Hypercrate - Modern Sample Manager +

The Lounge Other Gear
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I’m just running the demo currently (Edit- now bought!) but have been very impressed so far, well worth a look. lovely GUI/UX (IMO) and seems very professionally done, the dev is active on KVR, there have been updates every few days!

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Runs standalone and great for selecting what to stick on an SD card for hardware synths etc, but also runs and syncs within DAWS. Has a lot oif intelligence built in (search by any description of sound, like ‘dusty drum loops’), change key, change BPM, some editing, loop/layer multiple samples together, like Splice but no subscription and a fair intro price I think.

From Devs post on KVR…

14-day free trial, no restrictions.

:musical_keyboard: Set key + BPM once — every sample previews repitched and stretched to match, live

:mag_right: Smart Search — search “kick” or “arp”, or describe a sound like “dusty lofi drum loop” and search by the audio itself. Also works over your DAW with SUMMON

:brain: Automatic analysis — key, BPM, tags and loudness, all processed locally

:control_knobs: Layer Deck — stack synced sounds instantly, with slicing, retrigger and pump per lane

:sparkles: Quick FX — sub, saturation, punch, reverse reverb, pump and more, non-destructive

:musical_score: Audio to MIDI — local AI transcription with editable notes

:electric_plug: DAW integration — bridge plugins sync key, tempo and transport

:lock: Private + offline — files never moved or renamed, no analytics/tracking

:computer: Mac + PC (*Linux added)— buy once, no subscription

It’s a native C++/Qt app with a JUCE audio engine, GPU acceleration and Bungee Pro licensed for high-quality stretching.

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Nice, but

Linux support is planned, though there is no release date yet.

So I will hold out a little longer (and hope for a Sononym sale in the meantime?)

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I hope you get Linux soon- I have and use Sononym, Hypercrate is not only cheaper (£59) but next level in terms of features- for example, you can slice or add fx to samples, find and preview midi loops (with different built in instruments), convert audio to midi, run it as a plug in in your DAW and drag and drop samples and loops (it converts to tempo and key of DAW project)

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Sononym normally do 50% off at Black Friday.

No subscription but is using the Waves/Bitwig model.

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That sounds a lot like a subscription though :thinking:

About this app: looks interesting. Very similar to loopcloud, except no new samples and no sub. If I didn’t have that I would consider this.

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It’s not though. A subscription cuts off all access, or cuts off paid features, when the subscription lapses. This is more like shareware, with yearly updates.

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I mean buy a new computer and try to use the waves plugins you bought years ago and tell me how it isn’t cutting off access unless you pay again (just gone through this, never buying anything waves again)

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It’s the same model that Bitwig use. It caused a bit of a backlash when they first introduced it but it seems most users have made peace with it.

Just to give an idea - my older versions of Bitwig still work fine, and I have occasionally skipped an update when there wasn’t anything new I was interested in. I then just paid again for another year when some useful/fun stuff was added.

I have to admit, it’s a tricky one when it’s a relatively new/unknown developer (which I think this is) because you don’t know if they are going to have success or stick with the project. At the end of the day, if they add nothing and you never pay another upgrade then you haven’t lost much, and if they maintain active development then you’ll get new stuff for £29 which isn’t a big ticket price really.

On the surface this looks like a decent bit of software that has some thought and effort behind it, not a quick vibe-coding rush job.

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Yes, its very well thought out- the guy is a professional producer and I think originally built it just for himself, so he definitely knows what music producers/musicians need when looking for samples! - you can see his bio here:

About Luke Bond | DJ, Producer & Educator — Luke Bond Store

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needs a lot of things though. its great for packs and loops but i have long sound design sessions and only want to highlight snippets and drag them. to do that you have to slice it according to a grid. then drag those rigid grids that cant be adjusted to your DAW of choice. if the sample is longer than a couple of minutes the grid function is not available at all so you cant highlight parts and drag just that out. so its great for sure. 2 friends of mine purchased it yesterday. but its a show stopper for me. if he changes that holy shit its perfect for me. been using samplism and its abandoned lol. also samplisim wont open now because it says my sample library was created using samplism. wtf. so yeah samplism has been out. then i started using snapper but man the interface is too small and i wish it was all in one location. anyhoo. yeah hypercrate, i would say promising but thats dumb…this shit is amazing, i can stash all the stuff i dont need to see like key/tempo/audio to midi and others. just need to be able to highlight what i want and drag and drop. he said there is a big update this week. i know i will probably end up with this but i just need to one sliiiiiiiiiight change. i was dreading starting my weekly look for a sample manager that wasn’t trying to sell me packs and has a stupid cloud.

edit: the built in effects and their interface is cool as shit too. i hope i can turn off analyzing and indexing too. i dont need it to find anything similar or do any of that kind of stuff including the key and tempo. just me. looking fwd to the updates.

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FYI sale price until the end of September but dev said it will be extended for Linux users once the Linux version is released…

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I suggested a find and delete duplicates idea a few days ago on KVR and in no time an update with that added just that (and a bunch of other stuff people suggested). Super active developer! Also a really slick update and licencing system as well, puts a lot of big name companies to shame…needless to say I bought it!

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How destructive or non-destructive is it, thinking a combination of this + Scout Sample Manager for when I wanna be super streamlined might work well together?

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Linux Version just drooped with another impressive update (all most all based on user feedback from KVR thread)- this developer is like 1 update a week!

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Hi everyone, I’m Luke, the developer of HYPERCRATE. Thanks SLiC for sharing it here! Really pleased to see people trying it out and enjoying it.

I built it around my own workflow after years of collecting samples. I wanted browsing a big library to feel quick and easy, with more time spent hearing sounds in context and less time getting them ready. Speed and fluidity have been a big focus throughout.

Thought I’d jump in and answer a few questions:

@captain8 The audio processing is non-destructive, so your source samples stay as they are. Pitch, stretching, slices and FX are rendered into a separate file when needed for a drag or export. Tags and collections are stored in HYPERCRATE’s own database.

The duplicate finder hides extra copies from the browser while leaving the files on disk. Show hidden samples lets you bring them back. If you do want to remove files, there’s a separate Move to Recycle Bin / Trash option which lists everything for you to review and confirm first.

@FatVonFree Thanks for explaining how you work with longer recordings, both here and on KVR. Being able to freely select a section and drag it out makes sense for that. It’s on the list, although 1.2.7 still uses the grid for slicing. A mode that skips all analysis isn’t available yet either. For now, analysis runs locally in the background while you browse, and I’ve made it considerably faster in recent updates.

For anyone who was waiting, Linux is available now in 1.2.7! It’s an x86-64 AppImage for desktops with glibc 2.39 or newer, including Ubuntu 24.04 and Mint 22. You can use your existing licence.

On updates, I use Bitwig myself and like having the choice of when to renew, so I took a similar approach. Buying HYPERCRATE includes 12 months of feature updates. After that, you keep using the version you’re entitled to and can renew whenever there are new features you’d like. Bug fixes and security updates remain included.

One thing I like about this setup is that major versions are covered too. If you bought HYPERCRATE and version 2 came out a week later, you’d get it as part of those 12 months. You wouldn’t have to pay another upgrade fee straight after buying it.

For me, that feels like a good balance between supporting ongoing development and giving people flexibility over what they spend. I’m working on HYPERCRATE full time and plan to keep building on it for the long term. Hearing how people use it has been really useful, and quite a few suggestions from KVR are already in the app.

Happy to answer questions here too. I ship updates frequently and I’m always interested in feedback, whether that’s something you’d like added, something getting in the way, or something you already like and want kept as it is!

Cheers,
Luke

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just purchased…instead of using my already used email it latched to my paypal email. cool. now i click switch account, and it is now in a loop of use the email. go to a page that keeps trying to make me sign up for newsletters and offers, and waiting on browser. please let us log out directly in the app. it wont let me switch the the other email i never even input. so its stuck. will keep trying but holy shit lol.

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Thanks for letting me know, I’m pushing out update 1.2.8 today that will include a fix for this so you can’t get stuck in a loop in future. I’ve also fixed your account so you should get in fine now.

Cheers!

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Fixed in todays update!

Version 1.2.8 14 September 2026

Apple Loops tag themselves, confirmation prompts are clearer, MIDI auditions span seven octaves, and two licence sign-in fixes.

  • Apple Loops tag themselves. Every Apple Loop carries its own description inside the file: the category, the instrument, the genre and a few descriptors. HYPERCRATE now reads those on macOS for CAF loops and everywhere for AIFF loops, so a loop named “Vintage Funk Kit 03” is tagged Drums even though its name never says so, and a library of Apple Loops fills the Drums, Bass, Guitar, Keys, Strings and Vocal shelves instead of sitting untagged. Existing libraries pick the tags up on the next launch, a name or folder tag still wins where the two disagree, and anything you took off a sample stays off.

  • Clearer confirmation prompts. Every confirmation in the app, from moving samples to the Recycle Bin to resetting or moving the library, now uses one design: the title first, the consequences in plain text, full file paths that wrap instead of truncating, and a fixed footer where the safe choice has keyboard focus. Long messages shrink to fit rather than spilling off the card, Tab stays inside the prompt, and the card opens with the same motion as the Inspector.

  • Seven octaves for MIDI auditions. The octave control in the MIDI header now shifts auditions up to three octaves either way, the span of an 88-key piano, instead of two.

  • Fixed: signing out to use a different store account. The activate screen now offers “Sign in with another account”, which signs the browser out of the store first and shows a real login form, instead of quietly signing you back in as the account the browser already held. Useful when a purchase landed on a different email, such as a PayPal address.

  • Fixed: a licence in its final three days no longer shows as not active. It runs to its end date and then shows the proper ended message.

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its up and running and holy shit it was fast scanning my library lol. thanks homie!!!

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thanks for your attention to detail, I appreciated it.

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