5 killer kick instruments

Sonic Academy Kick

201 » 8/10 » £50 Sculpt a synthetic sub kick, layer one of the hundreds of preset click samples (or load your own), then shape pitch, click amplitude and sub amplitude via the three breakpoint envelopes, and apply onboard distortion and limiting. Version 2 has recently been announced, and we’re looking forward to reviewing it soon! www.sonicacademy.com

Plugin Boutique BigKick

205 » 9/10 » £40 Combine a synth sub layer with a click/top/character kick layer, tune the layers to fit, then sculpt the results with built-in EQ, overdrive, hard clipper and “Punch” control. You can drag and drop between BigKick and your DAW to import and export audio to and from your projects. www.pluginboutique.com

Vengeance-Sound Metrum

152 » 9/10 » £89 Metrum features a low-end kick synth, plus three – yes, three! – sample layers for blending in the perfect amount of character and attack. It’s crammed with useful features, too: two filters per layer, three distortion models, a twoband EQ, envelopes, drag and drop sample import, a randomiser and an output limiter. www.vengeance-sound.com

Producer’s Choice 808 Warfare N/A » N/A » $47 The TR-808’s bass drum is a legendary sound, forming the backbone for countless hip-hop, R&B, pop, house and techno tracks. Aimed at the true 808 connoisseur, this Kontakt 5 instrument is full of meticulously recorded and processed 808 kick drum samples. www.theproducerschoice.com

ISM BazzISM N/A » N/A » €30 Many kick generators feature sample layering of some kind, but BazzISM is strictly a bass drum synthesiser. With a number of controls for tailoring the sound, it puts unique and personalised kicks at your fingertips, and can even turn its hand to bass sound synthesis. www.ismism.de