Comparison

DM1 for iPhone vs Elastic Drums

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

Head to head
About

DM1 for iPhone

Transform your iPhone into a powerful beat-making machine with this advanced vintage drum machine. Create intricate rhythms with a step sequencer, play beats on drum pads, and apply a wide range of real-time effects. Easily compose songs and export your creations.

Highlights
  • 154 electronic drum kits
  • Step sequencer
  • Drum pads with quantized recording
  • Mixer with channel controls
  • Real-time FX trackpads
  • Song composer with timeline editing
  • Instrument mode for melodies
Read full description

DM1 is an advanced vintage Drum Machine. It turns your iPhone into a fun and creative beat making machine. Easy and fast to use, loaded with 154 superb electronic drum kits and beautiful hyper-realistic graphics, DM1 has been designed for a lot of instant fun. As electronic musicians ourselves, we, at Fingerlab, have developed DM1 with the intention of delivering the perfect mix between fun playability and powerful sonic capacities. We always keep in mind the importance of a beautiful design with the right balance of powerful abilities while avoiding clumsy, overbusy interfaces. Check our 154 electronic drum kits. 42 classic vintage drum kits plus 112 in-house produced electronic kits, edited and mastered at Fingerlab professional studio. DM1 offers 5 main sections: 1 - THE STEP SEQUENCER frees your imagination with a smart use of the multi-touch screen. Just turn on and off steps in your sequence with the tip of your fingers to create cool beats, or unexpected rhythms! 2 - THE DRUM PADS simply lets you play and record the beat that tickles your fingers. No need to be a first-class drummer, automatic quantize does the work for you. 3 - THE MIXER for quick and subtle sound mixing of your drum kits. Featuring settings for volume, pitch, sample length, custom drum kit element for each channel, mute and solo mode. 4 - THE FX TRACKPADS a creative FX trackpad to distort, modulate and transform your beats. The effects include: Overdrive, Delay, Reverb, Phaser, Formant, Dalek, Filter, Compressor, Envelope follower, Dub Delay, Texturizer, Robotizer, and Noise Gate. 5 - THE SONG COMPOSER allows you to quickly make a song with the beat patterns you have created. Just drag and drop the patterns onto the timeline. Fast and easy. Specifications: - Retina Display - Graphic design by Jonas Eriksson - Smart ergonomy for fast creativity and fun - 108 vintage and produced drum kits, mastered at in-house Fingerlab Sound Studios - 48 additional drum kits available with In-App Purchases - Instrument mode allowing to add bassline, chord and melody - 3 instruments: Piano, Korg MicroPreset and Cello Strings - 3 other instrument (Clavinet, Marimba, MiniLogue) are available with In-App Purchases - Step Sequencer with multi-touch matrix - Mixer page with pitch, length and level rotary controls, pan controls, and custom drum kit per channel - 9 Drum pads, quantized recording - FX Trackpad for real-time sonic destruction - 16 or 32 Steps per patterns - The Randomizer tool - Extra fast drum kit loading - Playable pattern selection for extra creativity - Mode song with intuitive editing - High-quality export to SoundCloud, DropBox, Email, iTunes shared folder, AudioCopy or any other apps - Audio background mode - Audiobus support - Import & Export your song project (DropBox, Mail, iTunes folder) - Full Midi implementation - Inter-App Audio support Watch DM1 video trailer on YouTube Fingerlab's channel: http://www.youtube.com/fingerlab Feel free to let us know what you think and what you'd like to see in the next DM1 update. Enjoy! Watch us : vimeo.com/ fingerlab Visit us : fingerlab.net Follow us : twitter.com/ fingerlab Contact us : contact@fingerlab.net Powered by Fingerlab http://www.fingerlab.net

About

Elastic Drums

This app offers a flexible groovebox experience, utilizing drum synthesis models for deeply tweakable sounds. It provides a powerful instrument for sound design and beat-making with extensive effects and a 16-step sequencer.

Highlights
  • Drum synthesis models
  • Deeply tweakable sounds
  • Versatile effects section
  • 16-step sequencer
  • Audio recording and export
  • Ableton Link synchronization
  • Inter-App Audio support
Features
Read full description

Machinedrum: "It's awesome, a lot of fun to work with and very easy to get something going. I love the sound presets too.“ Keyboards: „An extremely flexible beatbox with tons of character." CDM: "Finally, Your Pocket Gets a Perfect Drum Synth: Elastic Drums for iPhone." FACT Magazine: „One of the iPad’s best drum machines.“ Unlike most drum apps that rely heavily on samples, Elastic Drums uses drum synthesis models - making the sounds much more elastic and deeply tweakable. This approach allows for radical sound shaping, and when combined with the app’s versatile effects section, Elastic Drums becomes not just a beat-making tool, but a powerful instrument for sound design. Features: - 6 synth channels with 20 different percussion synth engines (kick, snare, hihat, clap, tom, wobble, fm, fm4, square, grain, synth, drone, sampler, 808 kit) - 12 parameters for each synth engine - Automation for each parameter via knob recording or velocity - 4 send effect channels with 2x13 mono effects and 2x11 stereo effects - Automation for all of the 8 possible effect parameters via xy pad - Master effects (stutter, delay, compressor ...) - 16 step sequencer for the 6 channels, each with it's own tempo multiplier & length - Record audio and export to via Airdrop or Audioshare - Email audio recordings and presets - Ableton Link synchronization and Ableton Live Set Export - Audiobus, Audiobus Remote, Inter-App Audio - Midi learn/Midi implementation of the most important parameters Factory presets by:  App Sound, Ben Jeffrey, Bill Jobs, Dead Fader, Hecq, Kero, Leonard de Leonard, Machine Drum, Mouse on Mars, Ochre, Pan, Phlex, Pilocka Krach, Red Sky Lullaby, Servando, Shadow Dancer, Swarm Intelligence, zNo

Screenshots

DM1 for iPhone4 screens
Elastic Drums4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Elastic Drums at 4.6 against DM1 for iPhone's 4.1. Elastic Drums also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.6). DM1 for iPhone's advantage is price ($4.99 vs $9.99). On review sentiment, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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

DM1 for iPhone costs $4.99 and Elastic Drums $9.99 up front. DM1 for iPhone sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Elastic Drums sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Elastic Drums holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 79 and 145 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of DM1 for iPhone's written reviews are positive against 80% of Elastic Drums's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
DM1 for iPhone versus Elastic Drums: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDM1 for iPhoneElastic Drums
Price$4.99 — better$9.99
Rating4.1 (79 ratings)4.6 (145 ratings) — better
Positive reviews73.3% of reviews79.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings79145 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.611.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size253 MB48 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFingerlabOliver Greschke (DE)

Customer experience

DM1 for iPhone

All ratings79 ratings
Positive75.9%
Neutral5.1%
Negative19.0%
Written reviews341 reviews
Positive73.3%
Neutral12.6%
Negative14.1%

Elastic Drums

All ratings145 ratings
Positive88.3%
Neutral5.5%
Negative6.2%
Written reviews194 reviews
Positive79.9%
Neutral7.2%
Negative12.9%

User reviews

DM1 for iPhone

From 79 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💎 Best drum machine app
  • 🎨 Great variety of drum sounds and kits
  • 🎚️ Intuitive and easy to use interface
  • 🔊 High-quality sound
  • 💰 Excellent value for money

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 📱 Compatibility problems on newer devices
  • 🔋 Battery drain
  • 🔇 Lack of individual track export
  • 🕰️ Inaccurate tempo and timing

Elastic Drums

From 145 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Flexible and powerful drum synth
  • 🎨 Versatile sound design capabilities
  • 📝 Excellent automation and sequencing
  • 🔊 High-quality sound
  • 🎛️ Intuitive and user-friendly interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and performance issues
  • 🔌 Lack of AUv3 support for better DAW integration
  • 🕰️ Inconsistent timing and sync problems
  • 🔇 Bluetooth audio issues
  • 💰 Paid sample import feature

Bugs and requests

DM1 for iPhone

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes on launch
  • Audio distortion and glitches
  • Sync and timing issues when exporting to other apps
  • Unresponsive controls and UI elements

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add support for more time signatures (3/4, 5/4, etc.)
  • Implement Ableton Link for better sync with other apps
  • Allow importing and using custom samples
  • Add more effects and per-channel processing
  • Implement a save/revert function to avoid losing progress
Show 2 more
  • Improve tempo controls with finer adjustment and tap tempo
  • Provide individual track export options

Elastic Drums

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashing and freezing issues on certain devices
  • Audio glitches when switching presets
  • Timing and sync problems with external apps

Requested features

5 requests
  • AUv3 support for state saving and better DAW integration
  • More flexible song/arrangement mode
  • Improved MIDI mapping and control
  • Additional synthesis engines and sound design options
  • Enhanced performance and live playback features

In-app purchases

1 purchases

DM1 for iPhone

One-time1
  • All Packs$3.99
8 purchases

Elastic Drums

One-time8
  • Factory PresetsFree
  • Dj Elephant Power kit$2.99
  • App-Sound kit$2.99
Show 5 more
  • Bill Jobs (synthQ) kit$2.99
  • Sample Import$3.99
  • Futuristic synths$3.99
  • Analog techno provider$3.99
  • App-Sound Lofi Kit$3.99

Questions

Is DM1 for iPhone free?
DM1 for iPhone costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Elastic Drums free?
Elastic Drums costs $9.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, DM1 for iPhone or Elastic Drums?
Elastic Drums is rated higher. DM1 for iPhone averages 4.1 out of 5 from 79 ratings, while Elastic Drums averages 4.6 from 145 ratings.
Do DM1 for iPhone or Elastic Drums have ads?
Neither DM1 for iPhone nor Elastic Drums shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DM1 for iPhone or Elastic Drums?
DM1 for iPhone ships an update every 3 months, and Elastic Drums every 3 months. Most recently, DM1 for iPhone was updated on October 20, 2026 and Elastic Drums on October 17, 2026.

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