Meet Beat Scholar, the new ‘rhythmic pizza plugin’ that wants a slice of the drum machine pie

You’ve probably got one or more drum machine plugins installed already, but do any of them contain ‘beat pizzas’ and a wheel that can be used to slice them up? Thought not.

Beat Scholar bucks that trend by providing a deep-pan programming experience that enables you to slice up your rhythmic pies as you wish. Or, to put it another way, you get a step sequencer full of circles (beats), which can be subdivided individually to create interesting rhythmic variations.

What’s more, each sound doesn’t have to be on its own lane - you can place any drum on any beat, or any part of a beat (each ‘pizza’ can be divided into up to 42 slices). Adding bars and changing measures and beat values can all be done with just a few clicks, giving you huge scope for experimentation.

This unique programming interface is accompanied by a sampler, which comes stocked with more than 250 sounds that cover classic drum machine tones and more esoteric timbres. You can also drag and drop your own samples, tweaking them with a variety of controls and effects.

Despite its academic and slightly intellectual sounding name, Beat Scholar looks like a lot of fun, and the good news is that there’s a 14-day trial version for you to try. It runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats, and is available now for the introductory price of $79 (regular price will be $99).

Find out more on the Modalics website.

Ben Rogerson

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. 

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