Beatstation :: Virtual Instrument Sampler

Beatstation marks the next step in powerful yet simple sound design and music production from Toontrack.

It is not just a drum sampler. It is not just a bass sampler. It is not just a melodic sampler. It is all of these things combined in one powerful but simple window, that puts you in the musical driver´s seat combining a variety of functions and features.

Combining drums, bass and lead instruments with drag and drop, REX and MIDI support, Beatstation is your companion for quickly getting a full beat up and running or for diving into the smallest details of what you want your sound to be, to be able to realize your music, your expression. Just take WAV or MP3 files from any source to create unique and inspiring combinations.

You can combine and edit individual slices from your favourite REX files or create playable instruments from a single sound. All this can be done just with a few clicks of the mouse, making Beatstation a hugely powerful yet easy to use virtual instrument. Do you already have Toontrack EZX or SDX expansion packs? These can be combined and edited inside Beatstation too.

Whether you use it on your portable travelling rig or in a full-on studio context, Beatstation adapts to meet the challenges of every production situation. It is not tied down to genre or style. It cannot be defined and limited to the use of a single group of musicians or producers.

It is constructed with Toontrack´s premium components which have been perfected over several years. This software instrument combines the experience and passion of one of the world´s best sound design teams. Also included are effects provided by Overloud, the award winning software development company that released Breverb and TH1.

Beatstation lets the new generation music producer freely combine the wealth of influences that are present in the music that drives the beat of the world.

Here are the key features of Beatstation

• Sound sets can be created by dragging and dropping Wav, REX, MP3 and Toontrack library sounds on to the pads of Beatstation from the Beatstation browser or from the users computer harddrive mixing and matching any sounds available to build brand new personlized sound sets.


• Sounds can be recorded using the Beatstation recorder.


• Browse and playback audio and MIDI with all components in the browser drag and droppable into a host application.


• Beatstation allows the user to customize their playing surface to fit their needs by designing and changing skins as well customizing the order of the playing surface.


• Compatible sound sets include BTXs - the Beatstation expansion packs, EZXs - the EZdrummer expansion packs, SDXs - the Superior Drummer 2.0 expansion packs, Toontrack MIDI libraries and REX files of any description.

When using an SDX or EZX you will get a fixed mix of the microphones available for an instrument, typically without ambience. You will also get access to any MIDI included in the SDX or EZX.

Please note: You will need to have EZdrummer or Superior Drummer to register an EZX and Superior Drummer to register an SDX.

Beatstations core content library is divided into three distinct categories:


Lowbit - 45 Basses, 48 Leads, 385 Percussive sounds, 53 REX Loops, 25 Bass Patches & 19 Lead Patches, 3 Complete MIDI Arrangements (173 MIDI files) with 3 full kit patches (Bass, Lead, Drums)
Synthetix - 18 Basses, 52 Leads, 750 Percussive sounds, 206 REX Loops, 24 Bass Patches & 102 Lead Patches, 9 Complete MIDI Arrangements (498 MIDI files) with 9 full kit patches (Bass, Lead, Drums)

Organic - 4 Basses, 11 Leads, 317 Percussive sounds, 250 Metal Guitar REX Loops played by Fredrik Thordendal / Meshuggah, 24 Bass Patches & 82 Lead Patches, 6 Complete MIDI Arrangements (362 MIDI files) with 3 full kit patches (Bass, Lead, Drums)
With the core content, you are granted instant access to all the acoustic, electronic and resampled instrument samples vital to modern production. Each category contains a variety of kit presets with corresponding MIDI variations comprised of drum, bass and lead parts. Keep in mind that they are all just a click and drag away!

The core content come stocked with thousands of MIDI grooves, REX loops, drum/bass/lead instrument presets created from 148 of the popular sounds and timbres from a massive collection of one of a kind, rare, vintage, modern and custom instruments- all meticulously multi-sampled by Toontrack. Click here to download full instrument list (pdf)

For the advanced user Beatstation contains a number of powerful yet simplified tools for manipulating MIDI, sound design, instrument creation and full mixing. This includes full ADSR, pitching, reverse, sample off-set, note-on/off, mono/poly, 5 part sample/REX loop or slice layering per pad all with individual parameter control, variable swing, flam, transposition, 1/2 x tempo, 2 x tempo and a handy part separation feature for extracting a specific part from within the MIDI file.

System Requirements
1.5Gb free disc space, dvd drive. XP, PIII/Athlon, 1.8 GHz, 512MB RAM
1.5Gb free disc space, dvd drive. MAC OS X 10.4 or higher, G4 1 GHz, 512Mb RAM