Imaginando BAM Beat Maker & Music Maker

This cross‑platform pattern‑based music production environment puts the fun back into music making.

Having access to vast collections of software instruments and effects, all housed within a top‑tier music production DAW, is a truly great thing. However, it’s also something of a double‑edged sword, particularly if your latest musical inspiration fizzles to nothing as you try to decide between an endless set of synth presets, kick drum sounds or reverb choices. In terms of keeping the creativity flowing, sometimes having less choice means that you actually achieve more.

Which is kind of where software like Imaginando’s BAM Beat Maker & Music Maker comes in. As a standalone, pattern‑based music production system, it provides a compact feature set with a streamlined workflow. Fewer distractions, fewer decisions and — perhaps — more actual music. Well, that’s the theory at least... so just what does BAM have to offer?

BAM Basics

The underlying concept within BAM’s workflow is a familiar one. Essentially, you get a step‑sequencer‑based environment (up to 256 steps within a clip) featuring up to 16 sound sources. Projects are arranged in a scene‑based song arrangement system, where each scene is able to contain an individual MIDI clip (pattern) for any/all of the 16 sound sources. You can then trigger these clips is various combinations or all the clips within a specific scene.

MIDI patterns/clips can be created in various ways. A Timeline view provides a simple grid editor that’s great for drum pattern creation. There is also a Composer view that provides a piano‑roll‑style editing environment and is more suitable for melodic/chord instruments such as bass or keys. These views dominate the central portion of the BAM UI where, as well as the Timeline and Composer pages, the five buttons located far left also allow you to toggle between the Matrix (containing the matrix of MIDI clips organised into scenes), Automations (you can also step sequence automation of parameters at the clip level) and Mixer views.

Toggling between BAM’s five main windows, including the Timeline (top) and Composer (bottom) shown here, means you have a range of options for pattern editing.

While there are ways to integrate external sound sources into the BAM workflow, the software has its own suite of sound engines. These include some straightforward synth engines and a sample‑playback engine, and part of the streamlined design intention is to keep BAM as self‑contained as possible. The feature set includes a selection of effects that can be applied at the individual sound engine level plus two global effects that are accessed as sends from the individual sounds. Each sound engine has its own channel in BAM’s compact mixer, which includes send controls, pan, volume and solo/mute buttons. The supplied factory content includes some useful samples, instrument and effects presets, and demo projects to help get you started.

It’s also worth noting that BAM is cross‑platform. I tried both the iOS and macOS versions and, while there are some technical differences (for example, the iOS version allows you to use external AUv3 apps as sound sources), the workflow is pretty much identical, and if you do confine yourself to BAM’s internal sound engines, projects can be easily ported between platforms. MIDI export is also supported alongside audio rendering, and both can operate at the song or scene level of a project.

The Sounds Of BAM

BAM features 12 different sound engines. These include a number of dedicated ‘08’ synth engines for kick, snare, clap, tom, conga, hi‑hat and cowbell, each of which offers a compact set of controls to tweak the individual sounds. There is also a Drum Synthesizer engine with a more comprehensive control set that includes oscillator, FM and noise components to create a wide range of drum sounds.

The Oscillator and Hoffman engines provide synth‑based options for non‑drum sounds. Oscillator is a compact subtractive synth with dual oscillators, noise generators, ring modulation, FM, a multi‑mode filter and saturation. Hoffman is a monophonic synth engine and is intended to do TB‑303‑style duties.

The other main option is the Sampler. This allows you to create sounds from a single sample, manipulate the sample in various ways, and automatically map it across the MIDI note range. You can use the factory‑supplied samples or import your own. Samples used within a project are added to a ‘pool’ and the Sampler engine’s Sample control lets you switch between these. This control can be automated, letting you use different sample‑based sounds in different places within your overall arrangement if required.

Controls for the currently selected track/sound source are shown in the rack area in the upper half of the UI. The panels here include a compact version of the sound engine’s controls and (far right) mixer/send controls. You can also add up to two effects devices per instrument from a selection that includes a filter, three‑band EQ, parametric EQ, low/high shelf, chorus, bit reduction, stereo enhancer, delay, reverb, compressor and distortion. A Modulation panel allows you to configure multiple target parameters — for example, from the sound engine or effects — for either LFO or envelope modulation. Far left of the rack is the Trigger pane. This lets you set the default MIDI note (for example, for a drum sound) and, interestingly, offers a Probability control that can influence the likelihood of any MIDI note events within a pattern/clip being triggered or not, adding some very cool random variation to your patterns.

Each of the sound devices — including the Oscillator, Hofmann synth and Sampler shown here — provides a functional but suitably effective control set.

Project BAM

The ‘beat maker’ element of the title comes to the fore in the design of BAM’s workflow. This is very much aimed at those who are happiest when building a track from patterns within a step sequencer. The Timeline panel lets you easily build a drum groove from multiple sound devices (kick, snare, hi‑hat, etc) with a simple step sequencer view with your sound devices arranged down the left side of the display. Note entries here will then appear as individual clips for each instrument within the Matrix view.

For more detailed editing of individual clips (for example, for melodic instruments where you also need to specify pitch), the Composer panel provides a familiar piano‑roll editor for the currently selected clip. Manual note entry here is very straightforward but you can also play MIDI in from a keyboard if you prefer. Again, you have a fairly typical suite of note editing tools for the task at hand.

As well as the LFO and envelope modulation options mentioned earlier, you can add step‑based automation data to the currently selected clip via the Automations panel. Multiple automation targets can be specified via a very simple ‘Learn’ process and parameters adjusted on a per‑step basis.

As well as giving you a clear oversight of your project, the Matrix view is where you can further arrange clips into multiple scenes. You get all the usual copy/paste/delete tools to do this, so building a song arrangement is conceptually very simple. Scenes (all the clips present within a horizontal row) can be triggered together via the Scene buttons positioned far right. However, you can also click on individual clips within this view to trigger them and they will simply replace any current clip playing for that same sound device in sync to the playback.

Small But Beautifully Formed?

Whether it’s the sound devices, effects devices or some other element within the rack, the control sets are streamlined, but both functional and easy to navigate. However, tucked away inside each element are enough tools to get creative and keep things interesting, whether it’s reversing the playback direction of a specific clip, generating random note data, or options to configure how the project moves through its various scenes.

Add a little time to appreciate some of the finer details and BAM can be quickly mastered. And, at that point, it will let you make your music without getting in your way.

How does the overall concept stand up? Well, it’s certainly compact and anyone who has used a step sequencer before will soon find their way around the basics. Add a little time to appreciate some of the finer details and BAM can be quickly mastered. And, at that point, it will let you make your music without getting in your way.

The beat maker workflow has, of course, been around for some time so there are alternatives to consider alongside BAM. For example, you could adopt a similar approach within a mainstream audio+MIDI sequencer (if you can avoid getting distracted by their broader feature set), but software such as Korg’s Gadget, with its similar clip/scene‑based workflow and cross‑platform (mobile and desktop) support, is perhaps a more obvious comparison. Gadget perhaps comes with a slicker look and more features but also, on the desktop at least, a higher price tag.

The step‑sequencer workflow is undoubtedly a niche approach aimed primarily at electronic music styles but, in that context, Imaginando have struck a very interesting balance in BAM’s design. The feature set has enough options to keep things interesting but is compact and constrained enough to easily master; BAM may not be the prettiest UI I’ve experienced, but it might provide just the constraint you need to focus on making music rather than constantly learning how your software works. Yes, there are some well‑established alternatives but, if a compact, cross‑platform solution appeals, then BAM is well worth a look.