Virtual Drummer HEAVY 2

Name: Virtual Drummer HEAVY 2
Price: 119 USD
Author: UJAM

by UJAM · Drum Instrument · Rock drum instrument

Not rated yet

A rock, indie and grunge drum instrument with five recorded kits and 650 grooves across 30+ styles.

A Slam effect, six mix presets and push/pull timing shape the feel; it lists at $119 and was $9.52 on sale.

Best for: Drums. Genres: Rock & Indie, Metal, Pop.

Keywords: heavy, acoustic drums, aggressive, hi-fi, loose, preset-driven, thin, tight.

What it does

Virtual Drummer HEAVY 2 is UJAM's "hard-hitting rock drummer, permanently set to beast mode." You pick a style and play keys, and it performs rock grooves from soft pop-rock ballads to overdriven grunge.

Five kits: all built for hard and heavy drum tracks.
Grooves: 30 styles with 650 grooves and 100 presets, including intros, fills and endings for building a song.
Slam: a custom effect that shapes the tone from hi-fi to aggressive rock.
Mix presets: six character presets made by sound designers.
Feel controls: push or pull the timing and make the groove tighter or looser.
Mixer: volume per kit element plus reverb, with tweaks such as decay and tuning for single sounds.
Multi-outs and instrument channel: separate outputs per drum, and an instrument channel to mix elements from several kits.
MIDI drag and drop: export any groove to the DAW as MIDI; all phrases and sounds are royalty-free.

A free trial is available.

Source: UJAM product page

When to use it

HEAVY 2 is the fast route to rock drums for songwriting and demos: pre-mixed kits and ready-made grooves you trigger from keys. Compared with EZdrummer 3 and Addictive Drums 2, it covers one genre and gives less control over single hits, but it sounds finished straight away. It is far simpler than Superior Drummer 3 or Modern & Massive 2, which offer the mic and kit-piece control serious rock and metal production needs. Its Slam effect and feel controls make it quicker to dial in an aggressive sound than building one from a raw kit. On sale it is one of the cheapest ways to get playable rock drums.

Best for: rock, indie and grunge drum tracks for songwriting, demos and quick productions.
Genres: rock, indie, grunge, pop-rock and rock ballads.
Look elsewhere if: you want detailed metal drum programming or full mic and kit control; Superior Drummer 3 or Modern & Massive 2 do more.

What producers say

Coverage is thin; the one review found treats it as part of the Virtual Drummer 2 range.

MusicTech reviewed the Virtual Drummer 2 bundle, which includes HEAVY 2, and called it "a great way to create less machine-type beats"; it noted you don't get precision editing, by design.

MusicTech review of Virtual Drummer 2

Where to buy

UJAM: $119
PluginFox: $119
AudioDeluxe: $119

Tutorials and reviews

Similar plugins

Virtual Drummer BRUTE by UJAM · Hard rock drum instrument · $119
Virtual Drummer SOLID 2 by UJAM · Pop and rock drum instrument · $119
Addictive Drums 2 by XLN Audio · Drum production instrument · $107.40
Steven Slate Drums 5.5 by Steven Slate Audio · Acoustic drum sampler · $119
Superior Drummer 3 by Toontrack · Acoustic drum production instrument · $375.36
BFD 3.5 by BFD Drums · Acoustic drum production instrument · $199
Strike by AIR Music Technology · Acoustic drum arranger · $99
MT Power Drum Kit 2 by Manda Audio · Free acoustic drum sampler · Free
Modern & Massive 2 by GetGood Drums · Metal drum instrument · $219
MODO DRUM 1.5 by IK Multimedia · Physically modeled drums · $187.21

All drum instruments