DM1 for iPhone vs Elastic Drums
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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 descriptionHide 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
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.
- Drum synthesis models
- Deeply tweakable sounds
- Versatile effects section
- 16-step sequencer
- Audio recording and export
- Ableton Link synchronization
- Inter-App Audio support
Read full descriptionHide 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
Verdict
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
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.
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.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DM1 for iPhone | Elastic Drums |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 — better | $9.99 |
| Rating | 4.1 (79 ratings) | 4.6 (145 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 73.3% of reviews | 79.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 79 | 145 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 253 MB | 48 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Fingerlab | Oliver Greschke (DE) |
Customer experience
DM1 for iPhone
Elastic Drums
User reviews
DM1 for iPhone
From 79 App Store ratingsWhat 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 ratingsWhat 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 moreShow fewer
- 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
DM1 for iPhone
- All Packs$3.99
Elastic Drums
- Factory PresetsFree
- Dj Elephant Power kit$2.99
- App-Sound kit$2.99
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- 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?
Is Elastic Drums free?
Which has better reviews, DM1 for iPhone or Elastic Drums?
Do DM1 for iPhone or Elastic Drums have ads?
Which is updated more often, DM1 for iPhone or Elastic Drums?
Other comparisons















