Chapter 1
Start here
What Drambo is, where it runs, how its two halves fit together, and your first beat.
Written in our own words from the Drambo docs’ introduction, groovebox and user interface pages, Beepstreet’s Drambo page and the App Store listing. Read the Drambo docs
What Drambo is
Drambo is BeepStreet’s modular groovebox and audio-processing app. One half is a groovebox — pads, a step sequencer, a clip launcher and performance controls — that will feel familiar if you’ve used hardware drum machines. The other half is a modular environment where you build synths, samplers and effects from small modules. The two are joined: every track you sequence is a rack of modules you can open and change.
You can treat it as a beat machine, a sequencer for other apps and hardware, a synth or sampler, a playground for sound design, or an effects processor — on its own or inside another app.
What sets it apart
- A clip launcher that is also the song arranger. See The launcher and arranger.
- A polyphonic step sequencer where every step can carry more than notes: parameter locks, jumps, retriggers and conditions. See Step components.
- Many ways to move sound over time: parameter locks, automation, morphs and MIDI mapping.
- No cables. Modules connect themselves where they can, and colours show what is connected to what. See Automatic connections and colours.
- Signals flow one way — left to right, then down to the next rack — which keeps patches readable.
- Everything is stereo and polyphonic unless you tell it otherwise. See Polyphony, stereo and CPU.
- Modules can hold other modules, so a whole synth can sit inside one rack and be saved as a preset. See Instrument racks.
From the community
Drambo - Video 1 - Watch This First If You Are A Beginner!!
Daddy Long Les
A 27-minute start on the current app from October 2026, and the introduction the official docs recommend. Its chapters cover templates, the tempo menu, the rack, the step sequencer, clip view and the pads’ TRK, PAT and INS modes.
Drambo 2.0 quick walkthrough
Ben Richards
The 19-minute version of the same 2.0 tour: mute and solo, the scene fader, the clip launcher, auto-grow recording, the navigation bar, stems and the Morph module. He calls it 1.5 at the start, but it is 2.0. From May 2022.
Is Drambo still relevant in 2026?
SoundForMore MusicTech Tutorials
SoundForMore, after more than 100 Drambo tutorials, on whether the app is still worth learning in 2026, with patch examples, performance tools and plugin support. From April 2026.
BeepStreet Drambo - Tutorial Part 1: Getting Started, Interface
SoundForMore MusicTech Tutorials
Part 1 of the long SoundForMore series that the docs point to, which they describe as covering 1.4. The 1.x screen from April 2020 looks quite different, but the modular ideas and signal symbols still hold.
- DramboBeepStreet — BeepStreet’s own overview: what Drambo is for, where it runs (iPad and iPhone on iPadOS or iOS 15.6 or later, and Apple-silicon Macs, each standalone and as AUv3 instrument, effect and MIDI effect) and links to the docs, forum, Patchstorage and recommended videos.
- Drambo docsBeepStreet — The official documentation this guide draws on, from the interface and sequencer to modules, MIDI mapping and the Code module. Its video page warns that some recommended videos show older versions.
- Drambo — BeepStreet forumsBeepStreet forums — BeepStreet’s own forum, where the developer, beta testers and long-time users answer questions.
- BeepStreet Drambo changes the face of iOS music appsCult of Mac — Charlie Sorrel’s launch-week piece, the source of the quote on BeepStreet’s page. One for the history: it describes 1.0, two years before the clip launcher and piano roll.
- Drambo Modular Groovebox Gets Free Major Update To Version 2.0Synthtopia — The 2.0 feature list as it launched: the song arranger and clip launcher, automation recording, the piano roll and step editors, auto-advance entry with rest and tie, clip locks and stems.
- DRAMBO Version 2 General DiscussionLoopy Pro Forum — The long-running thread that began with the 2.0 launch in May 2022, 64 pages and still active in October 2026. The developer is on that forum as giku_beepstreet.
- Drambo (iOS)Elektronauts — More than 2,000 posts since the 2020 launch, on the Elektron users’ forum, so many come from people using Drambo alongside hardware.
Where Drambo runs
Drambo is one App Store purchase that runs on iPad, iPhone and Apple silicon Macs. On each, you get the standalone app plus three Audio Unit (AUv3) plugins, so you can also load Drambo inside another app as an instrument, an effect or a MIDI effect.
| Device | Needs | You get |
|---|---|---|
| iPad | iPadOS 15.6 or later | Standalone app, AUv3 instrument, AUv3 effect, AUv3 MIDI effect |
| iPhone | iOS 15.6 or later | Standalone app, AUv3 instrument, AUv3 effect, AUv3 MIDI effect |
| Mac with Apple silicon | The Mac App Store, under “Made for iPad” | Standalone app and the same three AUv3 plugins, for DAWs that host AUv3 such as Ableton Live and Logic Pro |
The app adapts to every screen size and orientation, so the layout moves around between an iPhone held upright and an iPad held sideways. This guide’s screen explorer shows the iPad layout.
From the community
Drambo in Ableton??? Why not?!
BJamminSinceBirth
Drambo as a plugin inside Ableton Live: setting it up, recording and sampling from it, and adding Live’s effects. From July 2024.
Making Techno In Drambo (with explanation)
Tone Garden
An 80-minute techno session with commentary, on a MacBook: the Macro Oscillator, Flexi Sampler hi-hats, scene states for variation and an unsuccessful Code module experiment. From February 2026.
- DramboBeepStreet — BeepStreet’s own overview: what Drambo is for, where it runs (iPad and iPhone on iPadOS or iOS 15.6 or later, and Apple-silicon Macs, each standalone and as AUv3 instrument, effect and MIDI effect) and links to the docs, forum, Patchstorage and recommended videos.
- Drambo on the App StoreBeepStreet — Requirements, in-app purchases and the version history. Its release notes are the most complete record of what changed in each version.
Extensions you can buy
Everything in this guide works in the core app except the modules that come with an extension. Each extension is an in-app purchase that adds modules to the library; Drambo Visual adds a whole graphics environment. Sections and modules that need one carry a badge.
| Extension | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Waves extension | Wavetable oscillator, Wavetable LFO, Wavetable waveshaper, and the Wave effect, Wave filter, Wave motion, Wave spline and Wave vocoder wavetable processors |
| DSP extensions 1 | Wave scanner, BBD resonator, Spectral delay and Spectral freezer |
| Formants extension | Formant oscillator, Speech synth and Formant filter |
| Granular extension | Granular sampler and Granular processor |
| Drambo Visual | A modular environment for real-time graphics, driven by Drambo’s signals. See Drambo Visual. |
From the community
Finally Here! BeepStreet DRAMBO - GRANULAR SAMPLER - Tutorial 113: How to use it! (iOS)
SoundForMore MusicTech Tutorials
The Granular Sampler from the Granular in-app purchase that arrived in 2.55: sampling into it and building a soundscape. From September 2026.
Drambo: Speech synthesis module (Formant IAP)
beepstreetapps
BeepStreet’s two-minute demo of the Speech Synthesis module, which comes with the Formants in-app purchase. From November 2025.
Drambo Visual - Intro Walkthrough
Ben Richards
A 43-minute introduction to the Drambo Visual purchase from 2.54: patching, modulation, audio reactivity, shaders, 3D, feedback and export. He also points to the in-app Visual Rack tutorials. From July 2026.
- DramboBeepStreet — BeepStreet’s own overview: what Drambo is for, where it runs (iPad and iPhone on iPadOS or iOS 15.6 or later, and Apple-silicon Macs, each standalone and as AUv3 instrument, effect and MIDI effect) and links to the docs, forum, Patchstorage and recommended videos.
- Drambo on the App StoreBeepStreet — Requirements, in-app purchases and the version history. Its release notes are the most complete record of what changed in each version.
- Drambo VisualBeepStreet — BeepStreet’s page for the Visual expansion: how texture signals flow from sources to the Projector, visual racks, shader building and per-pixel modulation.
- Drambo (iOS/macOS): update 2.55: modular groovebox gets granular synthesis and moreSynth Anatomy — A running article that adds each update on top: 2.55’s Looper and Granular modules, Drambo Visual, the Code module, the 2.40 MIDI and time-signature changes, and back to 2.0.
How a project fits together
A Drambo project is a stack of tracks. Each track is a rack of modules that makes or processes sound, and each track gets its notes from clips. Clips sit in a grid: a column per track and a row per pattern. Play the patterns from top to bottom and you have a song; launch clips from different rows and you’re jamming.
- Module
- The smallest building block: an oscillator, a filter, an envelope, a sampler, a MIDI tool. It makes a signal or changes one.
- Rack
- A row of modules that signals pass through from left to right. Some modules — tracks, instrument racks, processor racks — have racks inside them.
- Track
- A rack module that connects the modular side to the sequencer and launcher. The Main track holds all the others.
- Clip
- A MIDI sequence for one track: notes, parameter locks and automation, up to 128 steps long.
- Pattern
- A row of clips across the tracks. Patterns play from top to bottom to make a song.
- Step
- One cell of the step sequencer. A step holds components: notes, parameter locks, jumps, retriggers and conditions.
- P-lock
- A parameter lock: a different value for a parameter on one step, or for a whole clip.
- Morph
- A stored set of parameter values. Up to 16 morphs, and a slider crossfades between two of them.
On screen, the rack editor at the top shows the current track’s rack. Below it sit the track pads (the top of the clip launcher), the step sequencer with its row of buttons, and the pads or keyboard you play. The The screen, control by control lets you click through all of it.
From the community
Drambo 2.0 walkthrough
Ben Richards
Ben Richards’ 55-minute tour of Drambo 2.0, linked from BeepStreet’s own Drambo page, with a chapter for almost everything: modules, auto-advance step entry, the clip launcher, piano roll, automation, p-locks, clip locks and morphs. Filmed in May 2022, before time signatures and MIDI profiles (2.40) and additive step entry (2.51).
BeepStreet Drambo - Tutorial Part 1: Getting Started, Interface
SoundForMore MusicTech Tutorials
Part 1 of the long SoundForMore series that the docs point to, which they describe as covering 1.4. The 1.x screen from April 2020 looks quite different, but the modular ideas and signal symbols still hold.
- DramboBeepStreet — BeepStreet’s own overview: what Drambo is for, where it runs (iPad and iPhone on iPadOS or iOS 15.6 or later, and Apple-silicon Macs, each standalone and as AUv3 instrument, effect and MIDI effect) and links to the docs, forum, Patchstorage and recommended videos.
- Drambo docsBeepStreet — The official documentation this guide draws on, from the interface and sequencer to modules, MIDI mapping and the Code module. Its video page warns that some recommended videos show older versions.
Your first beat
Tracks in a new project are empty racks, so the quickest beat starts with a module that is a complete voice on its own. The Macro oscillator has 24 engines, including Bass, Snare and Hihat, and a built-in low-pass gate and decaying envelope, so it plucks and thumps without any extra modules.
A beat from three engines
- Tap the track pad labelled
1to make track 1 the current track. - Tap + in the rack editor. The library browser opens; choose
Macro oscillatorfromGENERATOR / OSCILLATOR. Drambo connects it to the track’s notes for you. - Set the module’s
EnginetoBass, then tap a pad to hear it. The note you played last is the one a step will get. - Tap steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 in the sequencer to put that note on them.
- Tap track pad
2, add anotherMacro oscillator, set itsEnginetoSnare, play a pad, and tap steps 5 and 13. - Tap track pad
3, add a third, set it toHihat, play a pad, and tap every other step. - Press PLAY. Turn the
Timbre,MorphandDecayknobs while it plays to shape each sound.
From here, Put notes on steps covers the other ways to enter notes, Start with an oscillator and an envelope builds a synth from scratch, and The launcher and arranger turns loops into a song.
From the community
Drambo - Video 3 - Building Your First Song GREAT FOR BEGINNERS!
Daddy Long Les
A first song built step by step on the current app: a kick and snare from Drambo’s own modules, a Model D Audio Unit bass, a polyphonic pluck, four patterns played as a song and an automated filter on the master. From October 2026.
DRAMBO V2 - Getting Started For Beginners & Looking At Some New Features
The Sound Test Room
A 52-minute live stream that builds drums and a bass, records stems, launches clips and plays a song in the then-new 2.0. From May 2022.
How to create Classic House Music - Drambo Tutorial 115 (iOS)
SoundForMore MusicTech Tutorials
A classic house track from scratch on the current app: drums, chords, bass, processed vocal samples, strings and the final arrangement. From October 2026.
Help inside the app
Drambo has its own help built in, and it’s often the quickest answer to “what does this do?”. There are three ways in.
- Help mode — tap HELP on the top bar, then tap any part of the screen or any module to read about it.
- Module help — tap a module’s header and choose help from its menu.
- In the library browser — switch on Help mode on the browser’s bottom bar, and tapping a module shows its help instead of adding it.
BeepStreet’s online docs cover the main workflows and keep a searchable reference of every module, and the forum is active. When something seems broken, see Report a problem.