Comparison

Drum Rack vs Tonkro

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Drum Rack

Create unique drum sounds from scratch using synthesis. Design pitch envelopes, sequence beats with advanced timing options, and export your creations as WAV or MIDI files. Explore genre presets and patterns to kickstart your music production.

Highlights
  • Synthesized drum voices
  • Customizable pitch envelopes
  • 32-step sequencer
  • Advanced timing and ratchets
  • Genre presets and patterns
  • WAV and MIDI export
Features
Read full description

Drum Rack builds every drum sound from scratch. No samples anywhere — the kick, snare, hat and clap are synthesised as you play them, which is why a kick can drop from 200 Hz to 49 Hz along a curve you draw with your finger. WHAT IT DOES Four synthesised voices, each with its own controls. Draw the pitch envelope of the kick and the snare by hand: drag a point, add a point, bend the curve between two points. Watch the rendered waveform change as you go. A 32-step sequencer with per-step velocity, timing nudge and ratchets, so a single step can hold a roll of up to eight hits. Time signatures from 3/4 to 7/4, grids from 1/8 to 1/32 including triplets. Eighteen genre presets, from house and techno to jungle, boom bap and reggaeton. Each one loads a full kit and a pattern to start from. Export a loop as a WAV file, or the pattern as MIDI. The MIDI carries velocity, nudge, ratchets and time signature, and lands on the General MIDI drum map — drop it on a drum rack in your own DAW and it plays on your own kit. WHAT IT DOES NOT DO No account. No sign-in. No advertising. No analytics. No tracking. Your patterns stay on your device. Nothing is uploaded. FROM THE LAB Drum Rack is part of Lumlux Art Lab, a set of free browser tools for people who make music. The same drum machine runs on the website, so you can try it before installing anything. Made in Antwerp by FDR-Sound.

About

Tonkro

Features
Read full description

MAKE MUSIC BY TOUCHING THE MACHINE Tonkro is a playful music workstation for iPad: part synthesizer, sampler, drum machine, sequencer, recorder, editor, mixer, and DJ performance space. SHAPE ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTS Explore distinctive synth and drum engines through four expressive controls. Each workshop is built to feel immediate: touch the illustrated machinery, hear the result, and let the characters react to your performance. SAMPLE THE WORLD Record through the microphone or import audio. Play one sound chromatically, divide it into untransposed slices, or map multiple samples across keys and pads. Trim, crop, loop, reverse, fade, change speed, transpose, and preserve the original recording with non-destructive editing. FIND RHYTHMS YOUR WAY Seven sequencer personalities turn taps, held notes, patterns, gestures, and playful systems into musical motion. Tempo, transport, MIDI, and recording stay connected, so a sketch can become an arrangement without breaking the flow. RECORD AND ARRANGE Build with eight stereo tracks. Record audio or notes, edit clips and piano-roll performances, overdub, punch, loop, lift, drop, mix, export stems, and save portable project bundles. PERFORM WITH MONSTER DECKS Load two tracks, set beat grids, sync, use key lock, cue points, hot cues, quantized loops, EQ, filters, pitch bend, and the crossfader. Record the performance or print it directly into the tape arrangement. MADE FOR PLAY Tonkro keeps its creative tools visible, touchable, and full of character. It works without an account, advertising, or third-party analytics. Your projects, recordings, and imported samples remain on your iPad unless you choose to export or share them.

Screenshots

Drum Rack4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Drum Rack at 3 against Tonkro's 1. Drum Rack also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Drum Rack versus Tonkro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrum RackTonkro
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyMonthly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB47 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFrank De RopBipasha Nayak

In-app purchases

None

Drum Rack

No in-app purchases

None

Tonkro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Drum Rack free?
Drum Rack is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tonkro free?
Tonkro is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Drum Rack or Tonkro have ads?
Neither Drum Rack nor Tonkro shows ads.

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