Skaka

Name: Skaka
Price: 69.99 USD
Author: Klevgrand

by Klevgrand · Drum Instrument · Shaker percussion instrument

Not rated yet

Skaka is a shaker percussion instrument from Klevgrand that plays human-sounding shaker patterns from 18 instruments in 12 parallel slots.

It has a customizable humanizer, detailed pattern editing and room and reverb effects, for $69.99.

Best for: Drums, Acoustic Instruments. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: sequencer, acoustic drums, multisampled, resizable UI, simple.

What it does

Skaka is Klevgrand's "Shaken Percussion" instrument: a pattern-based player built to "create shaker patterns as played by a human being." Instead of a kit of one-shots, you pick a shaken instrument, give it a pattern and let the plugin play it with natural accents and timing.

18 instruments: egg, shaker, tambourine, caxixi, single shot, ghungroos, calabash and seeds, plus household objects such as a pepper puck, tin box, nut shells, pocket tambourine, match box and paper roll.
12 slots: run up to 12 instruments in parallel, each with its own pattern and settings.
Pattern editor: edit velocity, duration, pitch and gain per event, with grid snap including triplets, quintuplets and septuplets, and variable sequence lengths.
Timing and feel: shuffle/swing, a pattern delay/early offset, sneak in/out, double or half time against the DAW tempo, and a customizable humanizer.
Samples: 8 or 9 velocity layers with more than 30 round robins per layer, tagged with offsets so accents land in time.
Space and tone: a reverb with room simulation and a high-shelf filter.
Content: nearly 200 preset patterns across many genres, and a resizable UI on desktop.

The current version is 1.2.1. The free demo is the full version with occasional audio dropouts.

Source: Klevgrand product page

When to use it

Skaka does one job: realistic, pattern-based shaker and hand-percussion grooves that sound played rather than programmed. Compared with EZdrummer 3 or Addictive Drums 2, which are built around full kits, it gives far more control over the feel of a single shaker line, with round robins, accent timing and a humanizer made for it. Unlike XO or Battery 4, you don't build the groove hit by hit; you pick a pattern and shape it. It is also cheaper than any of those, but it won't play kicks, snares or cymbals. It suits producers who want natural shaker parts on top of an existing beat without recording them.

Best for: adding human-feeling shaker, egg and tambourine grooves on top of programmed or live drums.
Genres: pop, soul and Motown-style grooves, acoustic and singer-songwriter, world music, and electronic tracks that need organic movement.
Look elsewhere if: you need full drum kits (EZdrummer 3 or Addictive Drums 2), or want to sequence your own percussion samples (XO or Battery 4).
Tip: stack two or three instruments in separate slots and vary pitch and reverb to get more variety from the library (Sound On Sound).

What producers say

Reviewers found it a surprisingly useful specialist tool whose patterns sound like a real player; the main complaints were about editing detail and, at launch, the size of the library.

Sound On Sound gave it 4 out of 5, saying it "sounds very much like a real performer playing a shaker" and works well layered with existing beats; it reviewed an early version with only 8 instruments, a limit since lifted to 18.
MusicTech gave it a Choice award and called it a "superb solution" for realistic shaker percussion, praising the presets, from simple patterns to Motown shuffles and world grooves.
Criticisms: MusicTech found editing "occasionally a little fiddly" and missed pan sequencing.

Where to buy

Klevgrand: $69.99
Plugin Boutique: $69.99
PluginFox: $69.99
AudioDeluxe: $69.99

Tutorials and reviews

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