Wavemachine Labs Drumagog 5 Review

Being a hard rock and metal fan and musician myself, and the fact that I learned to play long before everything was digital, it's been difficult for me to accept virtual instruments, triggers, midi, loops, etc. Particularly when it comes to drums. It seems like the machine has been trying to replace the human drummer for a very long time without success.

I've painstakingly taught myself how to record, mix and master and eventually built a professional studio where my colleagues and I have recorded hundreds of songs, clips, made videos, mastered other peoples work and more. Most of it with a real live drummer behind a real acoustic drum kit.

Recording a drum kit is by far the most difficult thing we've dealt with, IE: tuning out ring, mic positioning, noise gates, equalizers, reverb, compression, and so many other aspects of getting a good drum sound.

A fellow studio owner suggested I try drum replacement software such as Drumagog, which I immediately frowned upon yet secretly tried the demo for myself :-)

Drumagog is not only ok with me now, but I absolutely recommend it to anyone recording drums, whether they are doing so from their basement as a hobbyist, or a professional studio setting. Drumagog takes so much of the work out of recording drums, such as the need for noise gates on every track, major "from scratch" equalizing, and tuning a drum kit which I can say from experience, most drummers don't know how to do.

The biggest factor in the acceptance of Drumagog into our studio is that the drummer still has to play, he/she isn't replaced, only the sounds of the kit are being replaced, which also seems to sit well with the drummers themselves.

Drumagog is a VST plug-in, not a VSTI (Virtual Instrument) and can be hosted by just about any DAW software that is able to use VST effects.

Not only can a user replace sounds on a live recorded drum kit, but we went so far as to record a beat being played with two ink pens, a bottle, a cd case and an LP sleeve, replace the sounds and BAM there's a drum kit! The software can also be used to replace sounds triggered by midi files and even used in "live mode" which gives latency at only 2ms, giving your electronic drum kit a more realistic sound through a P.A. system or monitored through a DAW.

Massive features such as dynamic multisamples, dynamic tracking, auto align, auto hi-hat tracking make this product a must have for home recording enthusiasts and professionals alike. Not to mention included effects such as the convolution reverb and morph engine, and the ability to host vsti's.

Check out this cover of Nazareth's "Love Hurts" which was done with live drums and Drumagog 5 - Listen Now

We also did a short video demonstration of the basic drum replacement function of Drumagog 5 - VIew Here

Visit the official Drumagog web site for more info and a free trial download - View Here

Check out our drum kit samples used in the video above, here Demon Digital Drum Kit Samples