AUv3 & MIDI
Version 5.00 publishes two Audio Units. One plays the kit, the other plays everything else you own. Funk Drummer is still a complete standalone app on iPhone and iPad: this page is about what it does inside a host.
The full instrument. Generates the groove, plays its own sounds, and sends MIDI out at the same time. Load it on an instrument track in Logic Pro, GarageBand, AUM, Cubasis, Drambo, or any other host that supports Audio Units.
A lightweight, MIDI-only Audio Unit that plays your external instruments and hardware straight from Funk Drummer's grooves. It loads no samples and no effects, so it costs a fraction of the CPU and memory.
In a MIDI slot, pick the entry with (MIDI) in the name. In AUM, the Audio Unit MIDI Processor list shows only real MIDI plugins, so Funk Drummer appears there once, already the right one. The Audio Unit Extension list shows every Audio Unit installed, so both versions show up and the full instrument can be loaded into a MIDI slot by mistake. It works, but the host gives it no audio output there, and you pay for the whole sample library for nothing.
Everything else is identical between the two: grooves, jam, intensity, swing, Live Pads, songs and fills all behave the same, and the note mapping matches, so the receiving device hears exactly the notes you expect.
In your DAW
Most of what follows is the same everywhere, but three hosts have something of their own worth knowing before you load the plugin for the first time.
On iPad and on Apple silicon Macs. On the Mac there is a one-time step that links your purchase to the plugin, and it is the answer to most of the “I bought it but the plugin asks me to” messages.
Funk Drummer in Logic ProIts plugin list can hand you the full instrument when you meant the MIDI one, without saying so. Also where a whole rig of Lumbeat apps can change section with one tap.
Funk Drummer in AUMIt is not on the instrument shelf, and the route to it is not signposted: Tracks, then the EXTERNAL card, then Audio Unit Extensions. The other entry on that card will never find it.
Funk Drummer in GarageBandIn Cubasis, Drambo and the rest, loading it is the ordinary Audio Unit routine: add it to an instrument track and it follows the host's tempo and transport. On a Mac, remember to open the app once so the plugin can see your purchase.
The plugin arrived in version 5.00, together with everything else in this release.
Great plugin, killer grooves and solid sounds. It's like I've got a legit funk drummer in my iPad. The only downside is that it isn't a proper AUv3 plugin, so here's hoping that they implement that soon. That's the only thing keeping it from being 5 stars for me!
That is exactly what version 5.00 adds.
Sound Module
Sound Module turns the drummer's kit into a velocity-sensitive MIDI sound module. The pattern stops generating by itself and the kit responds in real time to incoming MIDI Note On messages, from a pad controller, a keyboard app, or a DAW track. It works standalone and inside your DAW.
Where a drum has several hit variants, such as a snare with normal, accent and rim, the incoming velocity picks the variant using the thresholds you set in MIDI Setup. Because the mapping matches what the drummer sends out, a part recorded from MIDI Out replays identically back into Sound Module.
Two things worth knowing: Sound Module and Song Mode are mutually exclusive, and Sound Module is not available in the (MIDI) plugin, which loads no kit at all. For Sound Module inside a host, load the full instrument.
Both plugins ship in version 5.00. Download for Free
MIDI Setup
Every control, every note and every default value is listed in the MIDI map reference.
Funk Drummer publishes a dedicated clock endpoint, Funk Dr Clock, separate from its general MIDI port. Clock sent to the general endpoint will not sync the app: it has to reach the clock endpoint. MIDI Clock In and MIDI Clock Out have their own tables in MIDI Setup.
Name octaves the way your gear does, so C1 on screen is the C1 your controller is actually sending.
Drive BPM from a fader, a fine control or an encoder on your controller.
Export a map you have set up and import it on another device, or send it to someone with the same controller.
In the host
That single launch moves your grooves, soundsets, Live Pad Sets and mixer presets into the shared storage the Audio Unit reads from. Load the Audio Unit first and it starts with factory content only.
The drummer waits instead of jumping in mid-bar. Pick a rhythm, pick a kit, set the jam amount, arrange your Live Pads. Tap Play and it joins on the next bar line, in time.
Live Pads and the play lock are saved inside the DAW project, and the full Settings panel is now available inside the plugin too.
Download Funk Drummer free and try it for 7 days.
Free to try, 7-day trial. In-App full version.
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Funk Drummer now shares grooves, Live Pad Sets and Songs with these Lumbeat instruments.
