Soft Drummer 4+

Somewhere between the soul and soft machine, as Mister Mister sang. I’ve had something of an epiphany when it comes to Lumbeat drummer apps. As has always been the case, the sounds on offer, the variety of rhythms and the inter-Lumbeat sync is outstanding. For example, it’s possible to have all the Lumbeat apps setup under AUM, sending and receiving from each other, so that when a groove is altered in one, this percolates instantly to the others. Thus can some truly unique drum tracks be created. On the negative side, because these are IAA apps there is no state saving. So all of them need to be launched and in the background BEFORE the AUM session is restored. Every single time. The developer is undoubtedly brilliant at what he does, but has stated he does not want to make AU3 version of his apps. This is a pity, as one AU3 app using the existing sounds could be the ultimate IOS drum & bass app. At some point, like a train coming down the track, Apple will make IAA redundant. I would hope that by then the developer has had his own epiphany, and made the app I suggest. For sure, there would be a customer base ready to buy.

The rating is 100%down to the sounds this app produces, structuring the metaphysics of a jazz thing - I don't use Ableton so the link betwixt this iOS & macOS is tenuous: musical instrument digital interface reminds me of Yamaha DX7 fm digital synthesis(!): all drum machine applications I've so far encountered have fallen short & I'm a snob where r.free drum loops are concerned so sampling has been my preferred method, but this Beat Generation app augers polyrhythmic positivity in possible productions (provisionally) - how much did I pay? Worth it for the sounds, hence my rating

This app is really organic feeling and sounding and just what I was looking for to accompany my acoustic guitar noodling.

I’ve deducted one star only because the app doesn’t appear to have any way to export rendered audio or midi. This isn’t really a big deal as you can record both by syncing up to a recording app like Cubasis or even AUM.

The internal sounds on this app are great. If, for any reason you need a different drum sound, i do love the fact that the app will output configurable midi notes for each drum meaning that you can play the patterns out to external drum apps that you may already have to give you different sound options.