Hi folks. Looking for a software specialized in building ambient abstract-minimal percussion patterns (for Ambient related styles). I like the funcionality of Spectrasonic Stylus although is not focused in that style. I also like Slate and Ash Cycles or XLN XO.
I am not very good at programming so I´d like to have pre existing pattterns to work with.
Thank so much for your suggestions and support

 

I like Microtonic, its a versatile drum synth, and Beat Scholar also.

 

https://sugar-bytes.de/drumcomputer

 

Microtonic FTW. Drumcomputer is also great, but the randomize feature in Microtonic is perfect for what you are describing. It randomizes all sounds and sequences, which is perfect for generating both original sounds and weird beats! You can ofc randomize everything in Drumcomputer as well, but for some reason it doesn't work as well for ambient/minimal stuff as the randomize in Microtonic.

 

Since 2012 I use the "New Age" pack in this collection:
https://www.prosonic-studios.com/midi-drum-beats

This "New Age" pack contains more than 78,000 drum patterns specially made for Ambient and chill music. A plethora ! They are inspired (or directly taken) from works of Enya, Yanni, Jim Brickman, Enigma, Armik, Kitaro, George Winston, Clannad, William Ackerman, Paul Winter, Andreas Vollenweider, and many others.

Just below I also use the "Soft-Rock" pack for things more oriented "prog rock". It contains more than 135,000 drum patterns inspired or directly taken from works of Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Billy Joel, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon, Sting, James Taylor, Chicago, Journey, Celine Dion, Phil Collins, Moody Blues, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Van Morrison, Bread, Lionel Richie, Bryan Adams, and many others.

All these drum patterns are simply in MIDI format, so that you can use them with any drum VST, sequencer, etc. or simply directly in your DAW if you want.

And of course you can modify them to create your own if you want.

And the price is unbeatable ($24 each pack).

Here you have some MP3 demos (remember that it's just a few demos among thousands and thousands of patterns, and remember that it is MP3 demos made with the kits from the developer, yourself you will use any drumkit you want knowing that the patterns are not samples but true MIDI loops):
https://www.prosonic-studios.com/midi-drum-beats/new-age
https://www.prosonic-studios.com/midi-drum-beats/pop-and-soft-rock

In these two pages you can also download some MIDI patterns (the "free drum loop" links) to freely try on your own setup before buying the pack.

Check also the section "Music demos" just below in the two pages.

In the packs, each pattern has an MP3 demo to hear it and to choose with any previewer.

 

Last edited: Dec 29, 2022

+1 Microtonic! Then load/generate some patterns (it comes with loads), add some FX, reverb and delay perhaps but adjust to taste of course. The multioutput version is very good for this and it can export MIDI (just drag and drop to your DAW) if you want to try the pattern somewhere else. There's also MIDI output and so on. The versatility has no end.

Also for more funsies with said software, see here https://audiosex.pro/threads/introducing-beatspace-for-microtonic.68433/

 

Another good tool for Ambient music, but based on Kontakt (full version) is Pragmabeat, from Loot Audio. I have a friend who uses it, but I don't use it myself, as I use the two packs I mentioned above, much more diversified (unbeatable for the inspiration, in these two packs you have your content for all your life, even if you move to other VSTs in the future they will always work).

 

Microtonic seems really interesting indeed. Thanks so much

 

Drumatic is quite minimal.

https://www.e-phonic.com/drumatic.html#/

 

Good thread. I wasn't actively thinking about this question until it was asked.

Myself, I'm a bit torn between DrumComputer and Microtonic. They both seem to have their pros and cons. I'm using a pretty old version of Microtonic (from sister site), so I'm not sure if the latest changes things dramatically. Anyways..

For Microtonic, things I like are the slider for morphing. It also sounds great, right out of the box, thanks to the ability to add distortion to parts of your kit. DrumComputer sounds pretty thin by comparison, so you've got more work to do there to make it sound loud/full, but that's nothing new for me. The Patternarium feature also seems like a pretty revolutionary, great idea.

On the plus side, DrumComputer's UI is not just way easier to look at, but it seems there's several more features here.. a lot more control over what you're randomizing. The one thing I don't like though is "probability" isn't like what I'm used to. It's not a percentage chance of triggering, but seems to be a hardcoding of "play this every (value-th) loop" (i.e. it is predictable). Not sure that will prove useful. Other than that, lots of potential.

Will definitely play around with both of these VSTis for a while.

 

Last edited: Dec 30, 2022

one of the first old releases was called Swar plug. it is Indian and middle eastern percussion. and the guy or company still make it. I haven't used it in years, but it was basically a vsti of ethnic percussion instruments that were good to use as drums. there was a recent pc version release on sister, I think its only pc. it's like 20+ years old and the guy is updating it still so it probably doesnt suck.

 

Last edited: Dec 30, 2022

Some Reaktor ensembles you may find interesting. Ex. Aerofuse, Drummachinewsky, Dirty Groovy, Drummage, DrumMotor, LimeLife...to name a few.

 

Thanks for the in depth review!

 

All great ones here!

I'll mention Polyplex, made for randomization and comes up with really weird (or abstract) hits sometimes but no sequencer. For random sequences with odd sounds Newscool is great.

 

I will give Reaktor a try. Thanks so much mate!

 

Thanks!! Worth a try