Drambo

I’ve had Drambo for a few months, and it just keeps impressing and surprising me. There is a bit of a learning curve, but there is also plenty of help via the dev’s site and included tutorials (not to mention the new Help system with the last update.) That said, once you get over the hump Drambo is fast and intuitive. This is one of those humbling apps that makes you think twice before buying that new shiny hardware or app… “can I build it Drambo?” The answer is most likely “yes.” The in-app purchases are worth every penny. The UI makes excellent use of screen real estate, and helps keep you focused on the task at hand. I can’t stress how important that part is, and how other iOS apps drop the ball in that realm. The modules sound great. Is this the best, smoothest, angriest Sallen-Key filter I’ve heard in the digital domain? Probably. I’m a “hardware” guy and it takes a lot for me to get excited about iPad music apps. Drambo, Koala Sampler, and a knobby MIDI controller will keep m happy for the foreseeable future.

I’ve tried many iPad music apps over the years, and it’s always been enjoyable, but I’ve always felt quite constrained, and iPad has for the most part been a toy, for me. Drambo changes all of that. It’s hard to explain exactly what this app does to a newbie, and in fact it’s almost easier to list what it doesn’t do, which is audio tracks. Apart from that it does basically everything else you could want and can fit into the workflow of basically anyone. You can use this app as a standalone modular grove box, that can host auv3s. It’s similar to Bitwig or Reaktor stapled to a Digitact, but it really doesn’t stop there. You can also use Drambo itself as an AUV3 inside of other hosts such as AUM, or Logic Pro and that’s where it gets crazy. It can be a modular synth complete with wavetables and tons of other toys. It can be a a robust full featured sampler. It can be a midi sequencer with clip launching and song mode, which is a game changer for aum. It can be a midi CC modulator, with LFOs and MSEGs, which is also a game changer for aum. It can be a multi effect processor with reverbs, delays, compressor, ect. Even if you only want it for one of those use cases, it’s worth the money, and if your at all like me it will soon work its way into every project, and become your go to for just about everything. If you can only get one app for electronic music making this is the one. I would gladly pay triple what this costs.

I really love this app, it can be as simple or complex as you make it. I love sequencing and I also love to have as much control over my sound as possible, this app really nails both. The use of the QWERTY keyboard as a piano roll and midi mappings is by far my favorite feature. I have found a glitch within the Audio Units feature when using the keyboard. When an audio unit plugin window is open, the keyboard stops functioning. This resolves itself once the window has closed, but I would appreciate the ability to tweak parameters while playing the keys on my keyboard. Also, the ability to search the modules is needed. If I forget where a certain module is, its a pain to hunt it down. iPadOS 15 adds a multi-window shortcut to the top of the display (3 little dots), and this gets in the way of the controls at the top of the screen. Theres not way to turn this off so there will need to be a fix made within Drambo. I tried to contact the developer through their website but got a 404 error. I trust that this will be addressed, every other aspect of the program is remarkable!