BeatForge

BeatForge is a drum machine, step sequencer and REX loop player in one plugin. VST3/AU/Standalone, macOS and Windows, made by one developer.

The sound engine is synthesized, not sampled. 31 drum synth models, including the complete 808 and 909 kits modeled from the original circuits — every voice from the kicks down to the maracas and claves. On top of those: Vintage DCO, Hoover, Reese Bass, Supersaw, FM Kick, Karplus-Strong snare and others. Distortion includes a Koren-model 12AX7 tube stage plus Soft, Hard, Foldback and Hardcore algorithms.

The sequencer works per step, not per track. Each track has 32 Edit Groups — complete, independent sound configurations you assign to individual steps, so one track can carry a whole fill's worth of different sounds. Any parameter can be locked per step: pitch, filter, envelope, distortion, bit depth, synth macros. There are per-step accents (808-style, preserved in MIDI export), hit probability, flams/rolls, per-track speed from 1/4× to 4× with triplet ratios, and independent track lengths for polymeters. A GEN tab generates Euclidean and seeded-random patterns with a live preview knob, and everything it writes is a normal editable pattern afterwards.

It reads REX files natively. BeatForge licenses the official Reason Studios REX SDK, so .rx2 files load with their original slices in any VST3/AU host — including all the DAWs that dropped or never had REX support (Live, Logic, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, Bitwig). Slices go on the sequencer like Reason's Dr. Octo Rex: tempo-locked playback without time-stretching, parameter locks per slice, colored link groups for editing slices together, per-slice output routing, and drag-out MIDI. ReCycle is free from Reason Studios again, so the full create-and-play REX workflow now costs €29 total. There's also a built-in slicer with AI BPM detection (Beat This.) for WAV/AIFF/FLAC/MP3/OGG.

Modulation and control: 10 LFOs with a node-based shape editor (draw your own curves, tension per segment), 5-stage AHDSR envelopes with adjustable curve tension, MIDI Learn on every control, native Launch Control XL support with LED feedback, per-track MIDI I/O, multi-out routing, and a five-band drum-tuned EQ.

14-day trial, full version, no card. One-time purchase, free updates — his plugin gets features often, a mix of my own idea's an request from people in the KVR tread.