DrumJam vs Soft 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.
Soft Drummer
This app provides natural acoustic drum sounds and improvises musically with warm grooves for various genres. It offers multi-track MIDI export, live pad performance, and synchronization with other apps. Create rhythmic structures for songs quickly and control parameters via MIDI.
- Natural acoustic drum sounds
- Improvise musically
- Multi-track MIDI export
- Live performance pads
- Ableton Link synchronization
- MIDI control and output
- Song mode for rhythmic structures
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Soft Drummer is your subtle session drummer, and now it works as an AUv3 plugin inside GarageBand, AUM, Loopy Pro or your favourite DAW. It doesn't loop. It improvises. With brushes, hot rods and hands, Soft Drummer generates warm, musical grooves for ballads, soft pop, jazz and latin, adapting in real time like a real session player. No patterns. No repetition. AUv3 Use Soft Drummer as a plugin in any AUv3 host. Send and receive grooves between Soft Drummer, Pop Drummer and iBassist. Sync everything in real time. SOUND More than 50 multilayer sounds with 3 hit types (ghost, accented, drag/open) × 3 Round Robin alternating samples for natural, authentic feel. 4 playing styles: Brushes, Hot Rods, Hands and Mallets. 4 Effects: Compressor/Gate, EQ, Delay and Reverb with individual track control. LIVE PERFORMANCE 8 assignable Live Pads for fills, intros and endings, playable live or with any MIDI controller (iRig Blueboard and 4-button compatible). Ableton Link sync for tight integration with your setup. SONG MODE Build your song structure in seconds. Arrange rhythmic sections and let Soft Drummer follow your song from intro to outro. MIDI MIDI Out, MIDI Sync (Legacy, recommended Ableton Link), Sound Module (Play individual sounds by MIDI In). ⏺ Assignable MIDI controls (default mapping): - Transport: Play: G2 · Fill: C2 · Fill + Play/Stop: A2 · Tap Tempo: Bb2 - LivePads: Pads 1–8: C1–G1 · Load LivePad: C3 · Previous LivePad: Db3 · Next LivePad: D3 · Select LivePad Set: Eb3 · Fill on LivePad Change: E2 - Performance: Toggle Hats/Ride: Db2 · Fill + Toggle Hats/Ride: D2 · Toggle Snare: Eb2 · Crash Cymbal: B2 · Random: B1 - Songs: Previous: Gb2 · Next: Ab2 - Continuous controls: Jam: CC1 · Intensity: CC2 · Master Volume: CC7 · Swing: CC11 · Progression: CC12 · Tempo Fader: CC20 · Reverb: CC91 - Sound selection: Bank: CC32 · Rhythm: CC0 · Soundset: Program Change All assignments are user-remappable. Note octave naming follows the Logic / Cubase / Ableton / Pro Tools convention (middle C = C3) and is adjustable in MIDI Setup → OCTAVE REFERENCE. Tempo Fader is standalone-only (host-driven in AUv3). EXPORT Multi-Track or Full Mix export in seconds. Audio, MIDI or with Effects , your choice. TRY FOR FREE Soft Drummer is free to explore for 7 days with access to all features. Some actions are limited during the trial (exports, random grooves, sound changes and bars per session). After the trial, keep playing with more limitations. Unlock everything with a one-time purchase, no subscription.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Soft Drummer at Free against DrumJam's $7.99. Soft Drummer also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). DrumJam's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume 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
Soft Drummer is free to download; DrumJam costs $7.99 up front. DrumJam sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Soft Drummer sells 7 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 4.7 for Soft Drummer. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 288 and 509 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 86% of DrumJam's written reviews are positive against 91% of Soft Drummer's.
DrumJam ships an update every 4 months, Soft Drummer every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DrumJam | Soft Drummer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (288 ratings) — better | 4.7 (509 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.7% of reviews | 91.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 288 | 509 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — 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 | 16 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 357 MB | 1.3 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sonosaurus LLC | Lumbeat |
Customer experience
DrumJam
Soft 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
Soft Drummer
From 509 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎨 Excellent sound quality
- 🎢 Realistic and natural-sounding rhythms
- 🎛️ Flexible and customizable features
- 🎶 Great for practicing, jamming, and composing
- 🎧 Authentic brush and mallet sounds
Room to improve
- 🤔 Unintuitive user interface
- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
- 💰 Expensive for an iOS app
- 📚 Lack of documentation and tutorials
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
Soft Drummer
Reported bugs
2 issues- Song mode issues, including crashes and missing features
- Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions and devices
Requested features
4 requests- Add support for time signatures beyond 4/4
- Improve MIDI integration and control
- Implement audio/MIDI export options
- Provide preset 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
Soft Drummer
- Big & Low$3.99
- Presence$3.99
- Raw Brush$3.99
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Tight Control$3.99
- Clayton$4.99
- Joe$4.99
- Soft Drummer Full Access$22.99









