Comparison

Pocket Drums vs Drum Solo Studio

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

Head to head
About

Pocket Drums

Experience realistic drumming with a virtual drum kit that fits in your pocket. This app offers responsive touch controls, high-fidelity drum sets, and various beats to help you play along. Learn rudiments with included videos and customize your sound with adjustable pitch, volume, and effects.

Highlights
  • Realistic touch-sensitive drum response
  • 15 high-fidelity recorded drum kits
  • 16 PlayAlong Beats and 20 music/drum beats
  • Basic drum rudiment videos
  • Adjustable pitch, sensitivity, volume, reverb, and delay
  • Multi-track recording and sharing capabilities
Features
Read full description

Pocket Drums is the most realistic sounding and looking drum app out there! Perfect for both beginners and pros alike, Pocket Drums utilizes the latest technology and decades of real drum experience to create the ideal drumming app for the iPhone or iPad. All of the features of the app combine to make you feel as if you are sitting down and playing a real drum set. The drums respond to your touch - the pitch changes slightly depending on where you hit the toms, just like a real kit. Playing realistic rolls is as easy as swirling your finger around, simply adjusting the roll speed by how fast or slow you swirl your finger. There is also 15 different professionally recorded high fidelity drum sets to choose from, and an amazing drum wrap, with more to come. Pocket Drums also features 16 PlayAlong Beats, 10 unique Drum Beats and 10 Music Beats to rock out with, as well as 10 different metronome sounds. A unique feature is the addition of 10 basic rudiment videos, so you can see firsthand how to play the drum rudiments. With the ability to adjust the pitch, sensitivity, individual drum volume, reverb, and delay, recording, ability to share and export your recordings (optional in-app purchase), and so much more, Pocket Drums is by far the most comprehensive and realistic drumming app available today! FEATURES: • 15 professionally recorded 44.1 khz high fidelity kits, with more to come • Drum Pitch Sensitivity - the pitch changes depending on where you strike the toms, just like a real kit • Reverb and Delay Controls - slider adjustments allows limitless drum sounds • Pitch Control - lower or raise the pitch of the drums • Drum Volume - adjust volume of each individual drum • Snares - 11 more snares that you can mix and match to create your ideal sound (optional in-app purchase) • Videos of basic drum rudiments played on a real snare drum • Amazingly realistic drum wraps • Realistic visual effects - drums and cymbals look and respond like a real drum set, visually corresponding to your every touch • Retina Display for both iPad and iPhone for incredibly crisp graphics • PlayAlong Beats: 16 new loops with basic bass drum, hi-hat or snare beats, to play along for added rhythmic expression! • 10 Drum Beats and 10 Music Beats to play along to, with more to come! • Realistic Rolls - simply swirl your finger around to create slower or faster rolls • Double Bass drum feature with slider adjustment • 10 Metronome Sounds and 4 Time Signatures to choose from, with BPM adjustment • Recording - easily add or delete tracks, save and loop recordings • Multi-track recording functionality • Share your recordings through email, Facebook, and Twitter • Export your recordings to your computer (optional in-app purchase) • Lefty Mode - reverse the entire drum layout • Play along to the music on your iPod • Option to add bass drum when hitting crash cymbal IN-APP PURCHASES TO UPGRADE: • Additional kit pack • 11 more snares that you can mix and match to create your ideal sound • 3 more wraps: Turquoise, Black Oyster, and Dark Wood • Export recordings • Ads removed PRIVACY POLICY: http://codyrotwein.com/privacy.html

About

Drum Solo Studio

This app offers a realistic drumming experience on your mobile device with multitouch pads and studio-quality sound. Record your sessions, import MIDI files, and apply real-time effects to create unique compositions. It's designed for drummers of all skill levels, from beginners to professionals.

Highlights
  • Multitouch acoustic drum kit simulator
  • MIDI support and import
  • Session recording and playback
  • Real-time audio effects
  • Multiple studio-quality audio kits
  • Export compositions to MP3, WAV, MIDI
Features
Read full description

Drum Solo Studio from Batalsoft unleashes an exceptional drumming experience, empowering you to have fun and become a skilled drummer. With the app's multitouch acoustic drum kit simulator, you can play drums on your iPhone or iPad with your fingers. The app is free and offers studio-quality sound banks with fast and precise response. Take your drumming skills to the next level! It includes many incredible features such as MIDI support, recording your sessions, and exporting your compositions to different formats. With these powerful tools, you can create your own unique drumming experience Play music loud with headset for a superior experience. Drum Solo Studio is designed for everyone who loves drums: beginners, percussionists, professional musicians, drummers... The main advanced features are: - 6 complete audio kits: Standard, Heavy Metal, Modern Rock, Jazz, Pop and Synthesizer. - Record your sessions and later, you can play on top on your own loops, like a real drum set machine. - High number of exclusive demo lessons to learn to play drums from all styles according to your rhythm skill. You can find loops of rock, blues, disco, dubstep, jazz, reggaeton, heavy metal, pop ... - Start jamming on top of pre-recorded backing tracks of different styles, creating an interactive drumming experience. - Apply real-time effects like equalization, reverb, compression, and delay, allowing you to fine-tune your live drumming sound and create your desired ambience - Import the drums track from your favourite MIDI songs from your storage - Export your loops to MP3, OGG, MIDI and PCM WAV and share the file with your friends Drum Solo Studio also includes these additional features to enhance your drumming experience: - Adjust individually the volume of each instrument and the background music, giving you complete control over the sound of your drumming - Use the built-in metronome to stay in time. - Playback speed control for learning, and seekbar to find the preferred moment in the song. - Realistic HQ sampled stereo sounds, including double kick bass, two toms, floor, snare, hi-hat (two positions with the pedal), 2 crash, splash, ride and cowbell - Awesome animations for each instrument - Left-handed mode - Low latency for the beats - 13 touch sensitive multitouch pads. Up to 200 fingers simultaneously. - Very fast loading time Drum Solo Studio is free, but you can acquire a license to unlock some items and remove ads.

Screenshots

Pocket Drums4 screens
Drum Solo Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Drum Solo Studio at 4.6 against Pocket Drums's 4.0. Drum Solo Studio also leads on review sentiment (71% vs 50%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). Pocket Drums's advantage is ratings volume (289 vs 10). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Both are free to download. Pocket Drums sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Drum Solo Studio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Drum Solo Studio holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pocket Drums has 289 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Pocket Drums's written reviews are positive against 71% of Drum Solo Studio's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pocket Drums ships an update every 2 months, Drum Solo Studio fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pocket Drums versus Drum Solo Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket DrumsDrum Solo Studio
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (289 ratings)4.6 (10 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews71.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings289 — better10
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size84 MB33 MB
Age rating+94+
DeveloperDrum StarzAntonio Lara

Customer experience

Pocket Drums

All ratings289 ratings
Positive73.7%
Neutral7.6%
Negative18.7%
Written reviews80 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral2.5%
Negative47.5%

Drum Solo Studio

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral14.3%
Negative14.3%

Bugs and requests

Pocket Drums

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • App crashes when playing drums rapidly
  • Glitching audio that stutters and repeats loudly
  • App freezes when recording multiple times
  • Screen stretches and becomes unresponsive
  • App fails to open after updates
Show 4 more
  • Video upload functionality broken
  • Drums don't register input properly
  • Incompatibility with recent iOS updates
  • Ads freeze the app and prevent closing

Requested features

9 requests
  • Double bass pedal for metal songs
  • Reggae drum tones
  • Splash and china cymbals
  • Mix and match custom drum sets
  • Built-in drumming lessons
Show 4 more
  • Ability to modify and remove playlists
  • Better disco beat drum sounds
  • More instruments and variety
  • Reduced ad frequency

Drum Solo Studio

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Pocket Drums

One-time6
  • Remove ads$0.99
  • Exporting$0.99
  • Kit Pack$0.99
Show 3 more
  • Wraps$0.99
  • Snares$0.99
  • Full - Unlock everything$2.99
1 purchases

Drum Solo Studio

One-time1
  • VIP Member$7.99

Questions

Is Pocket Drums free?
Pocket Drums is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Drum Solo Studio free?
Drum Solo Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pocket Drums or Drum Solo Studio?
Drum Solo Studio is rated higher. Pocket Drums averages 4.0 out of 5 from 289 ratings, while Drum Solo Studio averages 4.6 from 10 ratings.
Do Pocket Drums or Drum Solo Studio have ads?
Both Pocket Drums and Drum Solo Studio show ads.
Which is updated more often, Pocket Drums or Drum Solo Studio?
Pocket Drums ships an update every 2 months, and Drum Solo Studio fortnightly. Most recently, Pocket Drums was updated on September 21, 2026 and Drum Solo Studio on September 1, 2026.

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