DRUMLAB, New Hybrid Drum Machine With Samples & Synthesis For iPad

June 5, 2021 Synth Anatomy iOS, News, Software 0

With Drumlab, Audionomy shows a new drum machine for iPad with multiple drum synth engines, sampler, tons of effects, and an advanced step sequencer.

I have been accompanying iOS apps with great enthusiasm for many years. Pascal Douillard (Audionomy), for example, was there early with his DM1 drum machine, which I continue to like to use. A few years later, DM2 came along. Again for iOS, again a drum machine and this time full of synthesis with deeper features.

After DM2 comes DM3. Wrong, Drumlab is the name of his new app. This time, you get a drum machine that offers a sampler, several drum synthesis engines, lots of effects, and a more advanced sequencer.

DRUMLAB

DRUMLAB is a new hybrid drum machine for iOS (iPad only) with both samples and drum synthesis. The app is very reminiscent of the DM2 drum machine, the first app from the developer Audionomy. If you take a closer look at the app, you will see that Pascal has recycled the DM2 interface and equipped with a different feature set. DRUMLAB has six sections: step sequencer, drum engines, pads, mixer, FX, and song mode. Starting with the engines.

The app consists of seven individual drum sound engines that are either based on pure synthesis or on sample playback. You can find the following engines: oscillator, kick, sampler, claps, AM/FM, tymbal, and drone. Each sound generator is supported by a graphical editor with which you can easily craft new drum timbres, even during jams.

The built-in polymetric step sequencer triggers the sounds and handles up to 32 patterns. Each track can have its own length and it also supports triplets, duets, quadruplets steps for more complex rhythms. Besides classic sequencing, you can also record beats live in the sequencer like on an MPC with beat repeat and quantization. On the mixing page, you can mix, pan and solo your drum sounds individually quickly and easily.

Effects

Last but not least, it hosts a powerful quad pads effect processor where you can stack up to 4 effects at the same time. 20 stereo effects (grain delay, resodrive, reverbs…) are available, are automatable, and can be either auxiliary or master effects.

DRUMLAB ships with 76 ready-made samples and synthesis drum kits (vintage, modern & syntheses) with which you can program beats right out of the AppStore box. Further, you get Audiobus, Inter-App Audio, and Ableton Link support, full MIDI implementation, and the option to import songs from the DM2 app.

It’s a shame, the app doesn’t have AUv3 support, which I don’t understand. Nowadays, the AUv3 should be a must-have when developing apps. I hope Pascal of Audionomy will update it with it. Otherwise, it is a solid further development of the well-known DM2 drum machine with interesting features.