EastWest DrumX

EastWest team up with Jimmy Jam for a refreshing take on some classic drum machines.

The latest addition to EastWest’s impressive virtual instrument catalogue is DrumX. The library has been built by sampling 10 of the most iconic drum machines — the TR‑808, TR‑909, TR‑606, LinnDrum, LM‑1, DR‑55, DR‑110, DMX, DrumTraks, and SP‑12 — that between them have been used on countless hit records.

Of course, DrumX is far from the first virtual recreation of these classic drum machines. However, the feature set offers some serious sound‑design options, EastWest don’t skimp on their sampling and, as with the rather wonderful Iconic synth library (see SOS January 2025), they have brought in a seasoned collaborator — in this case, Jimmy Jam. Jimmy contributes sound design and rhythms that might easily have been drawn from his work with an A to Z of top artists over the last 40 years. It’s an intriguing combination.

What’s What

DrumX is built for EastWest’s powerful Opus front‑end, which can run standalone or in DAWs as a VST2, VST3, AU and AAX plug‑in. On my macOS review system, the full library came in at approximately 30GB.

Once you have browsed and loaded a suitable preset, the Player page of the UI provides you with the main DrumX‑specific controls. A set of global sound‑design controls and the master output control occupy the top row, while a colour‑coded MIDI keyboard shows the sample mapping at the bottom. The central portion of the display shows the standard 4x4 drum pad layout (on the left) alongside sound‑design parameters for the currently selected drum pad (on the right). Beneath this, a single lane for the step sequencer is displayed and, again, this is for the currently selected drum pad. However, if you prefer to program your grooves with all the sequencer lanes visible at the same time, then the Grid button toggles the main pad view to a suitable multi‑lane step sequencer view.

The samples themselves have been used to construct a number of different types of preset. There are 10 DX Kit presets, one each for the 10 drum machines. Where the original hardware offers multiple options (for example, for kick or snare), you can swap between these for a specific pad.

You also get Stacked, Layered, Pitched and All Kits presets. The Stacked presets each contain a single drum type — kick or snare, for example — but with samples from each hardware unit mapped across the pads. The Layered presets make use of a single pad and feature a single drum type, but you can select any of the samples for that drum type. The Pitched presets also take a single drum type and map it at different pitches across the MIDI note range. If you want to mix and match sounds from different drum machines into a single preset, then the DX All Kits let you do just that, with a neat Finalize Kit button that can unload all the unused samples to optimise memory usage once you are happy with your selections.

DrumX includes an effective step sequencer and ships with a well‑stocked library of grooves created by Jimmy Jam.

However, for instant gratification, the Jimmy Jam Kits presets are where to start. These add some of Jimmy’s custom samples into the mix and, in addition, feature his full customisation of the sounds using DrumX’s array of sound‑design tools. Each preset — and there are over 200 of them — also includes a step sequencer groove created by the man himself. Browsing these quickly lets you appreciate just what DrumX is capable of. There are some epic sounds here to use either straight out the box or as great starting points for your own adaptations.

Sound Design

Those Jimmy Jam presets also hint at the possibilities offered by DrumX’s sound‑design tools. Sound stacking aside, there are three elements available to the sound‑shaping toolkit. First, the global options along the top of the UI — Transient, Drive, Crush and Comp — provide macro‑style controls linked to processing options within the Opus mixer. You also get global control over the effects returns from the reverb and delay.

Second, you can switch to the Opus Mix page which, as well as the usual level, pan, mute and solo options, also provides a flexible insert and send effects environment. Opus includes an excellent range of stock effects spanning categories such as EQ, dynamics, distortion, modulation, harmonics, delay and reverb. There is plenty here to sweeten your sounds or to get more creative with if you want them to pop out the speakers.

Third, there are those DrumX‑specific controls that fill the right side of the UI — the Pad Inspector panel — and the Tape Saturation knob, all of which can be set independently for each drum pad. The Pad Inspector panel includes envelope controls, a set of general controls (volume, pan, tune and transpose), a Room option (which blends in a sampled room ambience layer) and FX controls (high‑ and low‑pass filters and sends to the reverb and delay effects). However, you also get some controls that are specific to a particular drum machine and based upon what the original hardware had to offer. What you see here can also depend upon which drum pad is selected, as per the original hardware. Finally, the large Tape Saturation knob lets you select the type and degree of tape saturation applied. Interestingly, DrumX’s documentation indicates that these machine‑specific controls and the tape saturation are implemented through additional sampling of the original machines rather than emulated processing. However it’s achieved from a technical perspective, there’s a lot of sound‑design potential.

Into The Groove

The sequencing engine will feel instantly familiar but is nicely done. Grooves up to 64 steps in length can be created based upon eighth, 16th or 32nd note step resolution. The lower single‑pad lane offers note on/off and accent options, while the Grid page offers just note on/off but in a multi‑lane display.

The lower panel also provides options to add a global swing and to drag and drop the current groove to a track within your DAW. Usefully, you can also browse all of the Jimmy Jam groove presets here and load them independently of the drum preset you might be using. These are a great resource, but you can, of course, also create your own groove presets.

DrumX is like having access to a high‑quality set of electronic drum machine sounds that feel like they have been lifted from a series of classic hits.

Iconic Pairing

Auditioning the Jimmy Jam presets is a lot of fun but also conjures up plenty of ‘oh, that sounds like...’ moments. Indeed, DrumX is like having access to a high‑quality set of electronic drum machine sounds that feel like they have been lifted from a series of classic hits. I had exactly the same response when auditioning Iconic’s presets for the first time. Pairing DrumX with Iconic provides an impressive combination of (yup!) iconic sounds for pop, EDM, electronica, hip‑hop, R&B and more from the last 40 years. This will undoubtedly have been by design on EastWest’s and Jimmy Jam’s part, and the end result is very impressive.

Whatever your views on perpetual licences versus subscriptions, for working composers, the addition of DrumX to EastWest’s ComposerCloud subscription just makes it even better value for money. DrumX provides a huge selection of high‑quality classic drum machine sounds in a convenient format for a fraction of the price of the vintage hardware. It’s also a perfect pairing with Iconic.