Microtonic is a classic, still sounds great and I love Sonic Charge and their general development ethos.
I used to really like Drumspillage 2, but it’s Mac only and as far as I’m aware it hasn’t been developed for a while. I switched back to Windows a few years back so I haven’t played with it in quite some time.
While it’s not a drum synth as such, I really rate Steinberg’s Backbone plugin for creating drum samples.
I read that you can use a maschine to control heartbeat. Have you or anyone experienced that integration? Just curious about the live playability of it, does it feel like using a drum machine basically.
Fwiw I read that it is possible, but when searching I heard it’s broken since vst3. Strangely, Softube do advertise it as a feature on the website, which is odd if it doesn’t work. But as you say here, the fact that it could turn Maschine into a playable drum machine would be very interesting. When searching, I saw one or two comments that somene had manually created a script for it. Not sure what the status of it is, but was looking to check that out on trial. That feature would probably be a slight winner for me at least.
Yeah I don’t really trust softube to ever fix the issues I have dug up about heartbeat either.
I think personally my focus is on Battalion. Now mapping it out and making more playable like a tr8s is really the final challenge there. That is really the advantage of a hardware machine for me - the ability to play it live and come up with an arrangement on the fly while recording.
How many of these have a deep integration with Ableton push? I’m currently looking for software which can be controlled and sequenced with push.
There’s a quirk on mine where you have to load Heartbeat as a plugin within Maschine, it doesn’t work if I use the Browser route.
Hammerhead on iPad and, what happened to Tremor from FXpansion?
I still have it on my older MacBook and its great groove box
Drumspillage was updated recently (2.1.) and is still a great tool !
Drambo FTW. As deep as the ocean…
Oh no way! I had no idea, that’s awesome - next time I’m at a Mac I might have to give it another whirl!
Does anyone here have opinions on Audio Damage Axon 3? I’ve heard some cool FM drums from it, but haven’t used the plugin yet. For the interface, I can’t tell how well the whole neuron metaphor works, but it looks pretty awesome.
Tremor is no longer supported 
If it is working on your old laptop, I’d not update any OS or system settings to keep it working
I own Tremor and used it heavily but it won’t load on my current laptop
It was a brilliant drum synth, lots of ability to animate the sounds
I have Axon 3 on iOS - it’s fantastic. It’s greater than the sum of its parts - the sequencer can be a bit random and needs some time to learn, the drum synthesis is relatively simple but sounds great…but there’s some extra magic when it all comes together - well worth investing the time to understand it, great for IDM-style percussion
Fors plugins are very good in terms of Push integration. But bear in mind that you can’t use Opal sequencer with Push, only individual devices (Gem, Mass, etc.).
I keep looking at Axon, but I find the lack of shuffle troubling. Are there any workarounds for this?
I’m not with my iPad now but from memory you’re right: no shuffle
Not a big issue for me, maybe someone else can chime in with workarounds beyond recording the loop, slicing and applying DAW shuffle.
It does tend to create nice grooves despite lack of shuffle. and bear in mind with Axon 3 you’re going in expecting to nurture happy accidents as you play with the elements, it isn’t a machine to plan your beats out with and then construct like with a XoX sequencer (unless you’re much more math/engineer-minded than me)
If we are talking about drum machines plugins, then for me it’s Battalion, Microtonic and Drumcomputer. All three of them are gorgeous and easily mappable, so if you have something like a midi fighter twister and a novation launchpad, you can have a really good hardware feel with them.
If we are talking about drum plugins, then that’s another thing ! You can make pretty much anything with VSTs like Serum or Vital but I like dedicated drum synth plugins.
In this category, I really like Chromaphone, it’s versatile and powerful and it has not just a physmod like sound. Then the Noise Engineering one, the Bassimilus Iteritas, based on their module, is also really fun to use. The old Drumaxx is still a fun, useful and powerful plugin.
AND, if you’re into apps, I present to you the great, the mighty 2020 :
I purchased the Beat-Machine and it was a bit of a mistake on my behalf. My laptop could not handle the app at all. Everything grinder to a halt. So be careful with this app. There’s no try before you buy option. Granted I own the app so when I finally upgrade my laptop maybe it will work flawlessly. MBP 2018.
You can try applying for a refund from Apple:
Of course an app that takes all the screen needs some fuel. It works like a charm with an M1 Pro but I would be wary of buying this with an “old” computer.