Appmuse

Let me start out by saying Ive been checking in on this app off and on for maybe 6-8 months (just a best guess). My first impression was “ah, this is awesome - real potential here”. But then the bugs and crashes and freezes got me. I’ve checked back maybe every 45 days or something since then and it’s just been rock solid, steady improvement after steady improvement after steady improvement. I think I own just about every music production app worth owning on iOS these days (and scores of apps not worth owning!) and I have to say, never before have I ever seen an app improve consistently like this. Ever. No where even close that I can think of. This thing has just gotten better and better and better. Now it’s super stable, reliable, powerful and for my money, the best tool for top to bottom on iOS at the moment. I said it. I believe it. I’m all about Roland these days, extremely refreshing, extremely impressive. This brand has earned my respect and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store. Show more

This looks good, but I’m sick of everything demanding an “account”. Sorry. No thanks.

I love this app, I use it constantly and it has totally given my creative process the kick in the pants that it needed. I was thinking that the whole MPE thing was just a fad but now I just can’t stop using to make songs, the iPad makes it easy to control. The fact that Roland made the iOS app unlock free really makes me a fan of Roland, giving people something to play around with during all this pandemic stuff, very cool. The Question I would like to ask Roland, do you intend on making some kind of dedicated controller for Zenbeats? Something like what the novation launchkey is to Ableton Live but with support for MPE, that would be cool! UPDATE: The new zencore expansion is totally worth it, the sounds are amazing!!! Show more

I bought this way back b4 Roland and didn’t use it much. Roland has started to upgrade this app into something that’s fun and usable! I have a lot of Roland gear and the MC 707 the newest one. I’d love to see Roland focus this app on its connection to the 707 and 101. Give us a simple vst or track that controls clip launch on the gear! I’m using an app for this but having it in zen beats would be awesome. Pop up window with 8x8 buttons ? also a vst shell that gives you custom cc sliders and knobs do people could control all their older gear would be a simple selling point for this app Show more

Very excited that Roland made available loop sounds from the library of Roland Cloud on Zeanbeats . But very difficult to open the keyboard and play the loops you bought . The first screen is the beats . But the keyboard is not the first main screen ? What ? And where is the selection of loops that you bought ? Show more

Do you clear I want to ensure that no one experience as what I have with respect to Zen beats and their lack of support as it has cost me money. The application itself is nice of course like all software they were defects I understand this however at this point I have purchased for sound packs that I no longer have two of them I never received. This alone is something I can understand however I never received a single response after sending multiple support request not one single response they were all completely ignored. So I want to ensure that you all understand if you invest money in this product there is a chance that you will lose that money and have to take potential legal actions as I am looking to do at this point. On a separate note I have had a relationship with Roland for over 25 years and it’s very sad to see all of this happened just because the support for one of their products is so poor it’s nonexistent as far as I know. Show more

Absolutely freaking fantastic now. When I first started using this app, it felt like abandonware. Roland purchased the original app then sort of left it out to dry. Then updates started to trickle in. Then free content was added. Stability. THEN ZENCORE. THEN MORE STABILITY. Now it easily has the most robust scenes mode, actual scene to timeline recording (looking at you, BeatMaker 3), better automation, an SFZ compatible sampler, and more. At this point the only thing that would make it “complete” for me is a sample chopper akin to Logic’s quick sampler or BM3’s sampler. For now, there are good AUv3 plugins that work the same and Zenbeats hosts it amazingly. I would definitely check this out again if you’ve ditched it as it’s now matured into the best on-the-go solution. Show more

If this app allowed you to build your own drum kits with your own samples sounds I don’t think I would be bothering with iMPC PRO2 for beatmaking, composing, song building, mixing, remixing, going to the bathroom, washing my Covid hands for 20+ seconds, eating small amounts of iron fillings, pasting leftover donuts together to form full donut holes, audio unit instrument and effect parameter automation ... wait. The most recently mentioned is one place this app shines fersure. Having dedicated effect send tracks is also something that sets it apart - for the most part, although in an analog studio modulating send parameters on the fly - manually during a mix down is part of what makes some mixes shine like a light, which I am not sure you can do here (but I haven’t actually attempted a real-time mix down). It comes with enough stuff to get you started and is compatible with all of your AUs ... except, as I mentioned, the drum kits are a bit static. There is also a bunch of kits, loops, instruments, etc in packs as IAPs. But because of the static nature of the drum kits I don’t see myself buying any of them. ... but if there was an IAP that allowed you to bring in your own audio files to make a bank of editable pad samples to form a kit I would buy it in a second and use my own stuff in combination with Rolands. You can add drums to kits, but you seem to be limited to their library. If I’m missing something regarding this, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Zenbeats is like a few other apps that don’t connect to AUM or other inclusive audio sourcing apps, making it frustrating af and could eventually make it not worth investing any time or extra $ into, which in combination with the drum kits issue looses 2 stars. When I first started to take apart the UI to see if I could completely destroy any progress I was making to test the learning curve I was initially frustrated. But it only took a couple of sessions to figure out certain things like how to change default number of bars (who can deal with one? Two is even ridiculous) so that each new section is the exact same desired length. Everything else just kind of makes sense for where they put it. So don’t get frustrated if you can’t find or figure something out. It’s a pretty quick learning curve if you are familiar with traditional and/or digital recording studio set ups. Which adds back a star. Giving it ★★★★☆ Show more

There’s a whole lot to love about Zen Beats. It looks great, lots of functionality, and you don’t need a doctorates in string theory to use it. The addition of the ZC1 definitely takes it up a notch. I only have one major complaint. There’s no excuse for a quantize swing to be omitted. Come On Man!!! You gotta add swing to the quantize window! Other than that I’m diggin it. Show more

My phone kept going through a battery charge in less than a day. I was ready to get the battery replaced until I checked the battery history. Imagine my surprise when Zen Beats was taking 57% of the battery and I had never started the app. Removed the app and battery usage went back to normal. Show more