Different Drummer

HOME WAVES AUTOMATION SAVING SEQUENCES MIXER SETUP SUPPORT

4^.⁹⁹

Audio: Examples Video: Zenterface Wave Tutorial PDF: Guide

Our Users Say It Best:

Must have by Sattech27 ★★★★★

Different Drummer is a must have app for anyone interested in music. It does have a bit of a learning curve, but that's to be expected given the breadth of the app. Still, it's not too difficult to learn the fundamentals in a short period, and there are videos, the community, the manual, and a very responsive dev. The biggest plus though is that you can generate very unique pieces with the app. Randomization and automation are well implemented, and that's enough to get you started. With the addition of a port to the iPhone, you can now be Different anywhere!

One of a kind! by B'bba ★★★★★

I have a few apps in my iPad that I think of as Mind-Stretchers. Though the learning curve is steep, once you get the hang of it, the results are endlessly fascinating. Most apps offer you new ways to get to old places. This feature-packed gem takes you to new sonic and musical worlds very quickly. It helps you to think of music in new ways. It is a labor of love for this developer as he continues to bring refinements to it. This is a true masterpiece for iOS!

Over my fear! by Ben Efitofadoubt ★★★★★

All the talk of the complexity of this app scared me away forever, but I finally took the plunge. Man, am I glad that I did! Sure, I haven't begun to crack the programming, but so many great sounding presets are provided for tweaking delight. Did I mention that it sounds really good? I am really enjoying this one and running it on both my pad and phone. Running it a lot.

remarkably innovative app by Alexis with an iPad ★★★★★

'consistently polishes this app beyond expectations and pushes the limits of "alt perspectives" that actually boosts accessibility & functionality. This extremely intuitive ui/interior design & concept that should set an example for ALL future app developers in some fashion. Different drummer is doing something else and thats exactly what this seemingly "transparent digital era" needs more of

Awesome app by Njgkcicjfjdkd ★★★★★

I have plenty of music apps...synths, DAWs, sequencers, beat boxes, effects, drum machines...you name it, but Different Drummer has been the most used of all of them.

Amazingly creative app with realtime updating. I ask the developer to update a feature and they responded by a adding to their next update. One of the best iOS apps for drumming easily.

Powerful and deep by TBPHX ★★★★★

This app just keeps getting better and better. The more you dive into it the more it will reward you with its wave metaphor of rhythm.

No Other Drum Machine Like It by Modravoda ★★★★★

A very interesting and flexible approach to rhythm. It takes some effort to learn how to use it, but it's effort well spent.

Generative Beast! by Grey Fortress ★★★★★

Love this app!!! Put in the time to learn and understand how it works and you will be rewarded. This is for those who wish to create something new and original. If you want to create tired old 4 on the floor 808-style beats, geezus there are hundreds of other apps that will do the trick.

Superba by Capitan Totti (IT) ★★★★★

The most intriguing and deep app in the store. A Must for all musicians. (translated)

Really like it by Browncoversurazz (US) ★★★★★

Took a chance since I saw everyone on the forums complaining about the price ,,, the price didn't bother me compare to $300 hardware ,,, it's a really interesting way to make beats I can honestly say I really like it a lot one thing maybe would be cool if u could add pads but none the less it's really cool

OMG WOW! by Buck Snot (US) ★★★★★

I'm a crap drummer and have been looking for something like this where I can experiment and listen to different drum patterns and tweak them I think I'll be using this App about everyday now and can't wait for more Updates! Thx ;]

Amazing synthesis and sound, now it works great with Audiobus by Twirling Erling (CA) ★★★★★

Audiobus now works in iOS 6 and A great sounding app with incredible potential...looking forward to the update. Well done, nothing like it out there...

Very impressive by Trueyorky (UK) ★★★★★

This really is very good and nothing like ANY other app to date. Very unique, intuitive to use (I haven't even looked for a manual) and sounds fantastic. Feature packed too - you can paste in your own samples and it supports AudioBus. Superb :-) Update: the latest update is fantastic bringing landscape view and grid mode. Ooh I love this app. Brilliant. Nice makeover in latest updates as the dev's hard work continues.

Worth the Money 2 by JustTech01 (AU) ★★★★★

Played with this for a couple of days now and love it. Much More than a drum machine or sequencer. A very adaptable synthesiser really. You can morph any of the percussion samples into any sound you think up. The examples on the developers website don't give the whole picture. Worth $150? Maybe, maybe not...but $50 Yes indeed...

Truly Different by Dpg499 (US) ★★★★★

This app is great and truly unlike any drum program I've ever used. It can be a little tough to control because there's not one of those "kick on the 1, snare on the 2" sequencers that every other drum machine seems to have. But if you're looking for a drum that will surprise you and give you patterns that you might not have thought of, this is your baby. Worth every penny. I'll add that the customer service is great. I've had a few issues that were resolved very quickly. All told, one of the best apps I've ever bought.

Worth it for me by shakurav1 (US) ★★★★★

"I like playing synths and was looking for "the ultimate drum app" to go with synth lines but now I simply play your application with two or three modified drum beats and passes it through Turnado (Sugar Bytes), I rediscover fun and do not even think about synth because it all seems possible with Different Drummer. Thank you!"

Marc Bestgen—Belgium

"Hi. I just bought your app and I wanted to tell you that I love that thing. A new world for creativity. A new kind of app. Pro, that´s the word. Thanks a lot for your job, and happy new year."

Pro Musician—France

"I just bought your iPad app, Different Drummer the other day (in spite of the price tag...you have some point in mentioning that VSTs usually are in a similar price range) and I must say I absolutely don't regret it!"

Electronic Musician—Switzerland

"I just wanted to add that this is the most inspiring drum creation app by far. I don't think I'll be able to go back to a normal drum machine after this. It is just so easy to come up with really interesting parts with rhythms that I haven't been able to achieve before, which makes me even more excited by the prospect of the Cyclophone app. If you put recording and audio copy into this it will certainly dominate the iOS drum market, but it will do that as it is, it's unique and basically just creates better results than anything else.

So thank you for giving me this experience :-)"

Nick Trass—Pro Bass Player, Australia

Different Drummer is innovative touch music software for iPad that uses the innate rhythmic power of waves to control all aspects of music using our patent pending Cyclophone Technology. Since waves are the primal source of all cyclical motion in the Universe, it makes sense to tap into them for musical purposes other than synthesizers. Not only can waves create sounds, they can play sounds and compose music too. We feel we have discovered the "Fountain of Drumming" and we are sharing our discovery with the world! But make no mistake, Different Drummer does much more than play drums so it's more like a "Fountain of Music!"

While this app is definitely fun to play with, real production is what it's for—saving wave patterns and combining them into sequences and recording tracks, or as a live performance tool. It can also be used to inspire new ideas for drum patterns or rhythmic ideas for songs because, as you will find out, the variety of rhythms and melodies is truly endless. If you are serious about your rhythm tracks, Different Drummer is a must-have tool! Pros can use the direct MIDI out and MIDI sync features to use this to play complex musical wave patterns out to other synthesizers and drum machines on your iPad or in your studio.

The Power of Waves × 6 × 7 × 8!

The main saved module of Different Drummer is the Wave Set which is a collection of up to 8 Drum Waves, each of those composed of six Control Waves:

Note Wave: Changes the pitch of drums. You won't believe the difference "tonal" drumming makes to your productions. With Different Drummer you set the key and scale of your drums and can change it on the fly for enhanced impact. Many times drums are out of tune with the songs they are used in creating subtle harmonic dissonance. Different Drummer samples have been tuned to a key pitch and can be transposed with ease and locked into one of over 70 musical scales. Even using slight pitch variations takes your drums from black and white into color!

Rest Wave: Lets you create gaps in the drum pattern based on the interaction between a wave pattern and a line. The rest wave has a huge impact on the perceived rhythm since it determines where notes can play or not play.

Tie Wave: Lets you create rhythmic variations that tie drum notes together or break them apart based on waves. Tie waves have an intense effect on rhythms and are reliant on the wave's assigned beat-value that determines how fast or slow untied notes play.

Dynamic Wave: Lets you control the loudness or velocity of drum strikes creating a very human feel. Slower dynamic waves create crescendos while faster waves can create complex accents.

Panning Wave: Lets you control the left-right position of drums dynamically.

Beat Wave: Lets you change the fundamental beat value over time according to a wave pattern

Each of these component waves is composed of a Fundamental wave and 6 partials of that fundamental, making for an astronomical set of variables that allow you to dial in any rhythm imaginable and many more that are unimaginable—the whole point of Different Drummer. Nothing can replace a good live drummer, but Different Drummer will definitely inspire drummers to try new things and may even intimidate a few of them because it's hard to compete with the pefection of waves and mathematics.

1900's = Patterns and Loops
2000's = Patterns and Loops
Future = Drum Waves

The Different Drummer 4 interface comes in two flavors: Advanced (shown below) and the more intuitive Zenterface* (shown above). The Advanced interface is broken into three main sections:

The Scrolling Visualizer at top shows drum notes as they are played so you can get an idea of which voices are doing what in real-time. Vertical lines depict measures. Above this area are a few controls for: Master Tempo, to Capture the current Wave settings if you like them and the all-important Play-Pause button. Use the Range Control to limit final output of each voice to a specified range. Bring up the Piano Transposer to change drum or musical keys on-the-fly.

The Touch-enabled Wave Display is an important section where the currently active editing effects are shown. Pinch the wave to change frequency or slide it to change position or phase. Zoom in or out on a wave using the + and – buttons to see how it looks over 1 measure or up to 16 measures. Above the Wave Display is the Wave Selector which allows you to select, solo and mute waves. The White selector is used for any actions or adjustments you want to perform on all the waves at once. Toggle into Grid Mode to capture the wave in a traditional fixed grid loop up to 16 measures long. When in Grid Mode, you can override the wave and add, delete and move notes as desired. You can combine grid and non-grid voices.

The Control Area at the bottom of the screen is where most of the action takes place. This is where you construct and explore wave patterns and save them as well as make sequences or set up automation. You can also export wave sets as MIDI files to be used in other applications via iTunes, email or Dropbox.

On the right side of the Controls is the Control Switcher that is used to move between different control panels.

The Zenterface (shown above) can be switched into at any time to interact in a more graphical and intuitive way. The waves are wrapped into a circular form depicting measures of music as "Zen Flowers" that react to your touch as you control notes, rests, ties, etc. This super fun feature is only available in version 4.0 and higher.

Wave Controls let you tap and dial in an endless variety of note, rest, tie, panning, beat and dynamic settings that work together to create distinctive drum/music patterns never before possible. Our dedicated Frequency and Amplitude Controllers give higher precision with fine control and accelerate for courser control. We provide convenient randomizers to help you explore the vast array of possibilities which you can then tune to your liking and save or record.

Things you can do here include:

Wave Controls: To Adjust all wave parameters
Automation Controls: To create automated morphing sequences based on randomization
Sounds and Scales: To change instruments and musical scales
Grid Settings: To control how a voice behaves in Grid Mode
Mixer: To add effects and alter the volume of the drum tracks
Wave Manager: To save, rename, delete and export wave sets
Sequences: To string together wave sets to create compositions for live playback or recording
Setup: To control MIDI and Audio outputs

FEATURES

Universal app optimized for iPad, iPad Pro and iPhone
Abelton Link support
Many modes of operation: Wave, Grid, Step-sequencer and Zenterface
Import MIDI files and then manipulate them with waves
Add unlimited Jamlets, customizable buttons that perform Macros for live performance or recording
Jammer let's you play along on a separate track in key and sync
Zen Phaser let's you automate the phase of any of the waves
Supports both landscape and portrait mode
8 Instrument Tracks with 6-wave Cyclophone Controls or traditional Grid Editing, populated by wave settings plus one play-along track
Up to 2 harmony voices for each track for a total of 24 potential notes at once (if your device can handle it)
Each track has independent looping up to 16 measures in Grid Mode or endless in Wave Mode
Progression Composer allows automated key and scale changes after specified beats, doubles as arpeggiator
Jammer lets you improvise with pads or a dynamic color keyboard on top of DD's other voices
Operations provide useful functions for manipulating all or targeted tracks such as Cannon (Fugue), Rangify, Flatten and more
Combine Drums, Musical Instruments and Effects to create complex full-spectrum music easily
Access hundreds of free presets in Preset Sharing Community organized by Category, including many great samples
Built-in Documentation plus PDF
16-bit Stereo Recording—freeform or preset measure/time length for seamless loops
AudioBus 2 with State Saving, Remote and IAA compatible
iOS 9+ optimized for iPad, iPad Pro, iPhone
Piano keyboard transposer
Note range controller
Background Mode allows you to play on top of or under other apps
Export audio via: AudioCopy, Dropbox, AudioShare or iTunes
Import Custom CAF and WAV Samples via iTunes, Dropbox, AudioShare or AudioPaste
Control drum pitches, rests, ties, panning, beat value and dynamics with waves
Instant Capture in case you hear a killer beat you want saved
Save Wave Sets to Wave Library—organize in folders or save as templates
String Wave Sets together in saved Sequences
Export Wave Sets and Sequences as MIDI Files
Over 190 stereo drum sounds provided
Over 70 musical scales to assign drums to in any key
Reverb, Filter, Distortion effects and mixer
Set the Key, Time Signature and Tempo (includes Tap)
Automation for randomizing and morphing playback in advanced ways with "Return to Theme" feature
MIDI Sync Out and In
Up to 9 Channels of customized MIDI Out
Core MIDI lets you play other synthesizers and drum machines on your iPad such as Animoog and NLog Pro or to any devices hooked up to your iPad
Supports Retronyms AudioCopy and AudioPaste as well as General Pasteboard for ultimate inter-app sharing
Customize color theme to your liking

USES

Quickly create credible, copyright-free drum parts and share them between projects, 1 track or 8 tracks at a time
Create next-level drum parts perfectly tuned to your songs and hear the difference.
Movie, TV and theatrical soundtracks
Idea generator/scratchpad obliterates writer's block
Create rich backing tracks for layered electronic music
Live performance and improv
DJ mixing
Dubstep, EDM and Hip Hop
As a MIDI controller for either drums or music
Stay ahead of deadline production schedules
Commercials and promo materials
Experimental music
A new kind of arpeggiator
Algorithmic Raves
Entertainment/relaxation, set it on automate and sit back

Rated Killer App by
apps4iDevices.com