Speedrum

For several years I've been looking for a straightforward, yet powerful MPC-style drum sampler to replace AudioSpillage Ekektroid (abandoned), One Small Cue Poise (never developed for Mac OS X), Native Instruments Battery and Kontakt (many reasons), Geist, etc. I found all of these sampler-based options either missing essential features, way too bloated and complex, or ridiculously expensive. I yearned to have my sampled drum kits in one sweet place that was easy to use, with a smooth workflow that didn't get in the way of my creative process. I don't know about you, but once the momentum has stopped, it's difficult to get it going again. I avoid software that tangles me in a web of menus and madness. Yet, when I need to go deeper into some advanced features for editing, I need to know those tools are somewhere under the hood.

I am happy with my synth-based options like SonicCharge MicroTonic, D-16 emulations, etc., but I have a huge drum sample library and need a way to access, play, and tweak my kits. Note: Serato Sampler and Serato Studio show lots of promise. Still, it's nice to have a dedicated sample-based drum machine to drop into random DAWs. This is especially important for those of us who change DAWs like underpants. .. or perhaps even more often.;-)

Enter Apisonic Labs Speedrum, the pro version of Speedrum Lite. It's currently going for €49.00, which I feel is a bargain. .. way less than upgrading Battery. I just downloaded the very latest version (v1.20), and I'm loving it! Anyone else digging this little beast? Note: The free version is super cool and provides a nice gateway into the full version. I'll be leaning on the full version of Speedrum for my drum/percussion sampler needs.

Some of my favorite features:

• Easy to install, authorize, and get started.

• MPC Layout in 16 or 32 pads.

• Lovely clean interface.

• Resizable from 60% to 200%.

• Excellent pad control.

• Fast as lightning. .. appropriately named "Speedrum."

• Lots of sample layers, chokes, editing features, etc.

• Built-in transient shaper.

• Nice browser for sample selection with drag-n-drop.

• Small footprint and light on CPU.

• Sounds fantastic.

• Fun to use. Musical.

• Excellent developer responsiveness and support. I've sent several emails and all of them were answered quickly.

Things I'd like to see added

• Stand-alone version for DAW-less work.

• Include both round-robin and multi-layers with velocity mapping.

A couple of useful links:

https://www.apisoniclabs.com/speedrum.html.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYE13pBRksc&t=1s.

Note: One thing that blows my mind about this software is how amazing it is for version one.

This drum instrument is great and fills a much needed gap. It sounds great, and the developer has shown a lot of dedication to improving this plugin very quickly and has taken feedback very well. So much attention to detail and workflow has gone into this to making it easier and more musical. In my opinion Speedrum has already surpassed NI Battery in functionality and workflow.

I'm using it in Logic Pro X and I find it more useful than drum machine designer, although there aren't really any kits out there for it. Hopefully that will change with time.

I don't really like MPC layout but in general Speedrum is really good drum sampler. I hear exactly what I'm expecting to hear because some other similar samplers produce sound which is a bit different from the original wavs. I love built-in compressor for the same reason - I'm getting the sound I need very quickly and I don't have to route Reaper's outs to separate compressor anymore. One of my reasons to buy it is the simple xml format for banks because I prefer to generate banks with script.
UI is perfectly scaling on 4K monitor, I had to get rid of some old VST because of HIDPI issues.
Support was very helpful with my questions about xml and MIDI mapping.

This is a very good MPC Style Drum/Sampler VST. It is easy to install, and very easy to learn. The support team is responsive as well. I contacted Apisonic with an issue about the browser the issue was resolved quickly. I recommend you try the demo. If you are an old hardware MPC head like myself, I know you will like this VST. It is also stable and very light on CPU usage, just give it a try, you won't regret it.

https://youtu.be/mSC2E3rTZkQ