New Music Gear Monday: Wave Alchemy Revolution Drum Machine Emulator

When drum machines first came out in the 80s we loved the programmability but hated the sound limitations. It’s funny how things work, but today it’s those limitations that everyone remembers and wants to recapture. One way to do that is with Wave Alchemy’s Revolution, a virtual drum machine that emulates the authentic sound of some of the iconic units from days past.

The Revolution captures the sound of 14 iconic drum machines, including the Roland TR-808, 909, 606, 707, 505, CR78 and CR-8000, Roger Linn’s original LinnDrum, the Sequential Circuits Drumtraks, the E-mu Drumlator and SP-12, and the Oberheim OB-DX. What’s more, these are the real sounds from the original machines, not electronic simulations. Wave Alchemy recorded tens of thousands of samples through a Radial JDI into NEVE 1073 or API 512c pre-amps to make sure that the full range and all of the tonal nuances were retained.

Revolution features a built in sequencer, editor and mixer, with a wide range of parameter controls that vary with each drum machine module. A Character control on each module allows you to dial in the raw sound of the machine up through tape saturation via a Studer A820 to the crunch of a vintage SP-1200 sampler.

There are also a number of excellent effects on-board, with 160 custom high-end impulses from iconic reverb units such as the Lexicon 300L, AKG BX20, AMS RMX16 and many others, alongside acoustic rooms from world class studios, recorded with multiple mic positions.

The Wave Alchemy Revolution is available in Standalone, VST, AU and AAX instrument formats, and is powered by a free Kontakt player from Native Instruments (the full version of Kontakt is not required). The price is £149 or about $190 USD. You can find out more about Revolution on its dedicated page, or check out the video below for more details and sound examples.