I use the app all the time - for things like instagram videos etc. I have also used a scarlet interface into pro-tools for actual recording...but the app is my favorite part. Super easy to get quality audio and video.
It's amazing as a practice tool - you have your kit sound coming through some headphones with songs you can import on the app or a click in the unit itself...but you have some compression and reverb on it and it sounds like you're jamming in a studio or there's some crazy effects in there like a flanger haha.
It's great for social media - super easy to bust out a quick drum cover or snag some clips with great audio to share insanely easy.
I've used it now in a real recording capacity and I was surprised to hear that the audio track I exported with that got used on at least a few tracks.
Now having said all that - it's not perfect:
1. You get a single track exported. There's no going in and bringing up the kick drum and bringing down the snare, etc. What you get is what you get.
2. You can't record the drums flat and go back in and add the effects later. You can add other effects later if you export that track - but you can't add the "1985" preset or "HipHop" after you record a flat track - that would be awesomeeee but it just isn't that smart of a unit.
3. I've found that it's best with a 22" kick - because the microphone sits physically lower on a 18" or 16" - you pick up a lot more of the bottom head with that kind of a set up than with a 22" because of the physical location of the input. ...but - I only have 18's and 16"s haha - so with setting like "compressor" - I can still get a good sound, just not quite as beefy as some people can with the 22". I have a 22" coming in though so I'll be able to do more testing.
4. I actually really like how well it does cymbals - but I wish the toms were a little more full in the mix - but that's personal preference, it hasn't stopped me yet.
5. You can mess it up with big or funky setups. It's two mics and a trigger...so if you have a 7 piece set with 3 aux snares and cowbells hanging off the ceiling or whatever - the volume and quality of the snare or tom sound that's 6 feet away from the mic just won't be quite as good as a solid 4 piece kit with everything in decent proximity will be....but it still won't be that bad which is amazing.
Also - I've used it live on 4 shows now too and on stage isn't something a lot of people talk about so I'll share my expriences there too:
1. First gig I used it on was with my jazz trio at this big corporate gig - it was in a ball room and we had our fender passport for a PA - so it wasn't SUPER amped up - but I ran it on the "Calf Skin" setting and it actually did great giving just a little more drum sound in a big ballroom - the kick sound on that setting was great.
2. I used it at a club with my primary band which is Hip Hop / Jazz / Funk - think Galactic or Lettuce vibes....That show was a mixed bag. The stage volume was considerably higher from other instruments and since it's designed to pick up sound around it -we ended up just using normal mics because occasionally I would get trumpet cutting into my mix. Again - it wasn't THAT bad though but we didn't have time to dial it in - it was kind of an experiment.
3 and 4 were both live streams and it just CRUSHED in those two situations. The audio went into the mixer and sounded perfect. The production team was stoked at how little they had to bring in for the drums haha. The ambient volume was moderate as we did these in an art gallery - so there was some echo and we don't have a chordal instrument: bass, drums, trumpet with effects and an MC - so there isn't a ton to bleed in except the ambient sound of the trumpet - which didn't happen.
So I really nothing but good stuff to say about it as long as you use it in in a context where it makes sense to use it.
It doesn't replace real mic set ups for professional sound - but nothing on the planet beats how easy it is to set up and get dang good audio in literally a minute or so.
