Boom

Name: Boom
Price: 99 USD
Author: AIR Music Technology

by AIR Music Technology · Drum Instrument · Vintage drum machine

Not rated yet

Boom is a drum machine plugin modelled on vintage machines, with 10 kits including 808, 909, CR-78 and 606-inspired sounds.

It has a built-in pattern sequencer and 50+ presets, and costs $99.

Best for: Drums. Genres: Hip-Hop & Trap, Electronic & EDM, Pop.

Keywords: drum machine, vintage, sequencer, classic, inspired by, hardware emulation, preset-driven, 70s, aggressive, retro.

What it does

Boom is AIR Music Technology's drum machine that "pays homage to the most popular vintage drum machines of the past". It pairs ten classic-style kits with a built-in step sequencer, so you can program beats inside the plugin.

Ten kits: 808 and 909 variations, aggressive dance and urban kits, and a retro kit that merges CR-78 and 606 sounds.
Per-drum control: ten drums per kit, each with pan, volume, tuning and decay; you can mix drums from different kits into a custom kit.
Tuning screw: a special per-drum control that makes a sound-specific adjustment to that drum.
Sequencer: program patterns on a Matrix display or from the keyboard, with copy and recall for patterns.
Time and swing: normal, double, half and triplet time modes, plus MPC-style swing.
Presets: more than 50 preset patterns to start from.
MIDI: every drum can be triggered by MIDI, with a colour-coded key map.

The current version is 1.3.1 (2024).

Source: AIR Music Technology product page

When to use it

Boom is the better pick for quick classic drum-machine beats programmed inside one simple window. Compared with XO and Battery 4, it has a small fixed set of 808/909-style kits rather than a large library and deep sample editing, but its built-in sequencer means you do not need the piano roll. Unlike Nerve, it has no resampling or slicing. Next to acoustic drum instruments like Addictive Drums 2 it covers only electronic sounds.

Best for: classic 808/909-style beats sketched with the built-in sequencer and swing.
Genres: hip-hop, electro, house and pop.
Look elsewhere if: you want your own samples and deep editing (XO or Battery 4), slicing and resampling (Nerve), or acoustic drums (Addictive Drums 2).

What producers say

User feedback is very limited and mixed so far.

Sweetwater shows 2 out of 5 from one review; the reviewer found it "a decent little plug-in" for hip-hop or electronic beats.
Criticisms: the same reviewer found the preset rhythms "too complex and weird to use in any song".

Sweetwater user reviews

Where to buy

Best Service: $99
AIR Music Technology: $99 (list price from KVR Audio; airmusictech.com shows prices only in its shop)
PluginFox: $99
AudioDeluxe: $99
Plugin Boutique: $99

Tutorials and reviews

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