Comparison

Drum Notes vs Drumline Break Creator

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

Head to head
About

Drum Notes

Create, share, and practice percussive music scores with an intuitive editor. Explore a global community of drummers and percussionists, access thousands of beats, and utilize practice tools. Ideal for musicians, teachers, and bands of all levels.

Highlights
  • Intuitive score editor for drum set and percussion
  • Explore and learn from community-shared beats and rhythms
  • Practice tools including metronome and rhythm trainer
  • Organize rhythms, arrangements, and exercises
  • Create and share drum exercises for students
  • Export scores as audio or image formats
Features
Read full description

* Grammy Academy awarded: app to support percussive music preservation. Write, share, and practice drum music like never before. Join over 200,000 drummers and percussionists in 180 countries who have already created 400,000+ scores with Drum Notes, a simple app to create and share drum beats, music scores, drum lessons, drum loops, drum tabs and rhythms. Ideal for beginners and pros alike. Drum Notes features an intuitive score creator, perfect for drumset and percussive genres like Samba, Marching Bands, Drumlines, Cuban percussion, and Drum grooves. Think of it as a more accessible version of Musescore, Flat or Finale, tailored for drummers. Like a drum machine or drum sequencer with real drum scores. FOR DRUMMERS - ALL LEVELS Intuitive Music Score Editor: Effortlessly create percussive sheet music with a user-friendly music writing editor, for drum set or any percussion instrument. Explore Beats: Learn drums by discovering thousands of beats, loops, and percussion samples from our drumming community. Practice Tools: Adjust your own pro metronome, customize grooves, and use the drum score editor as a rhythm trainer. Organize Your Notes: Keep rhythms, arrangements, recordings, and exercises neatly organized. FOR TEACHERS - ENHANCE YOUR INSTRUCTION Drum Exercises: Create, share, and manage exercises with ease. Student-Teacher Groups: Maintain shared spaces for class materials and track progress. Public Library: Access and share a wealth of exercises and materials. FOR BANDS - PERFECT FOR BATUCADAS Arrange and Share: Organize complex patterns and rhythms, and export them in audio or image formats. Private Groups: Create groups for sharing compositions and performance notes. Explore Percussion Rhythms: Discover diverse samples and beats to inspire and enhance your band’s sound. FOR CONTENT CREATORS - SHARE PROFESSIONAL CONTENT Export Options: Share drum grooves as high-quality audio or images. Perfect for showcasing your work on social media. Diverse Library: Use an extensive collection of beats and samples for creating stunning content. FOR MUSICIANS - EXPAND YOUR PLAYBACK OPTIONS Playback Tool: Use Drum Notes to playback loops and samples for various instruments. Versatile Use: Ideal for enhancing rhythm and practice sessions with authentic beats. ADDITIONAL FEATURES Diverse percussion instruments: Drum Set Electronic Drum Kit Cajon Rumba Instruments: Congas, Clave, Cowbell, Shaker, etc. Samba Instruments: Surdos, Repique, Caixa, Agogos, Rebolo, Pandeiro, etc. Samba Reggae Instruments: Timbal, Bacurinha, etc. Marching Band / Drumline Instruments: Quads, Snare Drums, Bass Drum, Cymbals. Capoeira Instruments: Berimbau Viola, Berimbau Berra Boi, Berimbau Medio, Agogo, Pandeiro, Atabaque And many more… Percussion Library: Rock, Jazz, Samba, Marching Band, Capoeira, and many more. Customizable Settings: Adjust metronome BPM, sound accents, and more. Global Community: Connect with percussionists and drummers worldwide. PREMIUM FEATURES Unlock unlimited compositions, percussive instruments per score, and private groups. Support our mission to improve musical knowledge. JOIN THE DRUM NOTES COMMUNITY Developed by a team dedicated to empowering drummers and percussionists. Drum Coach App: Explore our app for developing practice habits with exercises, scores, and audio instructions. We wish you great grooves! #drum, #drums, #drumline, #samba, #percussion * if you are looking for the app Drumap (drum app; drum map), this is it! Now we are called Drum Notes. upbeat.studio https://upbeat.studio/privacy-policy-drum-notes/ https://upbeat.studio/terms-and-conditions-drum-notes/

About

Drumline Break Creator

Easily compose, edit, and share percussion notation for snare and tenor drums. This app offers a streamlined experience for creating custom drum breaks, cadences, and warmups, inspiring a new generation of music writers.

Highlights
  • Compose snare and tenor drum notation
  • Edit and playback percussion music
  • Save and share compositions
  • Includes common rudiments and articulations
  • Supports custom sticking and grace notes
  • Professionally recorded audio samples
Features
Read full description

Composing percussion notation for snare drum and tenors is finally fast, easy, and fun! No laptops, no expensive subscriptions, no extra plugins, and no 1990's music composition apps made for piano with 500 options that you'll never use. Whether you're in your bedroom or the band room, a bus, or the field, you now have full access to the specific notation you need to compose, edit, playback, save and share snare drum and tenor drum notation with your section, instructor, drumline, and band. All this for one price, forever in your pocket right next to your drum key. We spend our entire percussive careers playing other people's music. Isn't it time we start playing our own? This app is on a mission to inspire a new generation of music writers. It's time for YOU to write the next winning break, percussion feature, cadence, street beat, or drill. *Insert stick drop here* All audio samples were professionally recorded at NoiseFloor Ltd. in Chicago by DCI sound engineer Jamie Vanadia. The snare drum and tenors used were generously provided by Dynasty. The snare is Dynasty's MS-XD14 Marching Snare Drum on an Evans Hybrid drumhead. The tenor drums are Dynasty's MT-680234 Tenor Drums in Corps Configuration with 6 inch and 8 inch shot drums on Evans Corps Clear heads. Drum Break Creator includes a number of rudiments such as triplets, sextuplets, flams, single stroke 4s, etc. Plus place, accents, doubles, grace notes, buzz notes, rimshots, double stops, as well put in your preferred sticking. Use the app to create your next standout drum break. Create your drumline's next set of warmups. Write a few new cadences or street beats for that next parade. Use it to better understand the timing and voicing of your music. Play along on your drum pad. For beginners, use it to better understand how to read certain notations. Recreate some of the harder parts of your sheet music to help smooth out the tougher bits of your show. Every person who downloads this app will have ideas on ways to make it better or more awesome. Feedback is super welcome!! I will continue to add and support the apps into the years to come. Oh, and just to take out one of the more obvious requests, bass drums and cymbals are coming as the user base grows. Hi, I'm the developer of this app and I've been drumming for 32 years. (Woah, I never actually did the math on that) From playing along to records of drum battles of Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich when I was 7, to high school marching band, placing at WGI finals, sleeping on the floor at Glassmen (RIP) auditions, Michigan State's drumline, lessons, instruction, all the way to touring the U.S. several times with my indie-emo band backed by Truth Drums (sans black eyeliner). I've been surrounding myself with musicians who appreciate the sport and the art of marching percussion. I'm very fortunate enough to also know a thing or two about creating software – which somehow still leads me back to drumming. :-D Happy hacking, and thanks for downloading.

Screenshots

Drum Notes4 screens
Drumline Break Creator3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Drum Notes at Free against Drumline Break Creator's $2.99. Drum Notes also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (209 vs 40). Drumline Break Creator's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). On update cadence 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

Drum Notes is free to download; Drumline Break Creator costs $2.99 up front. Drum Notes sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Drumline Break Creator asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Drum Notes holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drum Notes has 209 ratings behind it against 40, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 56% of Drum Notes's written reviews are positive against 81% of Drumline Break Creator's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drum Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, Drumline Break Creator every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 7, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Drum Notes versus Drumline Break Creator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrum NotesDrumline Break Creator
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.6 (209 ratings) — better4.0 (40 ratings)
Positive reviews56.3% of reviews81.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings209 — better40
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size133 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperUPBEAT STUDIOJohn Ostler

Customer experience

Drum Notes

All ratings207 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral3.4%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews48 reviews
Positive56.3%
Neutral18.8%
Negative25.0%

Drumline Break Creator

All ratings40 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews32 reviews
Positive81.3%
Neutral12.5%
Negative6.3%

Bugs and requests

Drum Notes

Reported bugs

21 issues
  • App crashes constantly
  • App crashes on iPad
  • Accents don't work after saving
  • Beta score writing features don't work
  • App freezes on loading screen
Show 16 more
  • App crashes when trying to access saved rhythms
  • Previously created playlists don't show up
  • Unable to listen to playlists
  • App closes out several times a minute
  • App deleted created content
  • Sounds lag, creating flam type sounds
  • Agogo bell sounds reversed
  • Loss of content after account creation
  • Loss of content after app name change
  • Unexplained charges and card locking
  • App not opening arrangements or showing instruments
  • App crashes after 15 minutes
  • Inability to share on iPad
  • Inability to save as image on iPad
  • Unresponsive beta features
  • App crashes and closes unexpectedly

Requested features

19 requests
  • Add whole note bass drum roll
  • Increase save space
  • Add MIDI export
  • Add feature to play individual instruments by tapping
  • Improve marching percussion sounds
Show 14 more
  • Add dark mode
  • Add 8th note/1 time division option
  • Allow export of sheet to image on free version
  • Fix accent bug
  • Make accented beats easier to create
  • Add BPM configuration
  • Improve sound quality of marching percussion
  • Add feature to play different instruments instead of editing
  • Make score layout better for longer scores
  • Fix iPad specific sharing issues
  • Fix beta score writing features
  • Offer a one-time purchase option
  • Fix issues with previously created playlists not showing up
  • Fix issues with not being able to listen to playlists

Drumline Break Creator

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Drum Notes

Subscriptions8
  • Premium Monthly Subscription$5.991 Month
  • Premium Monthly Subscription$7.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly Subscription$42.991 Year
Show 5 more
  • Premium Yearly Subscription1 Year trial$42.991 Year
  • Premium Monthly Subscription$44.996 Months
  • Premium yearly Subscription$49.991 Year
  • Premium yearly subscription14 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Drumap PRO Yearly Offer1 Year trial$49.991 Year
One-time2
  • Samba on Drum set workshop$5.99
  • Music Capoeria Workshop$6.99
None

Drumline Break Creator

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Drum Notes free?
Drum Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Drumline Break Creator free?
Drumline Break Creator costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Drum Notes or Drumline Break Creator?
Drum Notes is rated higher. Drum Notes averages 4.6 out of 5 from 209 ratings, while Drumline Break Creator averages 4.0 from 40 ratings.
Do Drum Notes or Drumline Break Creator have ads?
Drum Notes shows ads; Drumline Break Creator does not.
Which is updated more often, Drum Notes or Drumline Break Creator?
Drum Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, and Drumline Break Creator every 3 weeks. Most recently, Drum Notes was updated on November 7, 2026 and Drumline Break Creator on November 7, 2026.

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