Flexible drum app for irregular glitch/loops

Pictor

I have been using DrumLab lately, an incredibly featured app and extremely cheap (a little bugged but ok).
It can use internal synth engines or samples with editor, has pads for improvisation, effects, automation recording, has lot of drumkit sounds and song mode. Really nice.

But… as many of the drum machine I see, it’s made for 4/4th beats and doesn’t seem to have options to make more complex rhythmics. It was disappointing when i found out; apart for that is among my favourite (cranky but good 🙃) apps.

I’m not much in 4/4 stuff like techno or hiphop/bass, but I tend to like more irregular drum’n’bass, IDM, glitch, dubstep or ambient breakcore á-la “The Flashbulb” (Benn Jordan, the best guy on YouTube today). So I usually want to experiment with weird rhythms, triplets, etc.

I can use Cubasis’s piano roll for that but i find myself limited while (usually as standalone or into Audiobus) exploring/improvising base rhythms to work on later.

Now Patterning-2 is discounted and have heard a lot of good, but I’m wondering how much more flexible would be relative to DrumLab.
Apart for the randomisation (that i can work out externally with Polybeat) what makes Patterning 2 outstanding?

Would it be suitable for more creative/irregular rhythms?

Or would you suggest something else?

sharifkerbage

I feel you! even for a basic 6/8 is not that easy to find an intuitive app, a lot of them seem to be meant mostly for 4/4.
DigiStix 2 is beeing my go-to when it comes to irregular signatures.
You can use it to sequence other apps as well.

michael_m

Check out the Audio Damage and Sugar Bytes apps - they are great for glitching up percussive sounds.

RajahP

Playbeat is outstanding.. Update is about to hit this week.. worth every penny and more..

Hopefully Probability is introduced in the pending update..

Stuntman_mike

GlitchBreaks or GlitchCore?
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/glitchbreaks/id520451538
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/glitchcore/id1499237784

Gavinski

Also audio damage replicant. And maybe try some arp type things / sequencers that work with weird timings like Ioniarics and Euclidean

anickt

@Pictor said:
I have been using DrumLab lately, an incredibly featured app and extremely cheap (a little bugged but ok).
It can use internal synth engines or samples with editor, has pads for improvisation, effects, automation recording, has lot of drumkit sounds and song mode. Really nice.

But… as many of the drum machine I see, it’s made for 4/4th beats and doesn’t seem to have options to make more complex rhythmics. It was disappointing when i found out; apart for that is among my favourite (cranky but good 🙃) apps.

I’m not much in 4/4 stuff like techno or hiphop/bass, but I tend to like more irregular drum’n’bass, IDM, glitch, dubstep or ambient breakcore á-la “The Flashbulb” (Benn Jordan, the best guy on YouTube today). So I usually want to experiment with weird rhythms, triplets, etc.

I can use Cubasis’s piano roll for that but i find myself limited while (usually as standalone or into Audiobus) exploring/improvising base rhythms to work on later.

Now Patterning-2 is discounted and have heard a lot of good, but I’m wondering how much more flexible would be relative to DrumLab.
Apart for the randomisation (that i can work out externally with Polybeat) what makes Patterning 2 outstanding?

Would it be suitable for more creative/irregular rhythms?

Or would you suggest something else?

You can change the length of each drum lane in DrumLab.

Poppadocrock

Hammerhead is a very intuitive Au drum app that does some cool glitching and mutation. You can also change the amount of steps in the bottom panel for each of the 8 sounds, if you want to use the internal sequencer.

Poppadocrock

FX app Replicant 2 by audio damage is pretty Sweet, as well as the 2 @Stuntman_mike mentioned.

Edit I see you mentioned that one @Gavinski

Bob

Patterning 2 is great if you’re looking for all sorts of drumkits. You can download lots of nice sounding kits and then move on from there. Just that.
Fractal bits using rozeta midi is ok too.

kgreggbruce

I like, using AUM as a host, to run a midi app into Fractal Bits that supports off timings or signatures. (Autony, Euclidean, Rozeta, plenty of others)

I then use an LFO like mLFO to slowly run through Fractals engine types. This creates interesting top loops and percussion over my regular drum tracks (Hammerhead, Drum Computer, FAC, etc)

Gavinski

@kgreggbruce said:
I like, using AUM as a host, to run a midi app into Fractal Bits that supports off timings or signatures. (Autony, Euclidean, Rozeta, plenty of others)

I then use an LFO like mLFO to slowly run through Fractals engine types. This creates interesting top loops and percussion over my regular drum tracks (Hammerhead, Drum Computer, FAC, etc)

Nice technique, must try 👍

audiblevideo

Patterning has beat offsets positive and negative
Ratcheting
PolyRythm
Sample import
Midi out and in (I use is with drum computer all the time when i don’t want to program a beat)
Pitch shifting samples
Built in effects
A mixer
Various time signatures
…
Oh and the beats can rotate clockwise or counter clockwise
Each one separately

Totes worth it
Plus lots of kits to download

audiblevideo

If you want irregular / glitched beats get Sector

Like now

Pictor

@anickt said:

You can change the length of each drum lane in DrumLab.

Thanks is a nice suggestion, although I think changing the length only offsets the specific channel in the pattern, but I’m not sure it can create triplets for examples. Also it forces the reduced length piece to loop; would be nice to have direct fine tuned control (a-là FL-Studio) without having to shorten loops.
I do switch to Cubasis afterwards, but would be cool to sketch irregular rhythms directly in DrumLab.
It’s a pity because apart for varying signature it does almost everything one might need!

EDIT: actually there’s a “Step Division” option that allows triplets, but it seems to only repeat the note 3 times rather than allowing to choose when it should beat.

Pictor

@Stuntman_mike said:
GlitchBreaks or GlitchCore?
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/glitchbreaks/id520451538
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/glitchcore/id1499237784

I mostly stick to MIDI so GlitchBreak fits less, but GlitchCore; cool tools non the less, thanks, they weren’t yet in my list!

Pictor

@sharifkerbage said:
DigiStix 2 is beeing my go-to when it comes to irregular signatures.

I choose DrumLab over it at the time, because the first can synthesize sounds, additionally to samples.
But DigiStix was under my radar again lately because of the discounted price.
I should dig in more in YTvideos about its sequencer.