Plugin £99 (£59 on sale) / subscribe to own for £12.33 per month
iOS version £30
babyaud.io
Capturing the essence of hardware drum machines is always a challenge when designing a plugin. However, with its wide range of percussion synthesis engines and straightforward sequencer, Baby Audio’s Tekno 1.1 has a voice of its own.
Because real drum machines are so enthralling to use, their plugin counterparts have often suffered as a result, failing to live up to the experience of the real thing. It’s hard to match the immediacy of a Roland TR-style sequencer, and nothing feels quite the same as using a TR-909 with its vintage, computer-style buttons. With this in mind, Baby Audio has moved in a more niche direction by designing Tekno to exclusively use synthesis for sound generation.
While it may be risky to create a drum plugin that doesn’t use samples for its sound generation, the brand has managed to stabilise the balancing act by creating an instrument that sounds excellent and is immense fun to use. I wasn’t so impressed with Tekno v1, but Baby Audio has drastically improved the plugin with Tekno 1.1.
How to use the Tekno sequencer
Tekno’s sequencer is the big addition to version 1.1, and it doesn’t disappoint.
The first thing you’ll notice is that the sequencer data is independent of the selected kit preset, so you can sketch out a groove pattern and then flip through the presets until you find a sound setfor your idea. To create patterns, there are 18 sequencer lanes — one for each drum voice, which allows you to create the bulk of your song’s rhythm section from a single instance of Tekno in your DAW.
Like most drum machine plugins, you can use the sequencer independently or sync it with your DAW’s tempo and transport, and drag-and-drop the pattern as a MIDI clip. The sequencer’s more advanced features are delightfully accessible, so you can easily set the pattern length of each lane and adjust the probability slider to create polyrhythms and introduce unpredictability to your drum parts. For added flexibility, you can also change the speed of the sequencer’s playback (normal, double, or half) at a global or per-lane level, and there is a dedicated tool for adding 32nd-step-length notes to your pattern alongside more conventional 16th-note steps.
Once you’ve created your drum pattern, the shift to altering each individual sound is seamless. As you can select each drum voice within the sequencer view, the Synthesize and Effects controls change automatically to correspond with your selection, and you can expand each of these sections with their respective Calibration menus for deeper control. However, with this level of intuitive control, the mixer starts to feel slightly redundant from a design perspective — a mute, solo, and level control could have easily been added to each of the sequencer lanes.
When one looks at the bigger picture of Tekno as an instrument, its sequencer is one of its strongest features without a doubt. Here, the use of a clean, simple design really elevates the creative experience, and having the more abstract tools like pattern length and probability at your fingertips immediately allows the potential for happy accidents.
Using Tekno for iPadOS
Tekno has been designed to suit a touchscreen interface, as the matrix of 18 hexagons allows you to play and select each drum voice; you can quickly get the feel of the kit you’ve selected and dive into tweaking the individual drum sounds if you desire. Tekno functions as a standalone iOS app, an AUv3 plugin for iPadOS DAWs, and it’s even compatible with the new Apple Vision environment, so you have many ways to get creative.
However, in standalone mode, there is no way to export audio from the app, so iPad DAW users will likely stick to using Tekno inside Cubasis, Logic Pro, or GarageBand. It’s also worth noting that there are no integration features between the standard DAW plugin version and the mobile app, and they require separate licenses. That being said, although the standalone version is still buggy and crashes regularly, the AUv3 plugin runs well within a host and really expands the creative potential of Cubasis or GarageBand, especially for electronic music producers.
The touch-friendly interface makes Tekno an instantly gratifying beat creation platform, as the sound-sculpting tools provide the same level of immediacy as the sequencer. This allows you to swiftly sequence drum patterns, the iPad’s touchscreen adding to the fluidity of the creative process.
I find the sequencer’s magnify mode especially useful, not only for its larger viewing scale, but also for the fact that the peripheral controls are hidden so you can focus on the task at hand. Overall, whether you are browsing through presets or making parameter changes, this all feels more musical than using a mouse.
Can’t Tek-no for an answer?
With its intuitive sequencer, Tekno 1.1 comes together far more cohesively than its initial release, giving it a unique identity you can easily fall in love with. At only £30, it’s especially attractive to iPad users, while the desktop DAW plugin is more expensive at £99. However, competitors like Sugar Bytes Drum Computer are priced similarly, which puts things into perspective.
But there’s still room for improvement. On iPad, for example, the integration of multitouch input and gestures could take things further, but until then, Kymatica’s AUM mixer app is your best bet for expanding Tekno’s touchability. Meanwhile, in the desktop version, there is still a need for chromatic MIDI input for the modal synth voice. With the ability to play leads or basslines and load samples into the drum voices, Tekno would become a far more complete instrument, adding even more value for electronic music creators.
The average DAW user may never need to venture beyond stock plugins, but electronic artists are always in need of fresh, new drum sounds. This is a gap Tekno easily fills, particularly for four-on-the-floor styles of music. Furthermore, by drastically improving the plugin so soon after release, Baby Audio has demonstrated its commitment as a developer, and has also followed up with three optional expansion packs (£15 each/£7.50 on sale) that take Tekno’s sonic palette in different directions.
Key features
- Drum synthesizer plugin (VST, AU & AAX)
- App and AUv3 plugin for iOS, iPad, and Apple Vision
- Sound library with 73 global presets
- 1314 individual voice presets
- 18-voice sound engine
- 18-lane pattern sequencer with probability
- Multiple types of synthesis
- Drag-and-drop voice export
- Per-voice and master effects
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