Shaker Box: A Look at the Shaker Loop App

Shaker Box app screensShaker Box is a simple, yet well executed app that gives you an assortment of shakers on your iOS device. Only one shaker is included for free but the app has full functionality with no additional cost. A one time $1.99 in-app-purchase gives you access to 12 additional shakers.

The sounds are very actual samples and sound great. The settings allow you to choose between loops in 3/4 or 4/4 time.

You have three methods of play at your disposal (and some are more functional than others):

  1. Shake: Allows you to actually hold and shake your phone like you would an egg shaker. While the app and gyroscope do a pretty good job, I found it almost impossible to get a real groove going this way (at least for very long).
  2. Tap: This method allows you to tap the screen to trigger the back and forth sounds of whatever shaker you’ve chosen. I got this working better than the “shake” option but, I wouldn’t sit in with my local salsa band.
  3. Loop: This was the one for me. You can tap for tempo and just let it go! You can still change shakers and the loop continues flawlessly. The loops are seamless and the sounds are of good quality so I found this to be pretty nice for fun, recording or practicing.

While the app may never take the place of a percussionist, I do think it could be useful for recording (via the headphone out) or just having fun in the shed as a play-along device.

All in all, Shaker Box is a nice and well executed little app that many may find fun and useful. I love playing to percussion loops, and I did find myself having fun by playing along with the app more than once, so there you go!

Shaker Box is a universal app, available from the App Store. The app requires iOS 5.1 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

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  1. Seratone

    I got this app along with Ninebuz Drums + AND HD percussion loops…I was looking for a shaker to practice with (bleep bleep Bloop Bloop metronomes get tired after a while. A shaker actually makes it easier to grove.

    Although the interface is horribly designed and the little graphic that pops up (that you have to swipe away every time) is insulting…this is THE BEST Shaker metronome out there…NineBuzz Drums Plus has no shakers and the tempo only goes in gradations of 5. Drum loops HD even has more limitation for Tempo. garage band if far too cumbersome to quickly pull out a shaker.

    What the designers should do with this app is drop all the ‘Shake your iPhone to get a shaker sound’ functionality….create more of a metronome interface – clean up the GUI and it would be a fantastic app.