Drum Meister Review: Tap on This

App Name:	Drum Meister
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch
Version Reviewed:	Seungyi Lee
Genre(s):	music

After playing drums for almost 10 years, I’ve become pretty familiar with drummers’ culture. It’s an understatement to say that we tend to tap on things far too often. From fingertips on tabletops to feet on hardwood floors, if there’s a drummer in the room there is probably a rhythm to be found if you listen closely. And now, thanks to the iPhone, there are a handful of apps made specifically for us and which allow our incessant tapping to get one step closer to music even when we’re miles away from an actual drum kit. There is a lot of room for improvement judging from the drumming apps currently available, but Drum Meister sits near the top, offering the most acoustic, realistic experience available for the modern drummer who has longed to keep a full-sized kit in his pocket.

The first hurdle to jump when talking about Drum Meister is to make sure everyone knows that this app isn’t a game. There are plenty of music games out there that require zero musical talent (but can still be a lot of fun). Instead, Drum Meister is a tool that can be used by drummers to work out rhythms in their heads, work on timing, jam along with songs on their iPods, or just mess around with the volume on “high” (as we’re known to do occasionally).

Developer Seungyi Lee accomplishes this by offering drummers around the world a top-down view of what amounts to four different drum kits (each with customizable pieces) against a warm and pleasant wood-paneled backdrop. The kit options are rock, jazz, dance, and electric. But choosing from those themes is just the beginning of the customization. From there, you go on to pick the individual pieces you’d like to include. There are different sizes of toms, a nice mix of cymbals, and a handful of accessories. You can even throw in multiples of the same drum and resize components when you want to get very specific about making a certain beat feasible for your fingers to tap out.

So the options are all there, but what about the sound? Thankfully, the developer did a great job with providing realistic, well-balanced samples that perform very well when played quickly, simultaneously, or just about any way you can imagine. There is no clipping or awkward fade-outs that distract from the creation of beats that sound authentic and pleasing. The ability to record and playback beats is included, as well as a long list of pre-recorded tracks that allow you to watch the drum kit being played (like a player piano) and let you get a feel for how to arrange the drums and do some pretty impressive things.

While all these elements are great, we have to be careful not to expect too much from Drum Meister, cause that will lead to disappointment. This app is awesome for entertainment and even a little bit beyond that, but it’s not an actual recording tool. What it doesn’t offer is the ability to mix individual drum levels or record in layers. And even the fair amount of variety among the drum selections doesn’t go very far in letting you pick, say, the perfect snare for the song you have in mind. Expecting these things is admittedly maybe a bit ridiculous, but Drum Meister does so well with what it does have to offer that you easily start to wonder what could be coming in the future.

Drum Meister is probably best for the casual drummer who will be perfectly satisfied with playing along with his iPod and enjoying what creative options there are within the app. The fact that Drum Meister causes you to wonder what could have been is probably a testament to how well it executes this drumming experience. It could’ve easily been frustrating and useless, but instead it is functional and challenging to whatever degree you choose to take it. Purchase Drum Meister for $1.99 with no hesitation, but more importantly, watch for whatever Seungyi Lee brings us next. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see some really amazing utilities for drummers and musicians alike. Speaking on behalf of all the incessant tappers out there, let’s hope this is the case.

Our Rating: 4/5

Drum Meister is available in the App Store for $1.99 at the time of the review. (App Store Link)

About the Author

Devin Wieland

 

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