Real brush, hot rods & jazz grooves. It doesn't loop. It improvises. Now with AUv3. Use Soft Drummer as a plugin inside Loopy Pro, GarageBand, AUM, and your DAW.
Soft Drummer is your subtle session drummer, and now it works as an AUv3 plugin inside GarageBand, AUM, Loopy Pro or your favourite DAW.
It doesn't loop. It improvises.
With brushes, hot rods and hands, Soft Drummer generates warm, musical grooves for ballads, soft pop, jazz and latin, adapting in real time like a real session player. No patterns. No repetition.
AUv3
Use Soft Drummer as a plugin in any AUv3 host. Send and receive grooves between Soft Drummer, Pop Drummer and iBassist. Sync everything in real time.
SOUND
More than 50 multilayer sounds with 3 hit types (ghost, accented, drag/open)
× 3 Round Robin alternating samples for natural, authentic feel.
4 playing styles: Brushes, Hot Rods, Hands and Mallets.
4 Effects: Compressor/Gate, EQ, Delay and Reverb with individual track control.
LIVE PERFORMANCE
8 assignable Live Pads for fills, intros and endings, playable live or with any MIDI controller (iRig Blueboard and 4-button compatible).
Ableton Link sync for tight integration with your setup.
SONG MODE
Build your song structure in seconds. Arrange rhythmic sections and let Soft Drummer follow your song from intro to outro.
MIDI
MIDI Out, MIDI Sync (Legacy, recommended Ableton Link), Sound Module (Play individual sounds by MIDI In).
⏺ Assignable MIDI controls (default mapping):
- Transport: Play: G2 · Fill: C2 · Fill + Play/Stop: A2 · Tap Tempo: Bb2
- LivePads: Pads 1–8: C1–G1 · Load LivePad: C3 · Previous LivePad: Db3 · Next LivePad: D3 · Select LivePad Set: Eb3 · Fill on LivePad Change: E2
- Performance: Toggle Hats/Ride: Db2 · Fill + Toggle Hats/Ride: D2 · Toggle Snare: Eb2 · Crash Cymbal: B2 · Random: B1
- Songs: Previous: Gb2 · Next: Ab2
- Continuous controls: Jam: CC1 · Intensity: CC2 · Master Volume: CC7 · Swing: CC11 · Progression: CC12 · Tempo Fader: CC20 · Reverb: CC91
- Sound selection: Bank: CC32 · Rhythm: CC0 · Soundset: Program Change
All assignments are user-remappable.
Note octave naming follows the Logic / Cubase / Ableton / Pro Tools convention (middle C = C3) and is adjustable in MIDI Setup → OCTAVE REFERENCE.
Tempo Fader is standalone-only (host-driven in AUv3).
EXPORT
Multi-Track or Full Mix export in seconds. Audio, MIDI or with Effects , your choice.
TRY FOR FREE
Soft Drummer is free to explore for 7 days with access to all features. Some actions are limited during the trial
(exports, random grooves, sound changes and bars per session).
After the trial, keep playing with more limitations.
Unlock everything with a one-time purchase, no subscription.
Why do I love this app? Well it seems to be the only Lumbeat drummer I can control without using either MIDI or a mouse! Keyboard control via the space bar to toggle on and off, as well as the carriage return to toggle with fills and the arrow keys for setting tempo up and down. This makes it so much easier to start and end along with my playing, which is kind of necessary to sound reasonable whether live or recording bands that do not end at the sea time are immediately dismissed as not good enough. The opposite of tightness.This app really rocks and I just discovered that it also works a plugin which is awesome and one more thing - the brushes and hands are much less in your face than sticks so for jazz and ambient this is perfect.It also has some jazz, some latin and some funk - this is a huge range of rhythms, sounds, and styles. And I recently tired it with a MIDI keyboard controlling various parameters as well. This is a thoughtful, deep and great sounding non repeating non looping rhythmic scaffolding!
Developer Response
Hi Neubop,Thank you so much for this fantastic and detailed review! We're thrilled Soft Drummer's keyboard control, plugin support, and wide range of styles (jazz, latin, funk) are fitting so well into your workflow, and that the brush/hand sounds are working great for your jazz and ambient tracks. Great feedback on tightness and feel too, that's exactly what we aim for with our non-looping, dynamic rhythmic engine.Thank you for your review.
Soft Drummer vs Beat Buddy
Sir A m4Y
I was looking for a drum app that I could to play live in small intimate settings where sometimes electrical power is not readily available. I was delighted when I found Soft Drummer. I currently use a Beat Buddy and was looking for something similar in an app. This is not it. With that said, this is an excellent app with its own qualities but it is not as intuitive as Beat Buddy. I am not a drummer and need something fairly simple to play along with live. I need to be able to control things using OnSong and Quantiloop. I think this app can do everything I need and more but there is a learning curve and the documentation is scarce. There are a couple of YT tutorials but seem to more focused on recording than live play. I have not found a good tutorial on the MIDI settings. My needs are simple: I need to select a song and set the tempo using CC or PC commands using an Airturn Stomp 6 footswitch. I use OnSong to configure the six switches to trigger MIDI commands like Start/Stop, and send CC and PC commands to Quantiloop and Beat Buddy to select songs, change tracks and set tempos. If I can figure out how to do this with Soft Drummer I will give it 5 Stars because the drum sounds and jamming features are stellar. If I could get some help from you, Louis, by getting some documentation and/or tutorials, that would be very much appreciated.
Buy Everything By This Dev!
Tilden Thorne
This is a great drum app, in a line of great drum apps. These apps are my go to when I need quick convincing drum tracks. I often even get questions like “Who played drums on this track?” (Although only Soft Drummer actually gets those questions)If you need quality drum tracks, this app (and its siblings) will get you there with the least amount of fuss, and superb sound quality. I would like to see higher sample rates for the drum samples (as an option, even if it was an IAP).What I really want is for this developer to make an “universal” drum app. One app that covers all the styles, and all the sounds, for one price (even if it is expensive). It would make moving between drum styles mid track much easier. If the developer is reading this, please consider making an app like this. I would pay substantially more for such an app, so long as it was done as well as the existing ones have been. Please consider this!
Finally
Former Goodreader
A Sophisticated jazz drummer app (with brushes!) that needs no tweaking. It can play full 16 measure patterns of excellent sampled drums and improvise softly (pianissimo) and with subtleties better than many drummers I know. Having used recorded bass and drums for years to accompany jazz standards, I could not change tempos easily since they were pre-recorded. Soft Drummer allows nuanced jazz drumming in many varied tempos and moods that works well live. Starting with a measure drumstick count-off, then a creative introduction measure, (and eventually a closing measure); jumping to the touchscreen controls and back to playing your instrument is easy. Those control buttons would be easier if BIGGER, at least as big as the drum trigger buttons. I missed the tiny INTRO button when stopping and starting (crucial musical moments). Making the INTRO button as big as the triangular start button would be my only improvement request. The Reverb, EQ, PAN, etc.; are detailed and easily adjusted. I have not tried MIDI integration yet but if it works as it should it can be an excellent alternative MIDI triggered sound module.Just a tip: If you play the same music at 120=BPM or 60=BPM in cut time (so it’s really the same speed) it will change the character a lot especially if you set the “jamming” and/or “swing” to a high setting.Alpha program! I can’t wait to see what an additional soundest, offered for my review, will do!Thank you.Dale Jeffries
• AUv3: Groove and Drum Kit lists now load reliably in the DAW's plug-in parameter controls
• Stability and bug fixes
Version 4.02
The developer, Lumbeat, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
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Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
Lumbeat Ltd.
Size
1.4 GB
Category
Music
Compatibility
Requires iOS 16 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 16 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 16 or later.
iPod touch Requires iOS 16 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 13.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.