Comparison

Samba Pad vs Staff Notebooks

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Samba Pad

This app provides a collection of 36 authentic Brazilian and Latin drum beats for music production and live performance. It features independent track control, tempo adjustment, and intro/ending options for creative mixing.

Highlights
  • 36 Brazilian and Latin beats
  • 8 independent instrument tracks
  • Independent pan and volume control
  • Intro and ending playback
  • Mute track function
  • Adjustable BPM slider
Features
Read full description

Welcome to the envolving Brazilian music scene! This app is a drum machine application as an easy way to play 36 of our favorite and exotic beats from Brazilloops website. It comes with several variations of Samba, Bossa Nova, Muzenza, Maracatu, Capoeira, Afro-Brazilian beats and some Latin as well, ready to mix with your music in your studio or live performance. It’s a high quality sample player* with 8 instrument tracks, each one with independent pan and volume. It plays the factory loops previously downloaded in the player. Features an “intro” and “ending” playing and mute track function. Also you can change the speed in the bpm slider. Try it with your own settings of volume and panning, mute some instruments and you will find a new world of possibilities to mix in your project! It’s a loop player (pre-recorded audio) and not a sequencer machine, so it enables original Brazilian rhythms style and human touch in the project. A very handy application to play exotic Brazilian beats in the iPad for live performance or even for studio recording! *At the first launch, the synchronization slider is adjusted to 1/4. Different iPads/phones devices may need to adjust the sync slider for perfect synchronization between tracks. Adjust when the player is stopped.

About

Staff Notebooks

Create and manage handwritten music sheets digitally. This app allows musicians to compose, edit, and organize their musical ideas with ease. Perfect for songwriters and composers on the go.

Highlights
  • Handwritten music sheet creation
  • Digital composition
  • Editing tools
  • Organization of musical ideas
  • Mobile composing
Features
Read full description

This is a music sheet note app.

Screenshots

Samba Pad1 screens
Staff Notebooks1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Staff Notebooks at Free against Samba Pad's $19.99. Staff Notebooks also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and rating (4.4 vs 4.0). Samba Pad's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Staff Notebooks is free to download; Samba Pad costs $19.99 up front. Staff Notebooks sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Samba Pad asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Staff Notebooks holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Staff Notebooks has 47 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Samba Pad ships an update every 2 months, Staff Notebooks weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Samba Pad versus Staff Notebooks: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSamba PadStaff Notebooks
Price$19.99Free — better
Rating4.0 (1 ratings)4.4 (47 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—57.1% of reviews
Number of ratings147 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size63 MB20 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEduardo SalladaJumpei Adachi

Customer experience

Samba Pad

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Staff Notebooks

All ratings47 ratings
Positive85.1%
Neutral4.3%
Negative10.6%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive57.1%
Neutral14.3%
Negative28.6%

In-app purchases

None

Samba Pad

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Staff Notebooks

One-time1
  • Paid Version$5.99

Questions

Is Samba Pad free?
Samba Pad costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Staff Notebooks free?
Staff Notebooks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Samba Pad or Staff Notebooks?
Staff Notebooks is rated higher. Samba Pad averages 4.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Staff Notebooks averages 4.4 from 47 ratings.
Do Samba Pad or Staff Notebooks have ads?
Neither Samba Pad nor Staff Notebooks shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Samba Pad or Staff Notebooks?
Samba Pad ships an update every 2 months, and Staff Notebooks weekly. Most recently, Samba Pad was updated on November 2, 2026 and Staff Notebooks on November 7, 2026.

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