Elecktroid

Elecktroid by AudioSpillage is clever little AU drum machine plugin that combines big time synthesis and samples to create unique, great sounding drum sounds. It contains 4 basic synth algorithms to build from, which can be mixed with your own endless supply of WAV or AIFF samples. I have a huge library from yesteryear so this plugin helps me make use of that wealth of madness by simply dragging and dropping. I've had great success synthesizing a smooth, crisp drum tone and then blending that tone with the attack of my dirty old samples via some simple cross-fading. In this way, Elecktroid enables users and abusers to create one-of-a-kind drum sounds. I'm not a programmer, but from the look and sound of this plugin I'm sure a lot of thought and work went into developing it. The interface is clean, cool, and modern. The sound is whatever you want it to be. I read somewhere that the DSP code used helps to create a "deep, powerful and punchy sound." That's spot on! Another thing I really dig about this hybrid groove box is the low CPU hit. There is absolutely NO latency issue. Whew! There is an on board step-sequencer that has a sweet groove quantize control, but I rely on Five12's Numerology for sequencing, so I usually don't use this one. Still, it's useful for demoing newly created sounds. I should mention that Elecktroid works seamlessly in Studio One and Numerology — my hosts of choice.

There is not much to complain about — this plugin is well designed and well thought out. I would, however, like to see more synthesis algorithms. The four included are sweet, but I have a sweet tooth and crave much more! Also, it would be nice to sync to host and drag n' drop feature or other way to transfer MIDI data from the sequencer to a host/DAW.

All in all, this was a low risk purchase for me. It sells for very little money and delivers a lot of clang and bang for the buck. I would buy it again, and I highly recommend other electronic musicians and producers give it a go. I give Elecktroid 4.75 stars. Thank you AudioSpillage for developing such an innovative, inspiring, and much needed audio plugin!