Comparison

Ensemble Composer vs RDM Playalongs

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Compose drumline music
  • Realistic recorded drum sounds
  • Play along and practice
  • Share and edit compositions
  • Support for any time signature
  • Customizable rhythms
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

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

About

RDM Playalongs

Features
Read full description

Three practice tools for rudimental drummers, built to get your hands clean and fast. PLAYALONGS 500+ exercises. Press play and it loops until you stop it. Set the tempo to bounce around inside a range so you can't settle in, or have it climb every few reps until you find where you break. Twelve ready-made playlists too, or build your own. METRONOME Any time signature. Any subdivision, including the ones normal metronome apps don't have: 7-lets, 9-lets, ratio rhythms. Accent, diddle, buzz or mute any beat, any partial. Chain different rhythms into a sequence and save it. SIGHT-READING LAB Hit generate, get a page you've never seen. Set the tempo, the rests, the stickings, the syncopation, the time signature. Set the difficulty to your level. Notation on screen while it plays, so you're reading and hearing at the same time. Practice time tracked. Streaks. Leaderboard. Stuck on something? Post it in the community and I'll answer it myself. Built by Anthony Steller, a gigging drummer and snare instructor, for marching snare drummers and drumlines. Start free. You get all three tools with limits, no card needed. RDM Playalongs Monthly is an auto-renewing subscription, $12.99 per month. It unlocks all 500+ exercises and every control in all three tools. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. It renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Manage or cancel in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://rudimentaldrummingmastery.com/privacy-policy.html

Screenshots

Ensemble Composer4 screens
RDM Playalongs4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: RDM Playalongs at Free against Ensemble Composer's $14.99. RDM Playalongs also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.6). Ensemble Composer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and chart position (#94 vs unranked). On ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

RDM Playalongs is free to download; Ensemble Composer costs $14.99 up front. RDM Playalongs sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $12.99 per month. Ensemble Composer asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ensemble Composer ships an update every 2 months, RDM Playalongs daily. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Ensemble Composer versus RDM Playalongs: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEnsemble ComposerRDM Playalongs
Price$14.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (275 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews77.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings275 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid—
Best chart rank#94 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperN. WheelerAnthony Steller

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
Show 11 more
  • 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
Show 11 more
  • 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

RDM Playalongs

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Ensemble Composer

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

RDM Playalongs

Subscriptions1
  • RDM Playalongs$12.991 Month

Questions

Is Ensemble Composer free?
Ensemble Composer costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is RDM Playalongs free?
RDM Playalongs is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Ensemble Composer or RDM Playalongs have ads?
Neither Ensemble Composer nor RDM Playalongs shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ensemble Composer or RDM Playalongs?
Ensemble Composer ships an update every 2 months, and RDM Playalongs daily. Most recently, Ensemble Composer was updated on October 15, 2026 and RDM Playalongs on October 2, 2026.

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