IK Multimedia’s Beat Machines is a smorgasbord of vintage analogue drum sounds
Huge collection covers 100 classic and lesser-known rhythm boxes
IK Multimedia’s new Beat Machines is a nostalgic tour through analogue drum machine history, giving you the sounds of 100 classic boxes and more than 300 MIDI patterns to trigger them. It runs in both SampleTank 4 and the free-to-download SampleTank CS.
Beat Machines takes in everything from early Ace Tone devices to the obligatory TR-808 and 909 kits, while also encompassing more esoteric and lesser-known models and even a few modern offerings.
You get more than 200 kit presets to play with, all configured according to the General MIDI drum mapping standard, which should make it easy to mix and match kit components or to layer entire kits.
In fact, there are also loads of ‘single element’ presets, so you can easily use SampleTank 4’s Multi Mode to combine sounds. This mode also gives you access to five effect slots for each of the kit elements, and you can add a further five effects on the master bus.
All 100 drum machines are powered by round robin samples to aid authenticity, with SampleTank’s DRIFT algorithm adding even more analogue-style variation and vibe.
Beat Machines is available now via the IK Multimedia website. It costs $80/€80.
Get the MusicRadar Newsletter
Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here.
I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.