Groovemate ONE

Name: Groovemate ONE
Price: 27.26 USD
Author: UJAM

by UJAM · Drum Instrument · Percussion groove instrument

Not rated yet

A percussion instrument that adds shaker, clap and tambourine grooves, including syncopations and polyrhythms, without programming.

It has 30 style presets plus mix and ambience presets, for $29.

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

Keywords: 60s, round-robin, macro controls, simple.

What it does

Groovemate ONE is UJAM's small percussion instrument: ready-made shaker, clap and tambourine grooves that follow your DAW tempo. The idea is that you "just browse through the presets and pick what works", without programming percussion yourself.

Sounds: shaker, claps, tambourine and a one-shot shaker, played with round-robin samples for a more natural feel.
Styles: 30 combination and solo style presets, including pop, bossa nova and sixties feels, in 4/4, 3/4, 5/4 and 6/8.
Intensity: three pattern intensity levels plus a fill, so the groove can build through a song.
Swing: moves the feel from straight to swung, with a metronome control for the pattern resolution.
Mix and Ambience: a Mix macro that combines compression, EQ and effects (9 mix presets), and an ambience control with 4 reverb presets.
Playing: trigger patterns from MIDI keys, use Latch mode for continuous playback, and play hits with velocity.
MIDI export: drag phrases into your DAW as MIDI to edit or layer them.

The user guide refers to version 1.1. A free trial is available, and all phrases and sounds are royalty-free.

Source: UJAM product page

When to use it

Groovemate ONE is the better pick when a beat only needs a percussion layer on top: shakers, claps and tambourine that groove at once. Compared with EZdrummer 3 or Addictive Drums 2 it plays no drum kit at all, but it costs far less and adds the hand percussion those kits barely cover. Unlike Battery 4 or XO, it is not a sampler for your own sounds; you pick a style and an intensity and it plays. It also gives less control than any of them, with no level or pan per instrument.

Best for: adding shaker, tambourine and clap grooves to pop, singer-songwriter and dance tracks.
Genres: pop, dance, R&B, hip-hop and retro styles such as sixties pop and bossa nova.
Look elsewhere if: you need a wider range of percussion or a mixer per instrument; UJAM's LATIGO or a full percussion library covers more.
Tip: drag a pattern to a MIDI track to fix beat placement, change velocities or layer it.

What producers say

Reviewers like it as a fast, cheap way to add live-feeling percussion, but note the lack of per-instrument control.

Bedroom Producers Blog scored it 95% ("Fantastic"), praising the realism of the round-robin samples and the well-made presets.
Sound On Sound called it "ultra-streamlined" and good value, and liked the odd time signatures and MIDI drag and drop.
Criticisms: no mixer for shaker, tambourine and claps, velocity only editable after dragging out MIDI, and no sound editing.

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

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