DrumX

Name: DrumX
Price: 149 USD
Author: EastWest

by EastWest · Drum Instrument · Vintage drum machine instrument

Not rated yet

DrumX combines sampled versions of 10 classic drum machines, including the TR-808, TR-909, LinnDrum and SP-12, with a step sequencer and 214 grooves by Jimmy Jam.

It costs $149 on sale (regular $299) and runs in EastWest's Opus player.

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

Keywords: drum machine, classic, vintage, sequencer, 80s, British console, hardware emulation, macro controls, 60s, electric piano, inspired by, perpetual licence, punchy, randomize, sample-based, subscription, tube.

What it does

DrumX is EastWest's vintage drum machine instrument, made with producer Jimmy Jam. It puts samples of ten classic drum machines, his custom kits and 214 of his grooves into one pad-and-sequencer instrument, with grooves meant to "already feel great" as starting points.

10 machines: TR-808, TR-909, TR-606, LM-1, LinnDrum, DR-55, DR-110, DMX, DrumTraks and SP-12, each with its own machine-specific controls such as Tone, Decay, Pitch, Snap or Attack.
Jimmy Jam kits and grooves: hundreds of custom kits that mix sounds across machines, and 214 groove presets in five styles: Ballad, Dance Industrial, Hip Hop, Pop and R&B Funk.
16 pads and Pad Inspector: a 4x4 pad grid with per-pad volume, pan, tune, transpose, room blend and high and low pass filters.
Step sequencer: 16 tracks of up to 64 steps (four pages of 16) at 8th, 16th or 32nd note resolution, with per-step accents, global swing, quantize and randomize.
MIDI workflow: real-time MIDI recording, and grooves can be dragged into the DAW as MIDI.
Tape paths: each pad can run through DI, four push levels of a Studer A820 or a Studer J37 tube stage (a Distressor on the LinnDrum).
Effects and macros: Comp, Crush, Transient and Drive macros over an SSL bus compressor, bitcrusher, SSL transient shaper and tape drive, plus an SSL channel strip, convolution reverb and the EP-1 Echoplex-style delay.

DrumX runs in EastWest's Opus player. It is also part of the ComposerCloud+ subscription, which has a 14-day free trial.

Source: EastWest product page

When to use it

DrumX is the pick when you want the classic drum machines themselves, with a hit producer's grooves ready to go. Compared with XO and Battery 4, it is less open: those are samplers built around your own sounds, while DrumX is a closed library of ten machines with set controls for each. Next to Nerve, it has more processing and finished grooves, but a simpler sequencer with no parameter modulation and only accent-style velocity. Its sound leans to late 80s and early 90s R&B, funk and pop, so it pairs well with EastWest's Iconic synths for that era.

Best for: classic 808, 909, Linn and SP-12 beats in R&B, pop, hip hop and dance music, and quick starting grooves.
Genres: R&B, funk, hip-hop, pop, dance and synth-pop.
Look elsewhere if: you want to load your own samples or program detailed velocity and modulation; Battery 4, XO or Nerve are more open.
Tip: MusicTech suggests programming detailed beats in your DAW's piano roll and using DrumX's effects to give the vintage sounds a modern edge.

What producers say

Reviewers rate the sounds and grooves highly; the sequencer and the price draw most of the criticism.

Sound On Sound called it "instant recall" for classic drum machine sounds, praised the sound-design tools and the pairing with Iconic, and found it a very good deal within ComposerCloud, though the perpetual price is not a casual buy.
MusicTech gave it 7 out of 10, praising the "incredibly punchy samples", up to 4x round robins and the well-programmed Jimmy Jam kits.
Criticisms: MusicTech noted no parameter modulation, velocity limited to accent buttons, a basic sequencer, preset volumes that vary a lot, and that Jimmy Jam sounds can't be mixed with the standard machines in one view.

Where to buy

Best Service: $149
EastWest: $149 (regular $299)
Plugin Boutique: $149 (regular $199)
PluginFox: $149 (regular $199)
AudioDeluxe: $149 (regular $299)

Tutorials and reviews

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