DrumJam vs Funk Drummer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DrumJam
Explore a world of percussion with this app, featuring dynamic drum kits and ethnic instruments. Create complex rhythms by layering loops, adjusting levels, and even randomizing patterns for unique grooves. It's an inspiring tool for musicians of all levels.
- Layered percussion loops
- Ethnic instrument sounds
- Adjustable levels and panning
- Random pattern generation
- Solo instrument jamming
- Customizable drum kits
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DrumJam is a whole new world of percussion and drums for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Designed by award winning international percussionist Pete Lockett and Sonosaurus LLC, the developer of ThumbJam, this app is a real first for percussion. It's an exciting and powerful tool, opening up the world of rhythm in a completely hands-on and inspiring way. Whether you are a novice just looking for a bit of rhythmic fun, a songwriter or producer looking for a fresh rhythmic idea, a percussion student writing arrangements for a project, a music teacher looking for rhythm ideas to teach, or a drum circle facilitator seeking to expand their repertoire, this app has something for you. Pete Lockett has been top of his game for decades and has performed with the stars, from Peter Gabriel and Bjork to Robert Plant, Dido, Jeff Beck and many more. He has also worked extensively in the film industry, arranging and recording all the ethnic percussion for five Bond 007 films. The app is a direct and personal route to his rhythm factory with all the individual percussion parts recorded by Pete. These are not ineffective sequenced patterns but actual recorded audio waiting to groove with rhythm at multiple tempos through your very own mobile device. Through his decades of studio experience Pete has become a master of layering various percussion instruments into mesmerising rhythm fabrics and flowing grooves. Shakers and congas interwoven with Indian ghatam, pop drum set and Arabic req or else a Carnatic kanjira with some Cuban bongos, Latin cowbells, rock drum kit, seed shakes and surdu. There are dozens of different looped instruments to choose from, each with up to 20 different patterns. You can change the levels, alter the pan, mute, solo, and tweak a low-pass filter giving you a great degree of flexibility over each individual part. Or simply press the random button to randomise all (or some) the parts and get some really funky and unexpected changes. It can even automatically randomise periodically for hands-free unpredictability. The excellent time stretch system and multiple-tempo loop recordings mean that you can get great natural sounding audio across a wide tempo range. Change the number of beats to use in the loops to alter time signature. Pick from a wide range of solo instruments where you can jam away over the top of the grooves you create. These include all sorts of ethnic percussion instruments from Kanjira and Ghatam, to Djembe, Bongos, Dube and Cajon, and more. There are also custom drum kits from great drummers such as Johnny Rabb, Russ Miller, KJ Sawka, Dave Langguth, Steve Sidelnyk and Scott Pellegrom. With a detailed and complete range of quantize options performed by simply dragging your fingers around, it is possible for even the absolute novice to get some funky grooves immediately. Additional loops and pad instruments are available for in-app purchase, but rest assured that the base app is loaded with kits and loops! There are also incredible filter, pitch bend, delay, reverb, lofi, and distortion effects available for the solo instruments, which really adds a whole new dimension of live performance possibilities. With multiple save and export options, it is possible to record loops or a whole performance to later import into your DAW or other audio app as 44.1kHz 16-bit WAV files. This is great for studio use and can form the basis of a new song idea very easily. DrumJam supports export via iTunes file sharing, open directly in another app, email, AudioCopy, and export to SoundCloud. There is support for background audio, Audiobus, Inter-app-audio, and a MIDI implementation that supports clock sync in/out, and playing the solo kits externally triggered via MIDI input, or outputting your live pad performance via MIDI output! Also has Ableton Link support! Whatever you do in music, we are certain there is a use for DrumJam in your world. Give it a try and join forces with an ancient percussive energy.
Funk Drummer
Create funky beats with a realistic drum machine that improvises like a human. Features live pads, multi-track export, and over 150 funk grooves. Synchronize with other apps and explore creative rhythmic structures.
- Improvise like a human drummer
- Live Pads for live sessions
- Multi-track and Full Mix Audio/MIDI Export
- Over 150 funk grooves
- Natural sounding multilayer drum sounds
- Ableton Link Sync
- Song Mode for rhythmic structures
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Funk Drummer is the grooviest drum machine with the ability to improvise like a proper human drummer. Now with even more possibilities with the new 2d control for Jam / Intensity parameters. The new Live Pads lets to play live sessions on the way with 8 assignable pads and buttons for fills, intro, end with midi controls. And now, you can synchronize with any app easily with Ableton Link. New Audio - Midi Export feature. Get Multi-Track or Full Mix in seconds. (from iOS 12 ) - The best jamming tool improvise like a human drummer. Set the improvisation level with a simple slider. From 0 (totally stable rhythms) to 100 (creative drummer took too much coffee) - More than 150 funk grooves divided into banks: Fusion, Odd Times, Disco Funk, Ternary rhythms and more. - 35(+6) multilayer sounds with 3 different hits (ghost note, accented note and special) x 3 RoundRobin alternating samples. - Round Robin alternating samples, combining 3 layer samples of each stroke makes a extremely natural sound. - 4 Effects to combine, including Compressor/Gate, Equalizer, Delay and Reverb. - Several Random generators to get creative ideas instantly. - Song Mode. Extra fast tool to create rhythmic structures for your song in seconds. - Ableton Link Sync - Inter-App Audio - Midi Out --- MIDI CONTROLS --- Assignable Controls MIDI Mapping Default Controls : Play : G2 LivePads : C1 - G2 Fill + Play/Stop : A2 Fill : C2 Fill + Toggle Hats/Ride D2 Toggle Hats/Ride Db2 Fill with LivePad Change E2 Load Live Pad C3 Preview LivePad Db3 Next Live Pad D3 Select Live Pad Set Eb3 Tap Tempo Bb2 Crash Cymbal B2 Next Song Ab2 Previous Song Gb2 Jam CC 1 Intensity CC 2 Master Volume CC 7 Swing CC 11 Reverb Level CC 91 Bank CC 32 Rhythm CC 0 Soundset PC
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: DrumJam at $7.99 against Funk Drummer's $17.99. DrumJam also leads on iOS requirement (9.0 vs 14.0). Funk Drummer's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months) and review sentiment (96% vs 86%). On rating, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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
DrumJam costs $7.99 and Funk Drummer $17.99 up front. DrumJam sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Funk Drummer sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for DrumJam against 4.8 for Funk Drummer. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 288 and 461 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 86% of DrumJam's written reviews are positive against 96% of Funk Drummer's.
DrumJam ships an update every 4 months, Funk Drummer monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DrumJam | Funk Drummer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 — better | $17.99 |
| Rating | 4.8 (288 ratings) | 4.8 (461 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.7% of reviews | 96.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 288 | 461 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 357 MB | 278 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sonosaurus LLC | Lumbeat |
Customer experience
DrumJam
Funk Drummer
User reviews
DrumJam
From 288 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent sound quality
- 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
- 🎨 Vast selection of instruments and rhythms
- 🎢 Highly versatile and customizable
- 💡 Inspiring and creative
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
- 🔀 Limited support for custom samples and MIDI
- ⏱️ Tempo range could be extended
- 🔀 Lack of support for more time signatures
Funk Drummer
From 461 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎶 Fantastic grooves and beats
- 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
- 🎨 Highly customizable
- 🎛️ Great integration with other apps
- 🎧 Realistic and high-quality drum sounds
Room to improve
- 🔌 Needs AUv3 support for better DAW integration
- 🔍 Could use more documentation and guidance
- 🔀 Difficulty managing and organizing saved patterns
- 🔊 Some users want more control over individual drum sounds
Bugs and requests
DrumJam
Reported bugs
2 issues- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
- Sync problems when used with other music apps
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for custom samples and MIDI
- Expand tempo range to include slower and faster options
- Implement support for more time signatures
- Improve file management and organization
- Add ability to record and save custom patterns
Funk Drummer
Reported bugs
2 issues- Occasional sync issues when used with other apps
- Stability problems on some devices/OS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to import custom drum samples
- More advanced MIDI and automation capabilities
- Expanded preset library with more genres and styles
- Improved pattern/song management and organization
In-app purchases
DrumJam
- Cymbals Pack$0.99
- Electro Pack$0.99
- North Indian Pack$0.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Taiko Pack$0.99
- Tambourines and Textures Pack$0.99
- Tuned Percussion Pack$0.99
- Latin Pack$0.99
- African Pack$0.99
- Brazil Pack$0.99
- Mixed World Pack$0.99
Funk Drummer
- LoFunk$3.99
- Kompact$3.99
- NuGreb$3.99
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Damped$3.99
- Vintage$3.99
- Session$3.99
- Nete Smith$4.99
- Clyde$4.99
Questions
Is DrumJam free?
Is Funk Drummer free?
Which has better reviews, DrumJam or Funk Drummer?
Do DrumJam or Funk Drummer have ads?
Which is updated more often, DrumJam or Funk Drummer?
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