Make more music with 9 Soundware Drum Key Version 2, a collection of presets for the Ultrabeat drum synthesizer within Apple Logic Pro. All registered owners of the previous version of Drum Key will receive free updates.

Drawing entirely on the synthesis component of Ultrabeat (incorporating no audio samples), the sound set is designed to repurpose the plugin as a generator of abstract timbres, while remaining true to its rhythmic spirit, 9 Soundware says. The dynamic patches are designed to exploit elements such as noise LFOs and velocity modulation to evoke human gestures and randomness.

Drum Key includes 20 patches, all of which are based on a single timbre (“Timbre 0”) that harnesses the technical resources of Ultrabeat without the bias of drum kit paradigms. All 20 patches contain 25 component patches that mirror identical derivational variation concepts and key maps. Echoing the General MIDI Percussion Key Map, variations of Timbre 0 are shaped and arranged accordingly between C1 and C#2 (drum voices 1–16) to its aural or conceptual attributes, allowing simplified reorientation of drum kit sequences. Drum voices 17 (E2) and higher house transpositions of Timbre 0 to sonic expressions of their respective names. All in all, the Ultrabeat architecture consists of 25 modules per plugin instance, allowing for 500 discrete timbres in the 20 patches that form the sound set.

According to 9 Soundware, Drum Key is not your conventional percussion sound set. While it includes some patches that are intended to mimic drum timbres (notably kicks, snares, and hi-hats), the focus of Drum Key is the exploration of the synthesis capabilities of Ultrabeat beyond applications for which it was designed. Examples include settings that produce bursts of complex rhythms through the use of multiple tempo locked LFOs; morphing timbres based on the heavy modulation of parameters in the FM synthesis engine; patches that incorporate randomization through non key-synced noise LFOs; and sustaining textures suited for use as backdrops.

Many of its patches will cause the Channel Strip meter to be pegged to 0 dB, as the sound set was designed with headroom clipping taken into account to maximize loudness, and in some cases for the deliberate use of digital distortion effects.

9 Soundware's Drum Key Version 2 preset pack is now available for $29.99. For more details, visit 9soundware.com.