Beatmaker RICO

Name: Beatmaker RICO
Price: 19 USD
Author: UJAM

by UJAM · Drum Instrument · Latin and reggaeton drum instrument

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A Latin drum instrument for reggaeton, dancehall, moombahton and Latin trap, with tight percussion, syncopated snares and punchy kicks.

It has 10 kits and 460 patterns in 20 styles, plus a Grit control; it lists at $49 and was $8.82 on sale.

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

Keywords: gritty, loose, macro controls, punchy, textures, tight.

What it does

RICO is a drum instrument in UJAM's Beatmaker series for reggaeton and Latin club beats. UJAM pitches it as "authentic Reggaetón Rhythms" with a Latin club or dancehall feel, played from the keyboard rather than programmed hit by hit.

Kits: 10 custom kits with a Latin flavour, aimed at reggaeton, dancehall, moombahton and Latin trap.
Patterns: 20 styles with 23 patterns each, 460 MIDI loops in all.

Around the content, RICO shares the Beatmaker 3 engine:

Playing and arranging: phrases and loops sit on your keyboard, so you trigger grooves, intros, fills and endings in real time; a latch mode keeps a groove running after you let go, and Song mode helps build a full arrangement.
Groove controls: adjust intensity and complexity, plus swing and humanize to loosen the timing.
Grit (Special Control): RICO's own macro, which adds distorted texture to the drums.
Mix page: per-instrument volume, pan, filter, saturation and ambience, a choice of samples for kick, snare, hi-hat and percussion, and individual outputs for mixing in your DAW.
Master and presets: a master section with compression, saturation and ambience, and genre-matched mix presets to change the overall sound in one click.
MIDI and browser: drag any pattern into your DAW as MIDI, and find sounds with a tag-based browser (mood, genre, BPM). The pitch wheel balances kick against snare and the mod wheel drives the mix intensity.

It is part of Beatmaker 3, which puts all 17 Beatmaker titles in one plugin; buying a title also updates any Beatmaker titles you already own. A free 7-day trial is available. MIDI phrases and sounds are royalty-free.

Source: UJAM product page

When to use it

Beatmaker RICO is the quick route to a reggaeton or dancehall groove: pick a style, hold a key and the kit and pattern already fit the genre. Compared with XO or Battery 4, it gives up the freedom to build kits and sequence beats from scratch, but it gets to a finished Latin groove much faster. Compared with Addictive Drums 2 or EZdrummer 3, which centre on acoustic kits and live-drummer grooves, it is purely electronic and club-focused. It is also far cheaper than any of them, especially on sale.

Best for: reggaeton, dancehall and Latin trap beats, sketching ideas fast, and producers new to the style who want genre-correct patterns.
Genres: reggaeton, Latin pop, dancehall, moombahton and Latin trap.
Look elsewhere if: you want to design kits and program beats from scratch (XO, Battery 4 or Nerve), or need acoustic or live percussion (EZdrummer 3).
Tip: drag a pattern you like into your DAW as MIDI, then edit single hits to make the groove your own.

Where to buy

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

Tutorials and reviews

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