Beatmaker CIRCUITS

Name: Beatmaker CIRCUITS
Price: 19 USD
Author: UJAM

by UJAM · Drum Instrument · Analog drum machine instrument

Not rated yet

A drum instrument with analog-style drum machine kits inspired by 70s and 80s hardware, for retro grooves, synth-pop and electro.

It has 10 kits and 460 patterns in 20 styles, plus a Vintage/Modern control; it lists at $49 and was $19.11 on sale.

Best for: Drums. Genres: Electronic & EDM, Pop, Lo-Fi.

Keywords: drum machine, retro, lo-fi, 70s, 80s, vintage, acoustic drums, analog, modern, analog-sounding, classic, inspired by, macro controls, subtractive, tight, transistor.

What it does

Beatmaker CIRCUITS is a drum instrument in UJAM's Beatmaker series, sold as "Analog Drum Machine Dreams". It draws on the classic analog drum machines of the 70s and 80s for retro grooves, lo-fi beats, synth-pop and electro, played as ready-made patterns from the keyboard.

Kits: 10 analog-style drum kits, with volume, decay, pitch and filter per drum sound and solo and mute per instrument.
Patterns: 20 styles with 23 song parts each, 460 in all, with intros, fills, breakdowns and endings on the black keys.
Micro timing: speed, swing and quantize settings for the patterns, plus a Beat Intensity slider mapped to the mod wheel.
Vintage/Modern control: shapes the overall tone between retro and contemporary.
Mix presets: 12 mix presets such as Console (lo-fi downsampling), Transistor (wide, flanged) and Sparky (ambience and tight distortion), with an Amount macro.
Master section: Sweep filter, Saturate, Maximize, Ambience and Volume.
MIDI drag and drop: drag patterns into your DAW to edit them; all phrases and sounds are royalty-free.

Source: UJAM product page

When to use it

CIRCUITS is the pick when you want vintage analog drum machine beats instantly, as whole song parts rather than single hits. Compared with XO and Battery 4, it gives far less freedom to build kits and sequence your own patterns, but it plays a finished retro groove with fills and endings from one key. It also has far less sample editing and step programming than Nerve. Within the Beatmaker range it aims at 70s and 80s analog boxes, where KANDY goes for glossy modern pop and HUSTLE for 808 trap.

Best for: analog drum machine beats in synth-pop, electro, lo-fi and retro electronic tracks.
Genres: synth-pop, electro, lo-fi and retro electronic.
Look elsewhere if: you want to program drum machine patterns step by step; XO or Nerve give far more control.
Tip: UJAM's tutorial suggests changing the mix preset and Boost setting between song sections to build and drop intensity, and turning on Latch to move between patterns smoothly.

What producers say

MusicRadar rated it a great-sounding tool for vintage grooves, with the number of controls the only real drawback.

MusicRadar praised the "authentic, analogue-sounding drum kits", the fun-to-play song parts and drag-and-drop MIDI.
Criticisms: MusicRadar warned the "number of controls could be overwhelming for some".
Usage tip: play it from a MIDI keyboard so you can ride the mod wheel (intensity) and pitch wheel (kick and snare) live.

Where to buy

AudioDeluxe: $19 (regular $49)
UJAM: $49

Tutorials and reviews

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