Best iPad Finger Drumming Apps

Finger Drumming Gear / Software / Setup
1

Hey, thought I would start a topic to see if anyone wants to talk about their favorite iPad / iPhone apps for finger drumming.

I just recently got an iPad and have been digging in to finding good music apps to either tap directly on screen or more preferably, to use external midi controller pads with.

Most virtual drumpads found in apps are not velocity sensitive but there are actually some apps have done a decent job with that using the surface area of your finger to detect how hard you are hitting.

One great one I found that is a free app is called ExpressionPad (http://expressionpad.com/) It has some cool synth sounds built into it, but you can also use it as a midi controller for other apps.

Another velocity sensitive controller app that Iā€™ve seen is called Velocity Keyboard (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/velocity-keyboard/id1462605052) - I have not yet used this app, but others seem to like it.

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Hey great info! Itā€™s really hard to find good apps because the app stores are so saturated. I must have tried dozens of apps, and so far havenā€™t been ā€œblown awayā€ so always nice to get some recommendations!

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Is there an iPad solution that works with a physical pad controller?
It would be really nice if there was a solution that would work like AD2 on the iPad and a controller that works via the USB / Photo Kit, so that you could take things on the road.
I tried hooking up the Maschine Mikro to my iPad, but it uses too much current and is not recognized as a MIDI input device.

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The Launchpad X works well on an iPad

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In most cases youā€™ll need external power is what I foundā€¦ One way to do this is to hook up a powered usb hub to the ipad and then plug the device into the hub. That way you can power usb devices that dont have their own power in.

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Regarding drum software - is there an iOS app that does what AD2 can do on my laptop - other than Garage Band? Great sounding natural drums, not necessarily with a built-in DAW.

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I am new here so I donā€™t now the idea with korg gadget was mentioned? Itā€™s not that normal type of natural finger drumming but a lot of fun and I am looking forward to extend my keyboard and bass guitar playing with finger drumming and wanted to use Korg gadget with an mpd from AKAI. Is that a good idea?

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Thereā€™s no software available on a mobile platform that does what AD2 does. My guess is the real time processing power isnt here yet and / or they dont want to invest in making it happen because they figure they cant sell it to a lot of people (yet).

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Worth mentioning here. My LaunchPad X works with my iPad even when fully powered by the iPad itself, no powered hub needed and it doesnā€™t even need power in provided to the camera kit adapter either!

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I havenā€™t done a lot of exploration of the various beat-making and dedicated drum apps that are available for iPad. But I have a good one to share with you guys today.

Normally $9.99, this week only- BeatHawk is free! You can load in your own sound samples, play with external pad controllers, velocity sensitive.

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Oh nice!!! Thatā€™s a very good tip.

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Old thread here, but Iā€™ll throw out a comment anyway! Iā€™ve only used the touch-screen on my iPad, but that being said, these are apps Iā€™ve used and could recommend:

For beat-making specifically, Beat Maker 3 really has most everything you could ask for.

Cubasis 3 - Arguably the best all-around DAW for the iPad IMHO, good for making beats, but not as good as Beat Maker for that purpose.

Patterning 2 - My favorite beat-making iPad app. Slightly steep learning curve, but once you know how to use it, it gives you instant beat-making success.

BeatHawk - A powerful drum machine with good sounds and a million tweakable settings.

Rock DM - Very realistic drum kits, live tweaking of complexity of beats, lots of cool classic grooves.

Pure Acid - A great acid/trance/house drum machine. No realism hereā€¦ its definitely for EDM. Lots of fun, instantly rewarding.

Other apps I have that arenā€™t specifically beat-oriented, but are good sources for inspiration and composing:

Synthscaper: An amazing ambient/texture generator with a unique interface.

Pure Synth Platinum: Maybe the best and most realistic instrument sounds for your money you can buy for the iPad without loading huge samples.

Aparillo: Another synth with a unique live-play modulating methodology.

Drambo: Incredibly powerful and flexible modular synth. Very high learning curve.

Finally, GarageBand WOULD be a favorite if it wasnā€™t so neutered in the file-export area, making it useless for my purposes since I donā€™t use a Macā€¦ but if you donā€™t need to export anything to PC, then the ā€œDrummerā€ part of Garageband is really hard to beat. :stuck_out_tongue:

All of the above are pretty good apps that Iā€™ve had success with. All are stand-alone, and some are tougher than others to integrate into your iPadā€™s DAW, and some only shine once youā€™ve bought an expansion pack or two, but all are pretty darn good.

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A new app for iOS just came out in the UK and USA called Flip and although it is a simplified DAW app, it has a nice 9 pad layout that you can load with any sample in your collection, record your own sounds right into the app and tweak the parameters instantly, or buy their sound packs. It doesnā€™t work with external MIDI controllers (yet) but the on screen pads are big and sort of velocity sensitive (as much as the iPad screen can handle). I like it!

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I am also using an iPad, and think there is a lot of potential for doing Quest for Groove style finger drumming on touch screens, especially for those getting started. However, I definitely prefer a physical controller to a touch screen.

Have been using BeatMaker 3 with a Presonus Atom. It works, but found it very tedious to set up for the QFG layout.

I donā€™t like BeatMaker 3 much, and would love to explore other options

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Was looking for that app ā€˜flipā€™ on my iPad and canā€™t see anything other than some games. Can you help?

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I found it under Flip Sampler. Here is a link to more info. https://www.flipsampler.com/

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What kind of cable do you use to connect your LaunchPad X to your iPad? I use a USB-C to lightning cable and my Launchpad X doesnā€™t power up.

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Iā€™m using a dual usb camera adapter like this: https://www.amazon.com/Deorna-Adapter-Charging-Compatible-Keyboard/dp/B082FGDL7Y/

Some devices need to have power plugged into that too to work, but for me, the Launchpad X still works perfectly without external power - but on that note, I only know that is the case for my particular ipad model which is a 7th Generation MW762LL/A - it may or may not work the same way for other models.

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A good 4x4 app just got released, DigiStix 2 and Iā€™ve been playing with it for a few hours. It has a standalone mode and AUv3. Easy to figure out and comes with some nice basic drum sounds but very simple to import your own samples with up to 5 layers per pad. It can do round robin, random, or velocity layers and works seamlessly with a MIDI pad controller. I am importing one of my multisampled acoustic drum kits right now (Raw 70ā€™s Kit from MPC Samples) and it is going fast. It has MIDI learn, and in less than one minute it was mapped to my controller. It has a built in metronome too. For less than $10 US, Iā€™m really impressed. I would love to be at home, with my laptop and AD2, but since I have to be mobile right now, the iPad with a Launchpad X is really helping me make progress with QFG.

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21

Have not seen it mentioned here. Some weeks ago Klevgrand released the Oneshot app for ipad (AuV3). Really nice kits come with it and itā€™s still the intro sale around 23ā‚¬ - which is a bargain.

Has round robin samples and can be played very velocity sensitive.
It already exists for some time on desktop - so you could demo it on pc or mac.

I waited for such an app on ios for some time :slight_smile: - great for portable finger drumming and with a host like loopy pro, AUM or Audiobus possibilities are endless. But functions standalone too.

Here is the link to the developers site: Klevgrand - Audio Plugins from Sweden with love