Drumline Apps by Telephonic Amusements!
This is the information site and blog for Drumline Apps – a suite of mobile apps for marching musicians and enthusiasts to create beats, exercises, and licks from their iPhones & iPads:
Download:
We’ll get into the details as we create an online user manual here (although these apps are so intuitive that you probably won’t need it). But here are some things to look for:
- Splits Menu: You can make your Quad sweeps and Bass splits as sick as you want, with fully splittable 3’s and 4’s.
- Dynamics: Go beyond the ram with pp to ff settings for more musicality.
- Easy Edits: Make changes as easily as you make the beats.
- Amazing Playback: Recorded for us by Brian (Chavez) Lowe, SCV bass tech.
- Sheet Music Sharing: Share your creations with your whole line.
Coming Soon:
- Expert Beats: Download exercises, street beats, and more, from your favorite drumline gurus.
About the Makers:
Nicholas and David marched at Mizzou, in drum corps including Sky Ryders and the Velvet Knights, and at the University of North Texas, in finals and at PASIC. Before Nick started coding and Dave started designing, they were both marching drummers first.
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I’m on my school’s drumline and we compose on the bus to competitionsee alot for fun…
…But I cannot personally get the app because I have an android device, I would love to have it available on my phone and in the Google play store.
Hi Anthony, we’d love to put it on Android, but it’s a pretty big job: because we’re so close to the machine (for timing accuracy), we can’t just port it. We have to rebuild it from the bottom up. It’s definitely on our radar, though. Thanks for dropping a line.
Please please I’m begging you do it for android.
Apologies, and please know that we do hear you. Coding close to the machine (which you gotta do to prevent lag and other issues) makes this a HUGE undertaking. We’re still looking at it, and we do appreciate the poke. Thanks, Bryce.
I saved the sheet music and the only option was google drive so that’s what i saved it in. When I go to open it in drive, it said the file is not supported. Is there any way to fix this? perhaps a PDF?
How are you trying to open it? Do you have an application that will read MusicXML, such as Finale or MuseScore? If so, try opening from that application.
So we need a separate app like musecore to read the music? Don’t those apps cost as well?
MuseScore is free! https://musescore.org/
I used this app all the time to write drum books and warm ups. It such a great app! My only concern is that when I purchased the audio export feature, after I finish recording a piece the app crashes and the pieces get deleted. Also the drums would sound better if it was an actual snare line and not just the sound of one snare drum.
oh my! which app? Ensemble or Bass?
Ensemble
We’ve found the crash! Thanks for letting us know there was an issue. Our developer found the issue and we’re under going testing. Should have a fix soon!
I just downloaded this app, and so far, it’s really great. There’s nothing like it anywhere else and it’s pretty easy to write with it. The only thing I would like to see is a second Spock. I know the recordings came from vanguard so getting the second Spock recording might be difficult. Even without that, it’s still great. Keep up the work
Thanks, Scott! We’ve been asked a few times to either add a spock or increase the number of basses. We wouldn’t be able to do that with our current sounds. We’ll continue to look into providing this functionality. Thanks!
Can you please pleaseeeee make this compatible with Android. I March and do indoor percussion I’m bass 4. And I have great ideas but I can’t show others because I don’t have the app. And I don’t have time to pull out paper and pencils and such. I almost always have my phone on me. I would just really like this app
Hey Malachi, we love our fellow BDs! We’re working on it, trust us. It’s really expensive and difficult. Nobody is more bummed about this than us. But thanks for the heads up – every vote counts!
Thank you so much
For some reason I can’t transfer the app music to sheet music. How do I do that? Every time I save it to dropbox, the file can never be viewed. PS I already made the in app purchase of the sheet music option
Hmm, have you tried emailing it to yourself?
Yes I have but I keep on opening it up and it just says it can’t read mxl files
I figured it out but you guys should notify people to use musescore when transferring the mxl file to an actual document
Musescore songbook? Cause I’ve run into this trouble as well
MuseScore Songbook does not yet support MusicXML file format, which is what we export to.
I’m currently looking for a notation software for my iPad and I’ve came across this. I was wondering as I write splits and parts will I be able to actually see the music in score form instead of box form? I don’t see that on the demo pics in the app store. If I can I will be purchasing but just need to clarify first. It will be for the iPad air 2
In app, we use our box notation. It is possible to export to sheet music via MusicXML format. That export is an inapp purchase.
The app is great but I’m having trouble exporting my music into sheet music the app keeps crashing
Does exporting to dla format work either? can you tell us a bit more about your situation? What device are you using? Have you upgraded to the latest version of the app? What iOS version are you running? This will help us troubleshoot. Thanks!
I’m all up to date and it’s only for one piece that I’m trying to export into sheet music and the app keeps crashing and I’m using an iPhone 6s. Both of the other exports work
would you mind sending us the dla file via email so we can troubleshoot? drumline.apps@gmail.com
Will the Snareline composer app be put back on the App Store soon?
Jon, we’re doing a major overhaul to the apps. The Snareline Composer app had some limitations from how we first made it to continue to grow. We may introduce it again, but it will be different (we think better). Thanks for asking about it!
Have this app currently for iPhone and love using it. Very useful for writing down any quick ideas I have so I can hear what they sound like. But, I am soon switching to android and will dearly miss this app. Is there still any plan to bring this app to android? I would love to have access to it on my new device!
Hey Jordan, we’re working on it, and it’s always good to hear from the Android camp to keep us on our toes.
Any suggestions on how to make a consistent buzz roll
I know these apps are for apple but can they be compatible for Android? I really want to get this app so I can write some bass licks. I would really appreciate it
Hey Maynor, we’re still working, and we’ll add your vote to the “Android!” group.
So I know that you can’t get this app on an android phone but does that also mean that i can’t share audio files with someone who has android without sending it through email so they can download the audio file and play it one some sort of media player? Also the audio files don’t playback from the computer if i send it through facebook messenger. Is that also a compatibility issue?
Sorry you’re having a glitch – I’ll get this to the software guys’ attention. Thanks for writing, John.
Do you think you’ll ever resample the snare rimshots to sound more like dci snare rimshots ? 👍🏾
Hi Onieal – thanks for the question. The sounds in there are recorded live on SCV’s gear, so they’re real snarshots. But! We’re working right now on expanding our sound sets to give you guys more options. If you want something other than Rennick’s Dynasty tuning, we’re working on it. Thanks.
I know its been said before but an android version would be highly appreciated.
Thanks, Tim. We’ll make a note of it.
I have the same dilemma that Maynor Yanes has. I’ve used this app on my friend’s iPhone and I really enjoy it. But I have a Galaxy S7. Can you guys please make this app compatible for android? I have created cadences for a drum corp that I work with, and I really want to share my ideas with them.
We’re trying. It’s expensive! That’s really the only barrier. But thanks for the feedback, Shawn.
Hi guys, this app is by far the greatest drumline app i’ve seen, and thank you for that. Anyway, I have an idea that i think would be very interesting. I was thinking you can add one of those features where you can add a song from your music library to play along your drumline creation, much like a cover. Sibelius and the app “Real drums” has that feature. Thank you!
Great suggestion, Kenji – thanks! We’ll pass it on to the coder guys.
The latest version of the app freezes on my iPad Pro when I try to export sheet music. I love this app and use it very often but I wish the feature I paid for would work.
Max!
So sorry you’re having an issue with the SheetMusic export. This is the first we’ve heard of a problem with the iPad Pro and exporting. Can you please provide us a little bit more information?
At what step does it freeze? Just when tapping “Export Sheet Music” or when selecting where to save it? Would you be willing to share a .dla file where you are experiencing this issue? If so please email it to drumline.apps@gmail.com. Hopefully that will help us diagnose and fix this for you.
The app just freezes when I tap Export Sheet Music. It freezes on any file I try to export.
Max, we’ve tried recreating this issue but haven’t been able to do so. The obvious things to try are: update to the latest OS version, make sure the app is up to date as well, “close” the app and retry, and lastly try deleting the app and reinstalling. Hope one of those clears it up for you or provides more clues on the issue.
Hey there! I’m really loving this app (ensemble) and have been using it vigorously. I just want to know if it would be possible for the app to include time signatures in the export. As of now, if i write a 12/8 piece (i just set every measure to three notes per beat) it exports as a 4/4 with everything as a triplet instead of a 12/8 piece.
Glad you’re loving the app! You’re pointing an issue that we didn’t know about so thank you. We’re working on it now.
John, actually after looking into this and rereading your issue, the app is working as expected. We handle 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, and 9/8. I’d suggest perhaps doing 2 measures of 6/8. We may consider adding a 12/8 in the future. Thanks!
How do I go about exporting to sheet music? Is there a specific app bc I have export. How do I retrieve the file?
It’s the SheetMusic export feature. That generates a MusicXML file that can be opened in a program such as Finale, Sibelius, MuseScore, etc.
Hello! The Bass app rocks! I am puzzled though, because whenever I launch the application on my iPhone, the main menu appears, but one touch to the screen and the application crashes.
that’s bizarre! can you please send us some more details – phone version, are you updated on all phone and app versions? drumline.apps@gmail.com
Hello. I bought Ensemble Composer last year. I immediately was fully immersed in the app and make several compositions on it. After a few months, the game became offloaded on my phone, and when I tried to redownload the app, a pop-up said that I had to purchase the app again. What could be the issue?
You’ll have to take that up with Apple. Are you using the same credentials to login to the App Store?
It would be awesome to see the tenors have an option to use a 6 drum setup
Thanks for the tip!
Hi! I love this app and have been using it for years but for some reason today when I try to open it and tap the screen it closes out. I’ve seen other comments where this has happened and was wondering if anyone found the fix to this problem. Would love to get back into the app very soon!
Hi Jessi, sorry we’re late responding – we haven’t had this issue with other folks. Is it still happening? Let us know.
How come the “Snareline Composer” application, isn’t in the App Store?
Hi Shawn, Apple changed a bunch of stuff under the hood, so Snareline no longer works as a standalone, so we pulled it. We’ll try to get it back out on its own, but whenever they change the iOS, our lives become difficult!
Hey can u please put this in the google play store
We’ll try! But it’s a huge and costly job, unfortunately. Thanks for the note.
Not seeing the apps in the Apple App Store. Is it user error and I’m looking in the wrong place or were they pulled? Thank you for your time.
Try this –
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ensemble-composer/id724167960?mt=8
Gotcha. Thanks.
A doublestop option would be nice, as well as stick clicks at least for the snares
Great idea – we’ll see about incorporating it in the next release. Thanks!
Hello I am new to this app and I love it a lot but my question is how do I add an accent to a certain partial in the beat. Say I have a triplet and I want the accent on the second partial, how can I place that accent there if possible?
Hi Jake! Use the volume settings to create individual accents – mf for the regular notes, ff for the accent. That should do the trick. Have fun!