IMEA

I have been looking for a Drum sequencer for some time that had certain essential features. I looked at both free products and commercial ones. What I wanted was the ability to quickly set up and experiment with rhythms and grooves with different samples and patterns, and easily export these to my DAW (FL Studio). I have found the Piano Roll in FL not particularly intuitive for Drums, and wanted to create patterns and loops internally with a VST, but have an easy option to transfer to FL's Samplers. I finally decided that IMEA Groove Drums was the best option for my needs. The most important of these were:

• Drag and Drop Samples.
• Scroll through Samples.
• Alter Velocity on Individual Drums.
• Create Numerous Patterns with Trigger Keys.
• Easy Export of Patterns.

When I tried Groove Drums, I found it could do all this....and more!.....in particular:

• Random Hits in Patterns which can be Changed, Saved or Deleted.
• Internal Effects for individual Samples.
• Export to MIDI File......and much more.

Most importantly it is really easy to Drag and Drop your patterns into FL's Piano Roll for further editing if required. (You can even drop the patterns onto the Piano Roll of a non-playing copy of Groove Drums!!). But it remains easy to use with a straightforward interface.

NONE of the commercial options (Some costing £250) could achieve all of this, and I would really recommend Groove Drums to anyone who wants to use a similar workflow to mine. There is a demo version, so it is easy to test it. I had one question for Dan about the MIDI Export and he was very helpful. (For FL users on Windows, I found that you had to run FL as an Administrator for the Drag and Drop export to work.)

DISCLCLAIMER: I tend to write reviews like an advertizement, but I have no affiliation with IMEA.

Groove Drum Synth by IMEA Studio is an inspiring pattern-based drum machine that combines a sampler and synth to enable the user to create authentic sounds. It comes in both plugin and stand-alone, which is very convenient — especially when feeling a spark of creativity and working fast to get an idea down. IMEA has assembled many great features from an electronic musician's wish list and put them all into one exciting package: independent outputs, CPU efficient, drag n' drop, velocity paint tool, MIDI learn, loop export, filters, built-in effects (Chorus, Compressor, Delay, Filter, Flanger, Limiter, Reverb, etc.), effects sends, and lots of patterns and steps per channel. My favorite feature is the randomization tool, which helps to create unique rhythmic variations. For anyone who's a fan of iDrum and the likes, give Groove Drum Synth a go! In fact, anyone creating music electronically should give this a go! You get a lot of bang for the buck! Also, the developer is very responsive and quick to help and/or answer questions. Tommy Zai gives Groove Drum Synth two thumbs up. Great work IMEA.

FEATURE REQUESTS: more patterns, more steps per pattern, round robin layers, triplets.