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BAM vs ZenBeats
I’ve never really been into these “song creation” type apps as I prefer more of a Freeform jam approach in things like AUM…
However, I’ve started messing around with more hip/trip-hop/LoFi kinda stuff and it’s obviously more suited to a “song structure” approach.
For folks that have used BAM and Roland’s ZenBeats, do you have any thoughts on things like
- Workflow
- Which is best for “performing” into a track as opposed to fiddly pianoroll/sequence editing
- Other thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
Comments
BAM has scene/ clip follow actions which is great for building songs.
Zenbeats is a full DAW with a workflow similar to Logic Pro or Ableton Live. BAM is more of a groovebox workflow like Drambo or Korg Gadget. For me a DAW environment clicks better, but a lot of people like the immediacy of grooveboxes for building tracks. From what you say above, I think maybe the groovebox approach might be more to your liking while still allowing enough structure to build a loop-based song. I’d also check out Loopy Pro though, it combines some of the features of both approaches and is very immediate and organic once your tracks are set up.
Some general food for thought:
You can demo Zenbeats for a month
another big difference is that Zenbeats can record audio into a clip.
Vastly prefer BAM. Zenbeats was slow and clunky to work with. Hated the piano roll. Extra sour because I unlocked full version, but that’s all my own fault. I usually work in Gadget, but BAM is great for using auv3 instruments.
BAM seems great although I haven’t used it too much yet but my impression is that ZenBeats works better with audio loops if that’s a big factor for you.
you can not use BAM with bluetooth headphones/speakers. it has a known bug that the developers of the app unfortunately do not classify as important to fix it soon.
Whoa… That sucks. I only use BT headphones on my iPad…
@MonkeyDrummer Someone pointed out that you can demo ZenBeats for a month which is true. I thought I'd also suggest that even though "subscription" is generally a bad word, the option to purchase the Roland Cloud Core Membership at $2.99/mo (or $29.99/year) is probably the most economical way forward because it includes the ZenBeats Max Unlock as well as a bunch of other stuff.
I should add… I’ve tried ZenBeats a bit a while ago because my hardware world is mostly Roland-based. MC707 AND TR-8S.
But I never really dug into it because I was still pretty much “anti-song” and more jam-based.
Plus I was enamored enough to cough up the $$$ for subscription.
I really like what I see in BAM, but I missed the sale and I’ve been burned too much by apps that never finish stomping on bugs. Thus I mainly asking “how’s the water” before I dive in.
It kinda seems that BAM may have what I’m looking for.
If you like the look of BAM but want something more mature, maybe Drambo is what you’re looking for. I don’t go way deep on either of those apps, I’ve just played around in BAM a bit. But to my eye, the first thing I thought when I saw BAM is “this is a Drambo knockoff”. Drambo goes more granular on the modularity bit but the UI and workflow seem very very similar. Someone correct me if I’m way off base here.
Could you describe what you believe would be needed to make Roland Zenbeats more jam-based, fitting your workflow better? Curious, because I haven’t seen this feedback before and if an app is tweakable to the better for most users I think such a case should be looked at by the developer.
On the other hand, IMO, either you like or “click” with an app or you don’t. It I is often about details that make you feel at home.😊.
Regards,
DMfan🇸🇪
Bam has hardware support and the beta now has 5 effects slots per instruments. Zenbeats is more hybrid DAW originated.
Zenbeats is a full music workstation, DAW, Groovebox, Sampler, Instrument creator (Sampleverse), MPE player and midi controller offering linear and clip based workflows. It is backed by Roland, a legendary company much older than I am. Not going anywhere and very well supported.
Zenbeats sounds are based on Zencore, same tech powering synths present in hits spanning every genre. You will be hard pressed to find any artist or producer that doesn’t use Roland sounds. Several synth presets, sound packs, etc released every month and downloadable free for unlocked users.
In short, I don’t think the two are comparable at all. I like BAM and look forward to its continued development but Zenbeats is a completely different level. Haven’t even mentioned hardware integration or that it’s available on every platform.
Not sure what BAM can do Zenbeats can’t but there’s a list longer than train smoke for what Zenbeats can do that BAM cannot.
If you haven’t already, check out EG Nodes also. Having a lot of fun with it. Very immediate like AUM. Recently using Nodes + Sugarbytes Egoist. Cheatcode for genres you mentioned. Song mode should be dropping this week. I don’t personally need song mode to complete at song in Nodes but it’ll be nice to have.
BAM is one of my favorite iOS releases ever at this point. It’s fantastic. Zenbeats is great and has so much potential but has proven to be pretty unstable for me and I’ve lost multiple projects with it so I eventually gave up. Will definitely try again some day but right now BAM seems like the better investment.
Thanks all for the input… Considering I already own Drambo but have not done anything with it maybe I’ll unravel that until the bugs are worked out of BAM and it goes on sale again.
Turns out that I somehow own BM3. Has not been installed in forever, but it seems pretty cool. I prob shunned it originally when I was dead set against things like piano rolls and anything that wasn’t live jamming or generative.
I take it back… Now I recall why I never got into BM3… Really Buggy.
Stuck midi notes into auv3’s constantly
Crashed like 3 times in an hour while digging into audio routing
Leave the app to check something out in YouTube, go back to app and it’s basically restarted and trashed everything I did up to that point (I.e. like I just opened it)
Some more alternatives while waiting for BAM going on sale , Koala and maybe Groove Rider GR-16
You mentioned that Zenbeats was more jam focused , but you can record to timeline like a linear classic DAW if you want to.
I really want to love GR16, but I find editing the sequence really tedious.
Koala is cool, but every time I go down the sampling rabbit hole, it just feels like cheating… I totally get it’s the backbone of several musical genres, and it’s not a judgement, but when I try it, even when the results turn out, it doesn’t feel ‘fulfilling’ or something… Kinda like jamming with RemixLive or Launchpad app… Those are fun, but it’s like music porn… 😜
I don’t see the equivalence of those at all. You said it’s not a judgement but your comment feels otherwise lol