Audija

A good plugin, definitely won't be unnecessary for creating drums. I liked that you can easily adjust the desired pitch. The controls are a bit overloaded, but once you figure it out, everything becomes quite easy and clear over time.

The precision this plugin brings, is truly something.

Some things I like about this plugin:

• You can have as many oscillators, envelopes, saturators, or sample layers, as you want. Stacked and grouped in any which way you want.
• Any samples imported will be stored IN the preset, which is awesome, because you don't have to look for the sample when you open some preset many months or even years later.
• The easy export via a drag and drop is also awesome, because it basically allows you to print any select group or a module to save CPU and declutter things, and by that I mean; you can solo any group or a module, use the export function and drag and drop it into an empty field in Kickdrum, and then delete the group or the module you were soloing, and you've essentially bounced it in place.
• Another thing I like is the fact that the tuning is accurate down to cents which I dont think is the case with other kick plugins I've tried (and I know this because many different hertz values all show the same note, which can't be right) (Kick 2, Kick 3), they don't even display the cents. This is a niche thing but I appreciate it because I like having my drums be in key.
• You also can manually draw in a curve for things like distortion for how it develops - basically an automation lane inside of the plugin (and its not just for distortion, I believe it's for most things), which to me is incredible because I often distort the start of a drum differently to the end of the drum.
• A/B(/C?) controls are also very helpful. You can copy your drum over to one of the other ones as a backup, in case you don't like the changes you made, and there's probably other use cases for it that I haven't yet thought of.

Overall, if you're into precision, you'll probably like this plugin.

I don't know why the dev did it to himself, but this plugin also has a lifetime of free updates, and it just received a very substantial one. It went to version 2.0 and it added a lot, and all of it was a free update. So I certainly can't wait to see how it develops in the future, that is, if the dev doesn't get frustrated by their own pricing scheme and give up.

Really excellent kick design tool, the UI is great, really useful for seeing exactly what is being generated, and the EQ is super clever - And a great team making it too - Highly recommended.

No more weak kick drums.

This is a wonderful tool to create your own kick from scratch or to rescue nice sounding drum samples with the right tone/attitude but which cause severe phase issues with your bass or 808. It's really easy to dial in the click transient or to shape the body and tail to taste with the oscillator/envelope module. The envelope shaper is super useful to create nice and crisp sounds, not only particular for kick sounds. I like to load my claps/snares/percs/hats etc. in the sample module and work from there to shorten the sound, adjust the envelope or flip the phase if needed.

There is a phase invert function for loaded samples, which is super useful, so your kick and the sample are always in phase.

Clipper and saturation modules are also available to mangle the sound further and to add dirt and character. There is even an automation for this, so you can be really creative.

I make Hip Hop/R&B/Trap/Neo Soul most of the time and I'm really impressed by this plugin. I didn't expect such a result but it has become a real game changer to me. I know, this word is overused nowadays but KickDrum is my personal plugin of the year 2024! By far...

Such a "simple" tool and yet so effective for my low end. This plugin makes a huge difference (if you know what you are doing/looking for) and with my subwoofer activated it's like day and night in the sub area. People asked me if I did something special with the kick and bass in my latest beats because the low end is so punchy and clear. They translate much better to other systems now which is amazing. This is a huge compliment to me but I have to give credits to Jan from Audija :D.

I also like to use the file browser to skip through samples and listen in context while the music is playing because the file browser from Logic is a joke.

The stock presets are more suited for electronic/techno/dub/psytrance music but like I mentioned earlier this VST is capable of creating much more styles, especially when you add some overtones and try some clipper/saturation automation. I'm pretty sure new features will come in the future which will help to create a wider range of sounds.

Jan from Audija is a super nice guy and very responsive if you have any questions. He is very open for new ideas and almost any feature I requested is now available with the official release. So, it's nice to be "a part" of it and to see more useful additions will come in the future.

I demoed other products and I'm sure you can get similar/same results with them but KickDrum is just very appealing to me. I like the GUI aka look, the functionality and how easy it is to use to get the desired sound very fast.

It is simple to move the nodes around and you always get a visual feedback for the perfect phase alignment.

There is so much more to say about this plugin but I gotta go now and created some beats :D.

I highly recommend this VST if you know what you are doing and understand why you need it in your arsenal.

I am a big fan of Kickdrum, so i think its time for a little review.

I am a Psytrance producer and i have replaced the Kicks in about 80% of my older Tracks with Kickdrum. For my new Tracks i will use Kickdrum exclusicely, because for me its way superior to Kick2.

Why ?

-The interface:
The interface is way more detailed and accurate. You can see exactly where your envelope-breakpoints are in the synthesis process (even in hz), and you get instant visual feedback with the spectogram.
The ability to Zoom in is especialy usefull for the shaping of the attack, the initial transient of the Kick.

-the engine
The envelope can have unlimited (never came to an end, at least a lot) breakpoints and every curve can be shaped in a complex, jet simple way.
The size of the Kick can also be defined in Beats (1/4,1/8...).
And now the hilight : You can define the END-phase of the Kick to perfectly align it with the Bassline, perfect !! (this really stands out, i have never seen something like this before...)
The EQ is also very good, very detailed editing is possible and it seems to work in linear phase mode.
There are no other FX, but thats not a downside for me, because i prefer external plugins anyway (I never liked the FX in other Kickdrum Plugins...).

Whats left to say?
Audija just revolutionized digital Kickdrum Synthesis, check it out.