Darbuka vs Doumbek!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Darbuka
Transform your device into a darbuka, a traditional Middle Eastern hand drum. Play rhythms with your fingers, record your music, and share your creations with others. This universal app is compatible with iPhone and iPad.
- Virtual darbuka drum
- Finger drumming interface
- Music recording
- Share recordings
- Universal app support
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The darbuka is a goblet shaped hand drum used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. Turn your device into a darbuka drum that you can play with your fingers. Features: • record the music you're playing • share your records • universal app, support iPhone, iPad
Doumbek!
Experience the authentic sound of the doumbek with this comprehensive drumming app. It offers multiple drum variations, realistic touch response, and advanced sound customization. Record, loop, and share your performances, or play along with built-in beats and your own music.
- 6 high-fidelity doumbek sounds
- Realistic touch-sensitive volume and pitch
- Multi-track recording and looping
- Adjustable reverb, pitch, and delay
- Play along to built-in beats or iPod music
- Share and export recordings
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Doumbek! is the most realistic and comprehensive drumming app for this popular and ancient Middle Eastern drum. Professionally recorded 44.1 khz high fidelity sounds combine with the latest technology to produce the ultimate Doumbek app! Doumbek! features 6 different doumbeks to play, including an Egyptian Doumbek , a Doumbek with jingles, and small, medium and large Doumbeks. There's even a unique Doumbek "jam" that allows anyone to easily sound like a pro! With the ability to adjust reverb, pitch, and delay, and more, it's easy to create your ideal sound. Doumbek! also features record/playback/loop with multi-track capabilities; play along to dozens of unique drum beats, music loops and metronome sounds from within the app; or play to your favorite music on your iPod. You can also share your drumming via email, Facebook, and Twitter, or export to your computer via iTunes file sharing! Another great feature of Doumbek! is the ability to play the Doumbek with a variety of other drums and percussion, including Tabla, Pakharaj, and Tambourine. The Doumbek responds to your touch, and the volume changes depending on how hard you tap the drum, just like a real Doumbek. The pitch also changes slightly depending on where you hit the drum. Playing realistic rolls is as easy as swirling your finger around; the roll speed corresponds to how fast or slow you swirl your finger. Beginner or pro, to save and to share.....now anyone can play Doumbek!.......anytime, anywhere! FEATURES: - 6 different professionally recorded 44.1 khz high fidelity Doumbeks, in addition to Tabla, Pakharaj, Tambourine, and more - Slider control for infinite drum color choices - The harder you hit the drums, the louder they sound! - Drum Pitch Sensitivity - the pitch changes depending on where you strike the drum, just like real drums - Separate Reverb and Delay Controls - slider adjustments allows limitless drum sounds - Pitch Control - lower or raise the pitch of the drums - Realistic visual effects - drums look and respond like a real drum, visually corresponding to your every touch - Retina Display for both iPad and iPhone for incredibly crisp graphics - 22 Ethnic Drum Beats and 12 World Music Beats to play along to, with more to come! - Realistic Rolls - simply swirl your finger around to create slower or faster rolls - Double drum feature with slider adjustment - 17 Metronome Sounds and 4 Time Signatures to choose from, with BPM adjustment - Multi-track recording - easily add or delete tracks, save and loop recordings - Share your recordings through email, Facebook, and Twitter - Export your recordings to your computer via iTunes file sharing - Lefty Mode - reverse the entire drum layout - Play along to the music on your iPod PRIVACY POLICY: http://codyrotwein.com/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Doumbek! at 4.0 against Darbuka's 3.1. Doumbek! also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 4 months). Darbuka's advantage is review sentiment (42% vs 25%) and chart position (#199 vs unranked). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Darbuka sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Doumbek! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Doumbek! holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11 and 28 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 42% of Darbuka's written reviews are positive against 25% of Doumbek!'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Darbuka ships an update every 4 months, Doumbek! every 3 days. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Darbuka | Doumbek! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.1 (11 ratings) | 4.0 (28 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 41.7% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 11 | 28 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #199 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Dmytro Denys | Drum Starz |
Customer experience
Darbuka
Doumbek!
In-app purchases
Darbuka
- Remove Advertisement$0.99
Doumbek!
- Remove ads$0.99






