very user friendly. You can run it as a stand alone 'drum machine' style device or as a VST instrument triggered by a sequencer (Cubase SX in my case). Included with it are quite a few drum grooves, fills, etc in a selection of styles (which you can either play drum machine style or drag into your sequencer as a midi pattern.

Various midi drum patterns can be found on the net for free which can be used to trigger the AD drum sounds.

If I'm just noodling with AD I'll just start up one of the preset patterns, select a kit I like the sound of and maybe tweak the sound in the mix (I get a lot of mileage out of just tweaking the 'overheads' and 'room sound' levels without any deep fiddly editing). The kit is laid out like a normal mixer with faders for levels - all very intuitive. Sounds pretty natural, too.

So, if you find Drum Perfect a bit too fiddly/complicated maybe check out Addictive Drums if there is an iPad version.

hobbio

TTony said:

I've been looking for a drums app for the iPad for a little while.  If its any good, I'll take a closer look - review please!!

I'll post a full review with sound clips once I've figured some stuff out. What I can say so far is that the drum samples themselves are excellent and very realistic.

steamabacus said:

I can't really comment on Drum Perfect as I've never used it and I'm a total Luddite when it comes to iPads (I don't even have a smart phone) so I'm not a lot of use, haha.

What I will say, though, is that I'm using an old version of Addictive Drums which is very user friendly. You can run it as a stand alone 'drum machine' style device or as a VST instrument triggered by a sequencer (Cubase SX in my case). Included with it are quite a few drum grooves, fills, etc in a selection of styles (which you can either play drum machine style or drag into your sequencer as a midi pattern.

Various midi drum patterns can be found on the net for free which can be used to trigger the AD drum sounds.

If I'm just noodling with AD I'll just start up one of the preset patterns, select a kit I like the sound of and maybe tweak the sound in the mix (I get a lot of mileage out of just tweaking the 'overheads' and 'room sound' levels without any deep fiddly editing). The kit is laid out like a normal mixer with faders for levels - all very intuitive. Sounds pretty natural, too.

So, if you find Drum Perfect a bit too fiddly/complicated maybe check out Addictive Drums if there is an iPad version.

I'll bear that in mind when I move across to Ableton Live mate, thanks for the heads up.

wayneirie

Funk box is good for electronic stuff. I like easy beats as well. Based on akai mpc simple to program fills and rolls and you can use any samples you like.

hobbio

@TTony There's quite a steep learning curve, but I suppose that depends on how much drum programming you've done before. In my case it's almost zero, so a lot of the terms are new to me. That said, I've managed to make a start on actually getting some rhythms together and it's very realistic. There's an option to humanise your patterns, which randomises the velocity, timing and probability a bit to introduce human variances, as well as a two-handed option that means it will only play what a real drummer could. It actually makes a big difference to how realistic it all sounds, and coupled with the quality of the samples it's really good. 

I've only just scratched the surface, but what I'm doing is building up the patterns live, one sample instrument at a time and then adjusting it afterwards in the pattern editor or the grid. The quantisation seems to be handled by setting the subdivision for each bar to whatever you want, which makes it very flexible. There's also ways to introduce triplets etc but I haven't tried it yet. No sound clips yet cos I haven't done enough, but I'll get some up soon.

For £11 I'd say it's worth it, it's expensive for an app but cheap for a drum machine. It supports IAA, Audiobus, MIDI etc and outputs to just about everything short of punch cards.

There's no built in patterns to play with that I can see, but I'm sure there's a shitload on the web that can be downloaded if you want and it'll import MIDI too I presume.

Hope this helps!

hobbio

Scratch that bit about no built in patterns, I've found 'em! I've also worked out how to get it to play nicely with GarageBand too. It's a really good drum app, this.

TTony

Thanks @hobbio - I might have to raid my piggy bank ...

wayneirie

@hobbio. Just got this impressed so far lots of cool stuff.

hobbio

It certainly has depth.