Shaker Box vs Drum Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shaker Box
This app transforms your iPhone into a musical instrument, offering a variety of shaker sounds. Explore different playing modes, including shake, tap, and loop, to create rhythms and beats.
- Playable music shakers
- Shake, tap, and loop modes
- Professionally recorded sounds
- Precise shaking recognition
- Support for 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures
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Shaker Box turns your iPhone into a playable music shaker! Shaker Box is a collection of high quality playable shakers for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Using high-precision accelerometer data, Shaker Box allows you to shake your phone just like a real shaker. Shaker Box features a range of professionally recorded shaker sounds and three playing modes. SHAKE MODE: Shake your device like a real shaker. TAP MODE: Tap the tap-pad and Shaker Box will play a shaker loop in time with your taps. LOOP MODE: Set a tempo, either manually, or by tapping the tap-tempo pad, and Shaker Box will play a Shaker Loop at the tempo you select. FEATURES: - Loads of shaker sounds to choose from - Three different playing modes - Professionally recorded shaker sounds - Precise shaking recognition - 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures A lot of hard work went into creating Shaker Box, so I hope you enjoy using it!
Drum Notes
Create, share, and practice percussive music scores with an intuitive editor. Explore a global community of drummers and percussionists, access thousands of beats, and utilize practice tools. Ideal for musicians, teachers, and bands of all levels.
- Intuitive score editor for drum set and percussion
- Explore and learn from community-shared beats and rhythms
- Practice tools including metronome and rhythm trainer
- Organize rhythms, arrangements, and exercises
- Create and share drum exercises for students
- Export scores as audio or image formats
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* Grammy Academy awarded: app to support percussive music preservation. Write, share, and practice drum music like never before. Join over 200,000 drummers and percussionists in 180 countries who have already created 400,000+ scores with Drum Notes, a simple app to create and share drum beats, music scores, drum lessons, drum loops, drum tabs and rhythms. Ideal for beginners and pros alike. Drum Notes features an intuitive score creator, perfect for drumset and percussive genres like Samba, Marching Bands, Drumlines, Cuban percussion, and Drum grooves. Think of it as a more accessible version of Musescore, Flat or Finale, tailored for drummers. Like a drum machine or drum sequencer with real drum scores. FOR DRUMMERS - ALL LEVELS Intuitive Music Score Editor: Effortlessly create percussive sheet music with a user-friendly music writing editor, for drum set or any percussion instrument. Explore Beats: Learn drums by discovering thousands of beats, loops, and percussion samples from our drumming community. Practice Tools: Adjust your own pro metronome, customize grooves, and use the drum score editor as a rhythm trainer. Organize Your Notes: Keep rhythms, arrangements, recordings, and exercises neatly organized. FOR TEACHERS - ENHANCE YOUR INSTRUCTION Drum Exercises: Create, share, and manage exercises with ease. Student-Teacher Groups: Maintain shared spaces for class materials and track progress. Public Library: Access and share a wealth of exercises and materials. FOR BANDS - PERFECT FOR BATUCADAS Arrange and Share: Organize complex patterns and rhythms, and export them in audio or image formats. Private Groups: Create groups for sharing compositions and performance notes. Explore Percussion Rhythms: Discover diverse samples and beats to inspire and enhance your band’s sound. FOR CONTENT CREATORS - SHARE PROFESSIONAL CONTENT Export Options: Share drum grooves as high-quality audio or images. Perfect for showcasing your work on social media. Diverse Library: Use an extensive collection of beats and samples for creating stunning content. FOR MUSICIANS - EXPAND YOUR PLAYBACK OPTIONS Playback Tool: Use Drum Notes to playback loops and samples for various instruments. Versatile Use: Ideal for enhancing rhythm and practice sessions with authentic beats. ADDITIONAL FEATURES Diverse percussion instruments: Drum Set Electronic Drum Kit Cajon Rumba Instruments: Congas, Clave, Cowbell, Shaker, etc. Samba Instruments: Surdos, Repique, Caixa, Agogos, Rebolo, Pandeiro, etc. Samba Reggae Instruments: Timbal, Bacurinha, etc. Marching Band / Drumline Instruments: Quads, Snare Drums, Bass Drum, Cymbals. Capoeira Instruments: Berimbau Viola, Berimbau Berra Boi, Berimbau Medio, Agogo, Pandeiro, Atabaque And many more… Percussion Library: Rock, Jazz, Samba, Marching Band, Capoeira, and many more. Customizable Settings: Adjust metronome BPM, sound accents, and more. Global Community: Connect with percussionists and drummers worldwide. PREMIUM FEATURES Unlock unlimited compositions, percussive instruments per score, and private groups. Support our mission to improve musical knowledge. JOIN THE DRUM NOTES COMMUNITY Developed by a team dedicated to empowering drummers and percussionists. Drum Coach App: Explore our app for developing practice habits with exercises, scores, and audio instructions. We wish you great grooves! #drum, #drums, #drumline, #samba, #percussion * if you are looking for the app Drumap (drum app; drum map), this is it! Now we are called Drum Notes. upbeat.studio https://upbeat.studio/privacy-policy-drum-notes/ https://upbeat.studio/terms-and-conditions-drum-notes/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Drum Notes at 4.6 against Shaker Box's 2.5. Drum Notes also leads on review sentiment (57% vs 23%) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 18 months). Shaker Box's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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. Shaker Box sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Drum Notes sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Drum Notes holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drum Notes has 204 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 23% of Shaker Box's written reviews are positive against 57% of Drum Notes's.
Shaker Box ships an update every 18 months, Drum Notes every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shaker Box | Drum Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.5 (2 ratings) | 4.6 (204 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 22.7% of reviews | 57.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 204 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 18 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| 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 | 14.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 133 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Steven Barnegren | UPBEAT STUDIO |
Customer experience
Shaker Box
Drum Notes
Bugs and requests
Shaker Box
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Drum Notes
Reported bugs
21 issues- App crashes constantly
- App crashes on iPad
- Accents don't work after saving
- Beta score writing features don't work
- App freezes on loading screen
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- App crashes when trying to access saved rhythms
- Previously created playlists don't show up
- Unable to listen to playlists
- App closes out several times a minute
- App deleted created content
- Sounds lag, creating flam type sounds
- Agogo bell sounds reversed
- Loss of content after account creation
- Loss of content after app name change
- Unexplained charges and card locking
- App not opening arrangements or showing instruments
- App crashes after 15 minutes
- Inability to share on iPad
- Inability to save as image on iPad
- Unresponsive beta features
- App crashes and closes unexpectedly
Requested features
19 requests- Add whole note bass drum roll
- Increase save space
- Add MIDI export
- Add feature to play individual instruments by tapping
- Improve marching percussion sounds
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- Add dark mode
- Add 8th note/1 time division option
- Allow export of sheet to image on free version
- Fix accent bug
- Make accented beats easier to create
- Add BPM configuration
- Improve sound quality of marching percussion
- Add feature to play different instruments instead of editing
- Make score layout better for longer scores
- Fix iPad specific sharing issues
- Fix beta score writing features
- Offer a one-time purchase option
- Fix issues with previously created playlists not showing up
- Fix issues with not being able to listen to playlists
In-app purchases
Shaker Box
- Unlock All Shakers$1.99
Drum Notes
- Premium Monthly Subscription$5.991 Month
- Premium Monthly Subscription$7.991 Month
- Premium Yearly Subscription$42.991 Year
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- Premium Yearly Subscription1 Year trial$42.991 Year
- Premium Monthly Subscription$44.996 Months
- Premium yearly Subscription$49.991 Year
- Premium yearly subscription14 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Drumap PRO Yearly Offer1 Year trial$49.991 Year
- Samba on Drum set workshop$5.99
- Music Capoeria Workshop$6.99









