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Supercharge your drums
Tekno is an analog-modeled drum synthesizer and our modern re-imagination of the legendary 20th century drum machines. It lets you craft your own massive electronic drum sounds from scratch with total creative control.
Tekno
Produce drums without samples
Stop browsing for samples and create your own infectious drum sounds instead.
Tekno offers 18 fully synthesized drum engines, spanning kicks, snares, clap, hats, percussion and more. Craft unique drum kits full of punch and analog flavor to suit any musical genre.
Use MIDI to sequence Tekno directly. Or simply drag and drop your sounds into any DAW or folder for external sequencing.
Next-generation drum synthesis
To build Tekno we teamed up with Jatin Chowdhury, one of the leading engineers in analog circuit modeling. Our goal was to create a modern spiritual successor to the legendary drum machines of the 20th century. Not an emulation, but more.
Tekno stands on the shoulders of classic drum machines but hits deeper and harder. It utilizes a combination of circuit-modeling and cutting edge DSP to deliver the punchiest synthesized drums ever put in a plugin.
Deep tweaking or fast inspiration
Click the ‘Gear’ icons next to any synth voice or FX section to unlock deep calibration and circuit-bending options.
Or hit the onboard ‘Dice’ icons to let Tekno’s smart random-algorithm generate all-new drums with every click.
You can also start from the 73 global presets and 1314 individual voice presets by leading sound designers such as Richard Devine, Mr. Bill and Virtual Riot.
"Tekno is the perfect plugin to start drum ideas in. All the sounds are fresh, and the plugin algorithm just seems to have this glue which makes even just a kick and snare pattern sound like a record. One of the most creatively inspiring plugins I've used in a while! Instant vibe."
Nick Lee
Grammy-Nominated Producer, Composer, and Musician - Ariana Grande, SZA, Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion
"Tekno is a drum machine that finally emulates the one major characteristic that makes hardware drum boxes magical."
Venus Theory
Artist and Sound Designer
“Tekno is by far the most playable, creative and fun to use drum synthesizer I know! I really enjoyed making some of the presets”
Yoad Nevo
Producer, Mixer, and Engineer - Sia, Pet Shop Boys, Ed Sheeran, Moby, Air
“Tekno sounds amazing!! Love the randomize button in the top. So good for making sketches or for getting inspired.”
Parallx
DJ and Producer
"Tekno really shines when combining a good midi pattern with its randomization feature. The cymbal and hi-hat engines are particularly strong!"
Virtual Riot
Artist, Producer, and Sound Designer
“It’s so easy to dial in the perfect drum kit in seconds! And it sounds SO GOOD!”
Mike Schmid
Songwriter and Musician - Miley Cyrus, Kylie Minogue, The Chainsmokers, Troye Sivan
Each hit is unique
Tekno is a synthesizer, it generates every drum hit from scratch through a complex non-linear VA circuit. That means it never hits exactly the same way twice – a quality it shares with the classic analog drum machines (and a big part of their magic). Compare this to samples, which are just static snapshots and you’ll find that Tekno’s subtleties make tracks come more alive.
Tekno allows you to exaggerate this behavior further: Use the on-board humanize parameters to introduce extra variation in timbre, velocity and timing every time a sound is triggered.
Loaded with analog-modeled effects
Tekno’s onboard effects have been crafted with the same care and analog-modeling efforts as the drum voices.
There are no ‘copy-paste FX’ in Tekno, but a unique suite of coloration tools created especially for this instrument.
Beef-up individual drums with analog-modeled tape saturation, excitation and compression. And make the whole kit shine with a punchy limiter/clipper combo that will cut through any mix.
Explore the features
More details
What are the tech specs?
✱ Plugin formats: VST, VST3, AU, AAX (64-bit).
✱ Standalone application / non-plugin version also included.
✱ Platforms supported: Mac OS 10.11 and up (including Native Apple Silicon M-Chip Compatibility). PC Windows 10 and newer.
✱ DAWs supported: All major DAWs, including Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper, Reason etc.
Voice list
Each of Tekno’s 18 on-board voice engines is its own unique drum synthesizer and different to the rest. The voices utilize a combination of analog circuit modeling, FM and digital synthesis. Full list below.
- Kick A
- Kick B
- Snare A
- Snare B
- Hat A
- Hat B
- Hat OP
- Tom L
- Tom H
- Clap
- Rimshot
- Conga L
- Conga H
- Ride
- Tonal
- Cowbell
- Block
- Crash
What genre of music is Tekno for?
Any. Tekno’s versatility, depth and hard-hitting sound makes it useful in any musical genre that relies on electronic elements. From dance, hip-hop and pop to underground techno – and way beyond.
Avoiding distorted drum loops
A big contributor to Tekno’s punchy sound is the analog-modeled clipper that sits at the end of the chain. However, you’ll want to calibrate this effect based on the intensity of your drum loop. Busier patterns will require you to dial-down the “Clip” slider (located in the master section) to avoid distortion. Single drum hits tend to benefit from being clipped more aggressively.
There’s no exact right or wrong here since Tekno is designed to never digitally clip in your DAW. So use your ears and tune the clipper - as well as the on-board limiter - to the right temperature that fits your tracks and your vision.
Who is Jatin Chowdhury?
For the development of Tekno, Baby Audio collaborated with Jatin Chowdhury, one of the leading engineers in analog modeling. Jatin has made major contributions to the music software industry through widely used open-source projects and several academic publications. He holds an M.A. from Stanford University in Music, Science, and Technology and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at MIT.
We teamed up with Jatin in 2021 with a joint vision to make ‘the ultimate drum synthesizer’. Four years later, we’re proud to share the end result. You can explore some of Jatin’s popular tools and free plugins over at chowdsp.com
Tekno
Drum Synthesizer
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