TR-909: Hybrid Analog/Digital Drum Machine Plugin by Roland

The plugin focuses on the classic 909 voices: a punchy kick, a snappy snare, crisp hi-hats, claps, toms, and cymbals. The original design combined tweakable analog circuits for the drums with digital sampling for the cymbals, and the plugin follows that split.

An overdrive control adds grit and variation to the sound. Roland describes the hardware as a foundation of dance music styles such as techno, house, acid, and industrial, and the plugin is aimed at the same styles.

The sound is the main reason to pick this plugin over a generic drum sampler, since the analog modeling is central to how the kick and snare behave.

The sequencer gives each instrument its own lane. Per-instrument controls include flams, sub-steps, soft hits, last step, and shuffle, so you can shape timing and feel for each voice separately.

Eight pattern variations let you switch between related grooves without rebuilding the beat. You can also drag audio or MIDI patterns straight into your DAW.

If you own Roland's TR-8S or TR-09 hardware, the plugin can exchange patterns with them. You can transfer TR-8S patterns into the plugin, send beats back to the hardware, or control the plugin directly from the hardware.