Bruno Drum Synth vs Rithmatic
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bruno Drum Synth
This app allows users to create layered drum sounds using multiple synthesis engines. It offers intelligent randomization and a context-aware tweak system for effortless sound design, suitable for both beginners and experienced musicians.
- Four synthesis engines per drum
- Six voice types (Kick, Snare, Hat, Clap, Tom, Pluck)
- Intelligent randomization
- Context-aware tweak system
- Master FX bus with multiple effects
- Deep MIDI mapping and AUv3 plugin support
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Here is the secret behind every great drum: the professionals build them in layers. A kick is a sub, a click, and a body. A snare is a tone, a crack, and a wash of noise. The traditional way means juggling samples, plugins, and routing to pull it off. Bruno makes that professional technique effortless. Bruno is built around three ideas: • Four synthesis engines per drum, layered in parallel, each with its own complete signal chain • Six voice types that reconfigure all four engines for the right frequency range • Intelligent randomization and a context-aware tweak system The result is punchy kicks, cracking snares, shimmering metal, evolving percussion and twangy plucks. Whether it is your first drum synth or your fortieth, Bruno meets you where you are. Hit the dice for an instant new sound. Roll a single engine or nudge one tab at a time. Or dive deep into per-engine sound design when you are ready. SIX VOICE TYPES • Kick, Snare, Hat, Clap, Tom, and Pluck • Each voice retunes all four engines for its own frequency range and parameters • Parameter values are preserved when you switch voices, so happy accidents carry across • String-model Pluck with pickup comb, stiffness, and modal resonance FOUR INDEPENDENT ENGINES • Analog, FM, Fold, and Resonant, summed in parallel • Every engine has its own tune, decay, and volume plus pitch envelopes • Filters: 8 types with cutoff, resonance, bipolar envelope, and decay • Three LFOs per engine: Cutoff, Pitch, and Character, with sync, gate, phase, and range • Per-engine compressor, drive with 4 saturation types, delay with 4 types, and 3-band EQ • Per-Engine noise, includes independently controlled noise decay, with white, pink and crackle noise. • ON and OFF per engine, so a drum can be one engine or a dense four-layer stack SHAPE THE TRANSIENT • Dedicated Vol Env tab with click amount, click tone, decay curve, and tail • Per-engine Body Peak EQ for tuned resonance and thump • Voice-specific controls like Kick Tick, Snare BP wires, and Pluck stiffness and hum MASTER FX BUS • Saturator, Compressor, Transient Shaper, Reverb, Stereo width, and Limiter • Global 3-band EQ with quick presets • Copy to All across filter, compressor, delay, EQ, and every LFO INTELLIGENT RANDOMIZATION • Musical preset generator tuned per voice for usable drums, not noise • Generate by style and target by category for each of the six voices • Roll a whole preset, a single engine, or one tab at a time • Tweak system for subtle, context-aware variations • 100-entry history you can step forward and back through • One-tap dice for instant inspiration SAMPLE EXPORT • Export Any Sound – Turn your Bruno creations into reusable audio samples. • Single-Sample Export – Quickly export drums, percussion and other non-chromatic sounds as individual samples. • Chromatic Multisample Export – Automatically create complete multisample sets from pitched sounds. • Flexible Multisample Mapping – Choose the root note, octave range, and semitone spacing for your multisample exports. • Flexible Audio Export – Choose sample rate, bit depth, and mono or stereo format to suit your app or hardware. • Instant App Export – Send Bruno sounds directly into Koala or Loopy Pro with no editing required. • Build Your Own Sample Libraries – Export sounds for hardware samplers, drum machines, DAWs and grooveboxes to create custom kits and multisample instruments. EFFORTLESS WORKFLOW • Consistent layout across all four engines • Live scope with per-engine spectrum feedback • Per-tab hints explaining the controls plus production tips BUILT FOR REAL MUSIC • Factory presets including curated Signature sounds • Preset import and export • Master Preset import and export • Deep MIDI: full Note and CC mapping (CC mapping AUv3 only) • Clock-synced LFOs lock to host tempo • AUv3 plugin that works in AUM, Loopy Pro, Drambo, Logic Pro, GarageBand, Cubasis, and more
Rithmatic
This app is an FM synthesizer featuring a vast library of classic voices. It allows users to explore, learn, build, and blend sounds using an intuitive interface and an AUv3 plugin for DAWs. It offers a comprehensive synthesis engine and various playback options.
- 36,118 classic DX7 voices included
- AUv3 plugin for DAWs
- Patch Builder to learn FM synthesis
- Sound blending feature
- On-screen and MIDI keyboard support
- Arpeggiator and latch function
- WAV export
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Rithmatic is an FM synthesizer with 36,118 classic DX7 voices built in, and an AUv3 plugin for GarageBand on iPad and your DAW on the Mac. Browse them by family and by character, learn how FM works by watching it shape each one, build and blend your own, and play them from the on-screen keys or a MIDI keyboard. No account, no ads, nothing locked. IN YOUR DAW • Put it on a track in GarageBand on iPad, or in an Audio Unit host on the Mac such as Ableton Live. • Its window is the app's own Patches screen and Patch Builder, with your library. • Your bank appears as the plugin's presets, and Brightness, Attack, Decay, Release and Feedback can be automated. The patch is saved with your project. A LIBRARY THAT SHIPS FULL • 36,118 unique DX7 voices come with the app: no download, no account, no network. • Start with Essentials: the famous sounds and the songs they're on. • Browse by family, or by character: percussive, plucked, metallic, bright, sustained, swell, evolving, mellow. Or search by name. • Patch of the day: one classic voice each day, in the app and in a widget for iPhone, iPad and Mac. • Every voice is credited to the archive it came from, and to its designer where a bank names one. PLAY IT • A DX7-compatible synthesis engine runs inside the app, so every patch plays with nothing plugged in. • Play from the on-screen keys, your Mac's keyboard, or any MIDI keyboard you connect. • Pitch bend, mod wheel, breath, sustain and aftertouch, with aftertouch set to vibrato, tremolo or swell. • Velocity from a MIDI keyboard, or turn it off and choose how hard every note plays. • An arpeggiator (up, down, up and down, random or as played, over up to three octaves) and a latch that holds each key. • Record what you play and share it as a WAV. • Five tunings: equal, just, and Wendy Carlos's Alpha, Beta and Gamma scales. • Light or dark, as your device is set or as you choose. Drag the keys taller or shorter. • Keys, shortcuts and every synth term, explained under Help. SEE THE SOUND The waveform follows what you play: each operator's envelope, how hard you hit, the pitch, the LFO's wobble, and a chord as one layer per note. Resize it, go full screen, or watch the output itself in the Scope look. PATCH BUILDER: LEARN HOW FM WORKS FM is famous for being hard to program. The Patch Builder shows you why a sound sounds the way it does. • All six operators on a graph, each cable carrying its wave: see a modulator reshape its carrier as you drag. • Draw a cable and the builder snaps to the nearest of the 32 algorithms, so you learn routing by doing it. • Plain words beside the jargon. Edit each operator's ratio, level, envelope and tuning, the LFO and pitch envelope, or use FEEL: thickness, touch and brightness. BLEND Pick two patches and Rithmatic blends them into eight new ones. Play each, and keep the ones you like. YOUR BANK AND FILES • Gather patches from anywhere into your bank, then drag pads to swap or reorder them. • Export the bank as standard DX7 .syx files. Open .syx banks, or a .zip of them, from Files, Mail, AirDrop or the Finder. • Share a sound as a short clip of it playing, with a card and a code that brings the patch into anyone's Rithmatic. WITH A SYNTH, IF YOU HAVE ONE Hardware is optional. Choose your synth in Settings: • Korg Volca FM2 (firmware 1.10 or later, over MIDI): read its current patch, write to any of its 64 memory slots, back up and restore all 16 sequencer patterns, and capture the whole instrument to a snapshot. • DX7 family: send patches and 32-voice banks to a DX7 (mkI/II), TX7, TX802 or the original Volca FM over standard Yamaha voice dumps. FREE AND PRIVATE Every feature is free; tips are optional and unlock nothing. Rithmatic works offline and collects no personal data: no account, no analytics, no ads. KORG and volca are trademarks of Korg Inc. DX7 and TX are trademarks of Yamaha Corporation. Rithmatic is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bruno Drum Synth at 100% against Rithmatic's 50%. Bruno Drum Synth also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.0). Rithmatic's advantage is price (Free vs $4.99) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 8 days). On 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
Rithmatic is free to download; Bruno Drum Synth costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Bruno Drum Synth holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Bruno Drum Synth's written reviews are positive against 50% of Rithmatic's.
Bruno Drum Synth ships an update every 8 days, Rithmatic every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bruno Drum Synth | Rithmatic |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (5 ratings) — better | 4.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Glenn Vassallo | MADE WITH BEST PRACTICE LLC |
Customer experience
Bruno Drum Synth
Rithmatic
In-app purchases
Bruno Drum Synth
No in-app purchases
Rithmatic
No in-app purchases









