Ensemble Composer vs Chops
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ensemble Composer
Create custom drumline music with realistic recorded sounds. Compose street beats, stand jams, or entire musical books. Play along, practice, share, and edit your compositions.
- Compose drumline music
- Realistic recorded drum sounds
- Play along and practice
- Share and edit compositions
- Support for any time signature
- Customizable rhythms
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A whole drumline in the palm of your hand! Compose a street beat, a stand jam, or even your whole book. Play along, practice, share, and edit. With amazing real recorded drum sounds and the ability to create any rhythm over any time signature, this is the real deal. Compose and play along with the actual battery drum line sounds of the Paul Rennick 2012 Santa Clara Vanguard, as recorded by bass tech Brian Lowe - tuned the way they sounded on finals night. Best used with Headphones About Telephonic Amusements: Nicholas Wheeler, software engineer, marched Sky Ryders, Velvet Knights, and UNT - taught at Pioneer and UNT; David Croy, designer, marched Sky Ryders and tech’ed under Paul Rennick at Sky, VK, and has provided visual consulting for UNT and Dynasty Drums. Like us at https://www.facebook.com/DrumlineApps
Chops
Master all 40 PAS rudiments with structured courses, dynamic exercises, and a smart metronome. Apply your skills on the kit with beautiful notation and full playback controls. Designed for drummers of all levels to practice with purpose and enhance their foundation.
- Master all 40 PAS rudiments
- Apply skills on the drum kit
- Dynamic exercises and workouts
- Structured courses for all levels
- Beautiful and readable notation
- Smart metronome with tempo adjustment
- Full playback controls
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A rudiment trainer built for drummers: workouts, exercises, courses, and progress tracking. MASTER ALL 40 PAS RUDIMENTS From the basics to advanced patterns, learn every rudiment and enhance your drumming foundation. KIT VARIATIONS Break out from your practise pad and apply your new skills on the kit. EXERCISES AND WORKOUTS Keep your practice sessions dynamic and engaging with a variety of exercises and workouts. COURSES Whether you're a beginner or an advanced drummer, follow structured courses designed for all skill levels. PRACTICE WITH PURPOSE Maximize your practice time with guided courses that keep you progressing and motivated. BEAUTIFUL NOTATION Beautiful and easy to read notation. SMART METRONOME Built-in smart metronome adjusts tempo and time signature for you, letting you focus on playing. FULL PLAYBACK CONTROLS Hear how each exercise should sound with full playback controls. Adjust the metronome and tempo. Download Chops today and unleash your full drumming potential! Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Chops at Free against Ensemble Composer's $14.99. Chops also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 77%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). Ensemble Composer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ratings volume (275 vs 15). On rating, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Chops is free to download; Ensemble Composer costs $14.99 up front. Chops sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Ensemble Composer asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Ensemble Composer against 4.7 for Chops. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ensemble Composer has 275 ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 77% of Ensemble Composer's written reviews are positive against 100% of Chops's.
Ensemble Composer ships an update every 2 months, Chops every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ensemble Composer | Chops |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $14.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (275 ratings) | 4.7 (15 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 77.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 275 — better | 15 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Freemium — better |
| Best chart rank | #182 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 50 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | N. Wheeler | Digital Staves |
Customer experience
Ensemble Composer
Chops
Bugs and requests
Ensemble Composer
Reported bugs
16 issues- New update prevents opening older files
- Audio stutters and cuts off in faster rhythms
- Triplet rolls don't sound even
- Bass drum subdivisions not working
- Tenor section drums moved to incorrect positions
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- Scroll feature is choppy and laggy
- Rhythmic accuracy issues
- Cymbal sounds bleed into each other
- App crashes with certain subdivisions
- Polyrhythm and odd time signature issues
- Saving functionality fails intermittently
- Split feature freezes and causes progress loss
- Files duplicate unexpectedly
- Export format incorrect (.mxl instead of .xml)
- Tempo synchronization issues
- App crashes on startup
Requested features
16 requests- Revert snare sounds to pre-update quality
- Multiple sound option choices for drums
- Hi-hat option for cymbals
- Single tenor drum section option
- Separate tempos within drum sections
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- Undo/redo functionality
- Auto-save feature
- iCloud or cloud backup support
- Different drum tuning options
- Legato and staccato buzz options
- Smoother and longer buzz roll sounds
- Sixtet tenor configuration option
- Video export/share functionality
- In-depth tutorial documentation
- Accent dynamics improvements
- Rim click sounds for tenors
Chops
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ensemble Composer
No in-app purchases
Chops
- Chops Subscription (Monthly)7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Education Subscription (Yearly)$12.991 Year
- Chops Subscription (Yearly)7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Lifetime$69.99
Questions
Is Ensemble Composer free?
Is Chops free?
Which has better reviews, Ensemble Composer or Chops?
Do Ensemble Composer or Chops have ads?
Which is updated more often, Ensemble Composer or Chops?
Other comparisons
