Drambo vs M8 Music Tracker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Drambo
This app offers a flexible sound design experience, allowing users to build beats, create synthesizers, and process audio with effects. Its innovative modular system simplifies connections and organization, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced musicians. It functions as a standalone application or a plugin within a DAW.
- Modular sound design
- Intuitive cable-less connections
- Advanced sequencer
- Standalone and AUv3 plugin
- Over 140 modules
- Polyphonic stereo processing
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"Drambo changes the face of iOS music apps." Cult of Mac Drambo is your all-in-one sound laboratory that adapts to your workflow: build beats as a groovebox, design synths, or transform audio with effects, standalone or inside your favorite DAW. At the core of Drambo is a fresh approach to modular design that makes creating with modules easy, fun, and accessible. Connections happen automatically as you add or move modules, so there are no messy cables to slow you down. The interface adapts to your workflow, generating modulation controls when you need them, and even lets modules contain other modules for perfect organization. You’re always free to override the automatic connections, but most of the time, you can just dive in, experiment, and shape sounds without getting tangled in wires. Use a deep and innovative sequencer to compose patterns and whole tracks, for production or live performance. Go beyond simple looping sequences with parameter locking, conditional step components, parameters automation and powerful scene morphing. Drambo works equally well as a self-contained standalone app or audio unit plugin with audio and MIDI connectivity as an AUV3 instrument, audio effect and MIDI effect. You can use Drambo as • A Complete Studio: Produce entire tracks and perform live in a self-contained, multitrack environment. • An Endless modular playground, that allows you to build, modify and store custom instruments and effects. For instance: build a custom synth, sample and resample, build a Theremin using a gyroscope module, or turn your table into a playable surface, by processing microphone input with physical modelling modules. • An Advanced MIDI Sequencer: Control hardware or AUv3 instruments. Generate custom MIDI CC messages or send modulation signals to physical modular synths via DC-coupled interfaces. • The Ultimate AUv3 Plugin: Load Drambo inside other DAWs as an instrument, audio effect, or MIDI processor. Replace dozens of standard plugins by building your own complex modular delays, reverbs, decimators, or modulators in seconds. • A Unified Audio-Visual Studio (Drambo Visual IAP): Arts united. Step into another realm of modular visual synthesis to build complex generative video art, or seamlessly patch your audio and visual engines together for deeply integrated performances. Features: • Polyphonic, stereo processing and audio-rate modulation. All signals are equal. Up to 16 voices per modular instrument rack. • Unique modular concept: cable-less, drag'n'drop, color coding dynamic interface, automatic connections, and customizable compact, rack views. • Directional flow makes Drambo routing and patching straightforward. Signal flows only left to right, so there are no instant feedback routings in Drambo. Delayed feedback is possible using certain modules. • Simple and clean interface, that scales to every size and device orientation • Over 140 modules available, such as: oscillators, samplers, physical modelling modules, LFOs, envelope generators, filters, audio effects, mixers, MIDI processors, sequencers and math functions. (Includes a macro oscillator based on the famous Eurorack Plaits module, with 24 synth engines) • Custom modular racks that can be nested, with presets at the track, rack, and module level. • Clip launcher / song arrager. • 16-tracks, polyphonic sequencer with parameter locks, automation and step components. 8 dedicated step sequence editor types, piano-roll, powerful automation designer with drawing modes and cubic Bezier curves. • Audio Units hosting ( standalone app only ) • Morph groups: you can morph many parameters using a single slider. • Available as a standalone app, AUv3 instrument, effect and MIDI effect. • MIDI and Ableton Link support Drambo is all about control. Control things that other apps don’t even give you access to. Visit the BeepStreet page for help and tutorials, and Patchstorage for community content.
M8 Music Tracker
Create and arrange music with a portable eight-track tracker, synthesizer, and sequencer. Features multiple synth engines, sample playback, and advanced sequencing tools. Offers extensive connectivity and compatibility with hardware and other M8 users.
- Eight-track music tracker and sequencer
- Multiple built-in synth engines (Wavsynth, Macrosynth, FMSynth, Hypersynth)
- Sampler for playback and recording
- Advanced sequencing with modulation, scales, and effects
- MIDI instrument control
- CoreMIDI and IAA integration
- Portrait and landscape support
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M8 tracker is an eight-track music tracker, sequencer, and synthesizer from Dirtywave. Create and arrange music using a portable tracker workflow. Sequences are built from phrases and chains, which can be arranged independently across eight tracks with sequencing and modulation at each step. Instruments • Wavsynth - Chip synth inspired wavetable synth • Macrosynth - Macro oscillators of over 40 unique synthesis engines • FMSynth - Four-operator FM synthesis • Hypersynth - Six-note 13 oscillator swarm synth • Sampler - Sample playback and recording • MIDI instruments for controlling internal or external gear • Up to 128 instruments per song Sequencing • Eight independent monophonic tracks • Instrument tables for advanced modulation • Scales, grooves, probability, and comprehensive effect commands • Live performance and song-rendering tools Connectivity • CoreMIDI input and output • External computer keyboards and game controllers • Ableton Link support • AUv3 plugin version • Inter-App Audio (IAA) integration • Launchpad Pro MKIII support M8 supports portrait and landscape orientations on iPhone and iPad. Projects, instruments, samples, themes, and rendered audio are accessible through the Files app. Built-in contextual help explains every view with shortcuts. M8 for iOS provides the complete M8 workflow in a portable, touch-enabled interface. Songs and bundles are fully compatible with M8 hardware and can be transferred between devices and shared with other M8 users. Join the Dirtywave Discord community to share music, get help, and discuss M8.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: M8 Music Tracker at none against Drambo's 5. M8 Music Tracker also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 5 weeks) and review sentiment (100% vs 87%). Drambo's advantage is price ($24.99 vs $29.99) and ratings volume (330 vs 106). On rating, ads, chart position 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
Drambo costs $24.99 and M8 Music Tracker $29.99 up front. Drambo sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. M8 Music Tracker asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Drambo against 5.0 for M8 Music Tracker. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 330 and 106 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Drambo's written reviews are positive against 100% of M8 Music Tracker's.
Drambo ships an update every 5 weeks, M8 Music Tracker every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 26, 2026.
| Parameter | Drambo | M8 Music Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24.99 — better | $29.99 |
| Rating | 4.8 (330 ratings) | 5.0 (106 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 86.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 330 — better | 106 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #105 | #40 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 149 MB | 235 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | BeepStreet | Dirtywave |
Customer experience
Drambo
M8 Music Tracker
Bugs and requests
Drambo
Reported bugs
3 issues- Audio cutting out after 5 minutes of use
- Presets and patches not loading properly
- Incompatibility with certain iOS devices
Requested features
5 requests- Stem/track export functionality
- MIDI CC learn and external control
- Ableton Link support
- More parameter control and modulation options
- Improved piano roll and sequencing tools
M8 Music Tracker
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Drambo
- Granular extension$4.99
- Waves extension$4.99
- Formants extension$4.99
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- DSP extensions 1$4.99
- Visual extension$14.99
M8 Music Tracker
No in-app purchases









