Audija KickDrum 2.0 released

[Jan_Audija]

Hello Everyone,

we are very happy to announce that KickDrum 2.0 has just been released!
A precision bassdrum synthesizer with a unique engine that updates the audio buffer at edit time. This approach allows for high-quality audio processing and instant visual feedback, freeing up the DSP during playback. The modular device chain now provides full customization of the signal path by adding, removing, reordering, and nesting devices, allowing effects to be applied where needed.

KickDrumV2.png

Devices

• OSC: Sine oscillator with harmonic distortion and the ability to have a phase zero crossing fixed in time, which can be utilized to create a perfect transition into the bassline without manually adjusting the phase start angle each time pitch adjustments are made
• SAMPLE: Sampler for trimming, moving, stretching, and phase-inverting .wav and .aiff files
• EQ: Linear phase equalizer with unlimited bands, supporting filter types such as lowpass, lowshelf, bell, notch, high shelf, and highpass (up to the 16th order)
• ENV: Gain envelope for shaping volume over time
• SAT: Tanh saturator with additional modifiers for subtle saturation up to "through the roof" overdrive
• CLIP: Clipper ranging from soft to hard
• (Additional devices in development)

Automations

• Device settings, such as mix, gain, drive, ceiling, and others, can be automated through the internal automation system

Analyze Function

• The SAMPLE device includes an analyze function that converts a sample into a device chain consisting of either OSC/ENV or OSC/EQ/ENV + SAMPLE/EQ. The analyzed sample is now fully editable

Bézier Curve Features

• Freely movable Bézier gravitation points between nodes
• Log View: Nodes can be spaced logarithmically in time, enabling a stretched front work area while compressing the end
• Features applicable to single or multiple nodes via lasso:
  • Node connections can be smoothed for gradual transitions
  • Nodes can be fine-adjusted horizontally or vertically
  • Nodes can be snapped to key

Compare States

• Three separate compare slots (A, B, C) allow each state to be copied to another, making it easy to compare changes between preset iterations

Presets

• A fully featured preset manager is available to load, save, and update presets. It also allows browsing, creating, renaming, and deleting folders to effectively organize preset collections
• The preset manager's search function allows searches by preset name, author, tags, key, date, and length
• Presets can also be cycled through and updated directly from the main menu

Visuals

• Signal Path Visualization: The signal path can be visualized and inspected after each device, where each device's oscillogram can be:
  • Switched on or off
  • Colored differently
  • Set to a specific transparency
  • Displayed as a line or filled
• Grid lines display can be turned on and off, and grid spacing can be freely adjusted
• OSC pitch node tags (key, Hz, and milliseconds) can be turned on or off or adjusted in size
• Decibel scale can be turned on and off

Navigation

• The oscillogram, pitch keyboard, decibel scale, and EQ spectrogram can be freely navigated with accuracy down to a single sample

Length

• Length can be set in milliseconds or relative to tempo in beats (e.g., 1/4th, 1/8th, etc.)

Output

• The optional inbuilt AutoGain maintains the peak gain of the kick at a specific dB level
• Velocity Sensitivity: Output gain can be affected by incoming note velocity

Sound Quality
If you want to checkout out the sound for yourself, you can do so by going to audija.com/plugins and download the Demo (instant download - no registration needed)


Price
Its currently in sale for 32€ (instead of 44€)


If you have any question, i'd be happy to answer
Jan

hello@audija.com | audija.com

[Synthman2000]

Congratulations on the full release. Very reasonable pricing indeed, I feel everyone should try this.

[audio/fault]

Congratulations! Looking forward to use it and getting used to it

[vanerio]

Thank you very much!
Best kick synth!

[sokoleski]

THIS ONE is looking really NICE.. and the price is RIGHT....right now!!

- Does it handle STEREO samples ?
-What happens if you feed it a SNARE (or any perc) sample...?
- Its optimized for KICK samples... but can it generate , other percusssion samples as well?

The GUI looks great

[Jan_Audija]

THIS ONE is looking really NICE.. and the price is RIGHT....right now!!

- Does it handle STEREO samples ?
-What happens if you feed it a SNARE (or any perc) sample...?
- Its optimized for KICK samples... but can it generate , other percusssion samples as well?

The GUI looks great

thank you
it does take stereo samples and you can adjust the panning, but the overall output currently is mono - but full stereo is planned and is among the top 4 things that will be improved next.
I think it can handle percussive sounds to some extend, you could check the demo and see if you like the results.
Yes, it's currently optimized for kicks, but it's planned to extend it so it becomes more versatile.

[Jan_Audija]

Subject: New kickdrum synthesizer: Audija KickDrum VST/AU

What I would need is a list with things you'd like to see improved and I'd be happy to write them down

Well, I think I need to start with the Big Picture first. KickDrum appears to be feature-complete. If you can imagine it, you can make it in KickDrum. And for those that truly understand phase, tuning, and timing, KickDrum gives them all the tools they need to do that, and quicker and better that most other kick drum synths. I guess my point is, those users are a relatively small number of people. I would wager that there are many more people like me, who are not at that level, but want to grow and learn and have the option to become better and use all those tools in the future. But we need a GUI and workflow to get us started making great sounding kick drums quickly as well as to help us grow along the way. It’s no small task.

Should I send you an email about my specific thoughts on the GUI and workflow?

Thank you, I'd love to here your ideas - please share them here, so others can follow the train of thought and add their views.
that professional sound designers are not the majority is a fair premise. I can only speak for myself, but I learn the best from videos or hands on - so it is planned to make good videos, that explain everything, providing a good manual, extensive tool-tips and a good variety of presets for each genre to choose/learn from - these are the things planned or in the making so far.

Sorry for the delay in response. November has been a busy month!

First of all, I really appreciate your engagement! Second, I want to say what I think is great about the plugin! The hover-over tool tips are very helpful! The horizontal and vertical "lock" feature when adjusting the nodes is also very helpful! I like that you have the option to toggle certain displays on and off! Obviously, these are just my impressions and opinions. My hope is that these opinions are received as useful feedback, not unnecessary criticism or negativity!

When it comes to the GUI, I think it's important to start with first impressions. When you first load the plugin, almost everything in the plugin is on full display. Like that movie, "Everything, Everywhere. All At Once." It's a bit overwhelming.

Main Display.

• 1.The waveform goes edge-to-edge on all four sides. It would be much cleaner if the Main Display was a window within a window. Like a canvas is separated from its frame by a matte in a painting. It's hard to visualize the transient of the waveform and the first and last envelope nodes with the way it is.
  
  2. Right now, the default waveform display is a filed-drawn oscillogram surrounded by a contour line. There is the option to change the oscillogram to stroke-drawn. But it's all very busy looking. I think it would be cleaner to display the entire thing as a color-filled shape. The sine wave would be best left as a stroke-drawn line within this color-filled waveform shape, but it doesn't even need to be displayed unless you are editing the envelope. it could just disappear when not actively engaging the envelope, but the option to leave the sine wave displayed could be toggled in Settings.
  
  3. The nodes are unnecessarily large. Again, I would make the nodes opaque, so they look more like nodes and less "busy" graphics.
  
  4. The text boxes for each node are unnecessary and add to the clutter on the main display. It could be an option in Settings to leave the node information always on display (without a textbox color border), but a good default would be to only display the information on hover over the node.
  
  5. There are 6 nodes for the envelope. Experienced kick drum synthesists will immediately appreciate and understand the role each node plays in making the kick drum they have in their head. But less experienced users, say those making kick drums in Serum or Vital, really only understand 4 of these nodes. Would it be possible to give each node a name based on its role? Maybe just when hovering over the node?

Menus.

• 1. There are currently 20 buttons/options to click on in the Left Bar Menu. I would reduce this as much as possible. Personally, I would start the left side of the plugin with the keyboard instead of using it as a bar menu.
  
  2. I would create a Top Bar Menu. On the left would be your Audija icon. Clicking that would provide contact information and plugin information. Next to it would be the A/B/C options. In the middle would be your preset title bar. Clicking on that would take you to the preset menu. On the right would be a new Output slider and then lastly a new hamburger Settings menu. This type of layout is just a universal language and immediately helps a user get oriented.
  
  3. I would move all the user preference things from the Left Bar Menu to the new Settings menu. Those types of options are almost always "set it and forget it", so they don't need toggles switches on the GUI.
  
  4. In the new Main Display Window, it could be framed on the top and bottom to contain all the pertinent options. Across the top would be Undo/Redo on the left, the Pitch/Gain toggle, in the middle, followed by Velocity and then Audition button on the right. Across the bottom is the EQ toggle on the left, The Kick Length setting in the middle, and Wave Export on the right. Above the top Main Display frame would sit the Phase Adjustment handle.
  
  5. The Kick Length toggle could be a more universal icon symbol, such a Eighth note sync/free toggle icon with a dial and box to type in the exact value

Other:

• 1. I know you have a User Manual coming. But I would also try to expand the hover-over tool tips whenever possible. Also, is there any way to make these tool tips snappier? There is a fairly significant delay in the tip being displayed after hovering right now.
  
  2. Pipe Dream idea: Introduction tutorial on how to "Make Your First Kick Drum", similar to how Arturia does this with their synths like Pigments and Mini V.

Hi Oobesan!

Thank you so much for the long list of improvement suggestions!

1. there's little spacing in the beginning now (left and right, where the OSC pitch keyboard is sitting), that should address your point, correct?

2. the initial preset is that the graph is drawn filled, but you can set it to stroke-drawn and then save that as initial state via the "save as initial state" button in the options, next time you would start up the plugin it starts with the saved settings.

3. are you referring to version 1.3 here? because the nodes are opaque when not selected, and encircled when selected in version 2.

4. the glowing edge around the tags has been removed in 2.0 to make it easier on the eye. if you click on the tags button, tags get turned off, by dragging up and down on the button you can adjust their size

5. you can have as many nodes as you like for the envelopes and how they contribute to the overall sound depends on where they are placed - because of that explaining what each node does individually is not feasible, but you can move them and listen to how they affect the sound to gain experience and discover your preferences - there are no fixed rules here

Menus:

1,2 & 3. Thank you I like the idea, but the device chain would be under the horizontal main menu then, and two horizontal menus laying on top of each other, that are not the same kind/layout is quite hard on the eye in my opinion - also that would make the workarea more squeezed - not sure if that is really a preferable option - but the main menu can certainly be cleaned up further, it's planned to combine the visual options (grid, tags & decible scale) in the main menu under one visual options point, that way we gain some space and it becomes a little bit cleaner - like you suggested.

4. you put a lot of thought into it, thank you so much, but please bear in mind, that the layout currently is already established to a lot of users and completely changing it certainly can be an option, but there must be the option to keep it the way it currently is. I am not fully convinced by the layout you proposed, but probably because I have to imagine it and it currently does not fully snap in my mind - but your points are noted and I'll think about them further for sure.

Other:

1. tooltip delay time as option is now on the list, thank you! and yes, the tooltips should be complete and leave no questions open, if you have specific tooltips you'd like to see improved or added, please let me know.

2. that's a good idea, but genres are so different to each other, that that video would more be a "how to use kickdrum" rather then showing specifically how a kick for a certain genre is done, i would leave that up to the community of that genre - there's a lot of videos on youtube that explain, what needs to be done and most, if not all techniques can be applied in kickdrum as well.

[Jan_Audija]

Hello Everyone,

A new update for KickDrum is online: 2.0.3.

This is a small update with some refinements and also a new feature: Devices can now be grouped/collapsed, giving us more space in the device chain

KickDrum 2.0.3 Changelog

IMPORTANT ISSUE REGARDING ALL MAC USERS HAVING KICKDRUM 1.3 IN ACTIVE PROJECTS:

Technical background: All plugins use a unique identifier, so the DAWs don't confuse them. KickDrum 1.3 on Windows used "KIDR" and on Mac "KiDr." So there was a mismatch in unique IDs in 1.3. To resolve this, so that projects from Mac can be opened in Windows and vice versa, this was changed in the 2.0 release:

Now both unique IDs for Windows and Mac are the same: "KIDR."

The problem:  
The IDs are now identical, which is good for the future and project sharing between operating systems. However, the big problem is that projects on Mac that had KickDrum 1.3 in them don’t load KickDrum 2.0 because the DAWs think it's a different plugin.

Option A:  
Reverting back to ID "KiDr" on Mac: This solves the problem that the projects with 1.3 did not open in 2.0, but it also creates a new problem where all projects currently using 2.0 would experience the same issue, unable to load with future builds of KickDrum.

Option B:  
Moving forward with the same IDs: This does not resolve the issue of 1.3 projects not loading with 2.0, but it avoids creating new problems and allows exchanging projects across platforms.

Option C:  
Creating a second KickDrum 2.0 branch with the 1.3 unique ID, so that it can be opened in 1.3 projects.  
This would cause two branches of KickDrum existing side by side conflicting each other, causing confusion and creating future problems.

Making a choice:  
Since many of you have already figured out this mistake and started replacing 1.3 in your projects with 2.0, the best option to choose here is B. We keep the IDs uniform and update the affected projects.

Implications:  
This means that in order to continue using 1.3 projects with 2.0, those projects need to be updated to the 2.0 version.

My sincere apologies to everyone affected!  
This is among the top 10 most terrible things that can happen to a plugin, and it took so long to realize because I just discovered over 50 unread emails that went to the wrong inbox due to recent server settings changes. I only realized today how many of you were affected. From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry this happened! I’m also sorry it took so long to react, and so sorry I haven’t responded to your emails!

Moving on:  
Option 1:  
Download 1.3 (setup is online again), install it, open the affected projects, and save the 1.3 kicks as KickDrum presets. Install 2.0 again, open the projects, insert 2.0, load the corresponding presets, and save. If you don’t have many projects, this may be the best solution and can probably be done in a relatively short time.

Option 2:  
Since the 1.3 saved state in the project is technically perfectly readable by 2.0 but just doesn’t open because the DAW doesn’t try (due to the mismatch of IDs), we "just" need to change the ID in the project file and replace it with the ID for 2.0.

I wrote a script today that does this for Bitwig projects. It works as follows:

Starting the script will prompt for a folder. When a folder is selected the script will scan that folder and all subfolders for affected bitwig projects. It then will create a copy of each affected project and update the plugin IDs for all KickDrum instances in that copy. When the updated project copy is opened, it now correctly loads KickDrum 2.0 with the state that was saved with 1.3 - problem solved.

For those preferring Option 2:  
Please contact me individually because DAW project files might differ depending on DAW versions. One script that works for DAW version 1 might not work for DAW version 2. Please provide the version number of your DAW when contacting so the script can be adapted to the correct version.

It is important to note that this script will NOT alter your existing projects; it will only create copies of the projects that contain 1.3 plugin states.  
These copies will have "_KD-ID-updated" appended to their name, and only these copies will receive the ID update - so your original projects won’t be altered and will stay untouched. This script is running completely self-contained on your Mac and does not connect to the internet - it's basically Python searching a project file for the ID and replacing it. If you are interested, you can feed it into any chat AI to learn what exactly it does.

Let’s get your projects updated and working as quickly as possible so we can leave this behind, and enjoy making music!

Final words:  
The year is close to an end, and aside from this issue the last two weeks we want to spend finishing the presentation for KickDrum (videos, press kit, etc.), dressing up the website again, and starting to work on the preset section so we can present it to you in January.

I’m also continuing to work on a bigger update for KickDrum - super excited about that.

Thank you for being part of this journey!

 

[jrwaltb]

I own 2.04 but can you guys release a manual? Also, I think the pitch snap is 1 semitone off but I might be wrong, can someone test it at 48000 to be sure? Thanks

[Jan_Audija]

I own 2.04 but can you guys release a manual? Also, I think the pitch snap is 1 semitone off but I might be wrong, can someone test it at 48000 to be sure? Thanks

just uploaded it, here it is: https://audija.com/files/KickDrum-User-Manual.pdf
If the manual leaves you with questions unanswered, please ask - I'll be glad to help.
double checked the pitch for you - it's correct at 48000 sr and 44100 sr as well.