BAM! Here you go. Everything you need for making beats is in the Beats and Music Maker machine from Imaginando. It features 16 tracks of beat-focused step-sequencing that pull in samples and synthesis engines for a complete pattern-generating environment.

The sample library comes with over 1,000 samples, including drums, percussion and melodic tones. You can build your own kits within the 16 tracks and then add melodic lines to back it up. Alongside the sample engine, you can choose from a virtual Oscillator Synth, Drum Synth or a classic Acid Bass Synth.

On each track, you can create patterns of up to 256 steps. These are then seen as Clips, which you can scatter around in scenes to build your beats. For melodic tracks, you have the familiar piano roll editor for mapping out your notes. Automation is available at the clip level, where you can write in velocity, modulation, panning and so on. Levels are managed through a mixer console which also gives you a master section and a pair of send effects. You can then apply EQ, filtering, delay, chorus and reverb effects to give it depth and movement.

The interface is designed to be cross-platform from desktop to iOS, so it’s very clear, easy to navigate and touchable. All the clips animate nicely, so you can paint your patterns across the screen and see exactly what’s going on.

BAM could be all you’d ever need for beat-laden tracks.

Street Price: $149
Imaginando.com

If you’re anything like me, then you’ll have samples and folders of samples scattered across all sorts of locations. One of the brilliant things about Atlas is that it loves to manage samples. In fact, many people use Atlas for its sample management alone, but what’s important for us is that it can take those samples and work them into kits, loops and patterns incredibly quickly.

Atlas uses artificial intelligence to match samples together to create a visual map of your entire library. From a distance, it will group types of sound together, like vocal samples, snares, cymbals and so on. But as you zoom into the map, the resolution will reveal clusters of samples that sound very similar. The idea is that if you like a particular kick drum but it’s not quite right, you will find a whole bunch of alternatives right next door.

You can then build your kit from there by simply dragging the sample into the pads on the right of the interface. But Atlas is cleverer than that. Given a category, it will generate a kit from your sample collection based on that criteria. You can quickly find a kit that fits what you’re doing and easily swap out nearby samples to get it perfect. Or, you can lock in the bits of the kit that work and ask Atlas to randomise the bits that don’t. This is a speedy way to build a kit.

The step-sequencer is right there waiting for you to write your beats. I like how each track expands to give you velocity control and other automation right there in the sequence. Each sample has its own editor for tweaking various parameters, filtering, shaping and pitching. There are some great humanisation tools to vary the feel and character of individual samples for each step.

Atlas is visual, exciting, fast and versatile, and you’ll never have to remember the name of that sample you liked ever again.

Street Price: $99
Algonaut.net

For something a bit different, Beat Scholar will change the way you look at grids and step sequencing. Beat Scholar is all about playing with rhythms, exploring the relationship between patterns, and coming up with things you’d never thought of. This absolutely should have been called Beat Pizza; let’s take a slice.

Beat Scholar is all about timing and sub-divisions. On each step is a circle, which can be divided up into pizza slices of time and triggers, which represents the rhythm of the instrument on that track. So, a kick drum might get a full pizza, whereas a hi-hat might get a pizza cut into 4 or 8 slices. As these steps progress, you can slice up complex and fascinating rhythms that would be difficult to write on a grid.

It’s not just a pattern generator it also comes with a bunch of drum kits and samples and a library of preset patterns to get you grooving. You can also drag in your own, and there’s a detailed editor to apply envelopes, filters and other processes to tweak the sample to your liking.

Beat Scholar is also musically complex with support for multiple time signatures and changes in tempo. So, if you like to think out of the box or off the grid then this is definitely for you.

Street Price: $69 With lots of optional expansions
Modalics.com

The idea behind Beatmaker is to provide you with the simplest and most stripped-back way of creating beats. It’s a drum machine, but it’s very clear, very inviting and almost effortless in its approach.

Beatmaker has two views. In the Pad view, you can build your kit of up to eight samples in a 4×2 grid. It ships with a whole library of preset samples and kits ready to go. Each sample can be tweaked with all the usual shaping and filtering options, plus some nice overdrive and flanging effects.

Switch the Sequencer view, and this is where we can flesh out our beats. Each track has 32 steps, and if you’ve been browsing through the kit presets, you’ll also find a bunch of bang-on patterns ready to show off the samples. Simply click on the steps to activate and drag to set the velocity. You can build up nicely vibey patterns in no time at all. Or, if you’re feeling lucky, hit the randomise button to find the appropriate groove.

Once you’re done, you can export it as an audio loop or drag the pattern into your DAWs timeline – easy!

Street Price: $19.99 a monthly for the Creator subscription which gets you the Beatmaker plugin and huge library.
Splice.com

With the assistance of a little bit of AI, Playbeat will use Smart Algorithms to come up with beats you’ll actually like. It’s all based on what you’re doing and becomes an endless source of variation.

The idea is that you train the algorithm to learn the sort of grooves and patterns you like. It then adapts to your own style and generates patterns that are uniquely yours. It’s like having a personalised groove randomiser that’s tailored to your tastes.

It all starts with the eight independent sequencers. As well as triggers, they also handle pitch shifting, volume, pan, flamming and “Density”. You can load any sample or instrument and let Playbeat randomise the settings for more possibilities. Then, taking your initial ideas, you can set Playbeat running, and it will continue to remix and regenerate indefinitely.

Sample management is also taken care of. You can add any folder, and Playbeat will catalogue the samples for quick and easy dragging into sequencers or building into kits. Everything can be tagged by genre for easy searching. Patterns can be exported as MIDI or audio loops so working it all back into your DAW is a breeze. Or, if you create something you really like, you can build a Playbeat Pack, which pulls in samples, patterns and artwork that you can share with other users as presets.

Street Price: $69
Audiomodern.com

UJAM Beatmaker is a whole bundle of different beat-making machines based on genres and formats. You can pick the one that best suits what you’re doing, or, in the Beatmaker bundle, you get access to all 14 machines to find the beats that work.

The focus of each of these plugins is to handle the core aspects of drums, beats and percussion. They can form the bedrock upon which you build your tracks and discover your melodies. The beats are electronic, the grooves are deep, and the sounds are superb.

The interface is the same for each and ridiculously simple. Choose your kit, pick your groove, work the pattern, dial in the complexity and density of sounds, and it’s all happening. You have a bit of control over each sample, plus a rather nice filter sweep and compression over the mix.

Within the bundle, you’ll find beats with lazy feels, beats with futuristic energy, dubstep, Latin and dancehall grooves. There’s trip, trap and hip hop, festival anthems, drum and bass, grime and huge amounts of EDM. Get one, or get them all.

Street Prices: $299
Ujam.com

If complexity is your thing, then you will enjoy the madness of the 2020 Semi Modular Beat Machine. It’s a mashup of all sorts of rhythm-infused tools and functions that can generate extraordinary beats and pull you into a complex, interconnected world of modular happenings.

You get everything on screen all at once. What you’re looking at is a sample slicer, four grid sequencers, 12 samplers, a kick drum synth, three loopers, two pitch transposers, three send effects, two FM synths, an effects patcher with 14 effects, bus mixer, a recorder and Higurashi Generator. Right, off you go then.

The idea is that everything feeds into each other. Everything is modulatable and rewirable, randomisable and customisable. You’ve got sequencers with probability running through every aspect; you’ve got modulators to modulate every facet and function. Everything is routable through the 14 effect modules. And then it’s all mixed and mastered at the output as an organic entity cable of consciousness.

There’s nothing quite like it, and it’s not going to resonate with everyone, but if you have the sort of brain that can inhabit the madness of this space, then epic rhymic masterpieces are not far behind.

Street Price: $119.99 MacOS only
Beat Machine

XO follows a similar concept to Atlas, where it extracts useful information about your sample library and collates a visual library of similar-sounding sound. But the browsing is very different. You can drag paths through samples, automatically auditioning and leaving a trail, so it’s easy to find that one you like that was just back there somewhere.

Then, it’s the turn of the step sequencer. The sequencer is playful and intuitive, letting you quickly paint loops and patterns from the samples you discovered. You’ve got a few tweaks you can apply to individual sounds to get the sound spot on. Then, you can pull back into a combination of pattern sequencing and the pizza slice idea of Beat Scholar. You can change and massage the beats with infinite variations and constant evolutions, moving from groove to groove and sparking new directions.

It comes with a bunch of libraries but there are plenty of specially curated expansions available to bring beats, sounds and patterns right to your fingertips.

Street Prices: $129
XLN Audio.com

All street prices listed at the time of writing.