ENIGMA has released ASTER Drum Lab, a streamlined 48-pad drum sampler plugin for building, editing, and organizing custom drum kits inside a DAW.
ASTER Drum Lab combines sample layering, waveform editing, per-layer sound design, flexible pad customization, kit management, and multi-output routing in a single focused interface.
ASTER Drum Lab
Building a detailed drum kit often means switching between a sampler, an audio editor, multiple effects, and separate routing windows. ASTER Drum Lab brings these tasks together, allowing producers to move from loading samples to shaping and mixing them without interrupting the creative process.
The instrument provides 48 pads across three pages, with up to eight sample layers per pad. Layers can be triggered according to MIDI velocity, making it possible to create expressive acoustic-style instruments, layered electronic drums, or entirely different sounds across the velocity range.
Users can load their own one-shot samples by drag and drop, then edit them directly in the integrated waveform display. Sample start and end positions, fade-in, fade-out, attack, release, velocity response, and humanization can all be adjusted from within the plugin.
Per-layer sound design
Each sample layer includes an independent and reorderable effects chain.
The included processing modules provide tools for tonal shaping, dynamics, transient control, filtering, and saturation before the sound reaches the pad output:
- EQ.
- Filter.
- Drive.
- Transient Shaper.
- Compressor.
Because processing is applied independently to each layer, users can shape individual components of a layered sound without affecting the rest of the pad.
Customizable pad layout
Every pad can be renamed, recolored, assigned to a different MIDI note, and moved to a different position within the kit.
This allows ASTER Drum Lab to adapt to different MIDI controllers, production styles, and project templates rather than forcing every kit into a fixed layout.
Kit saving and selective recall
Complete 48-pad kits can be saved and loaded for use in other sessions.
Saved kits can include samples, layer settings, pad names, colors, MIDI assignments, effects, mixer settings, and output routing. Selective loading also allows users to choose which parts of a saved kit should be recalled.
Flexible multi-output routing
ASTER Drum Lab supports multiple output configurations for detailed mixing and external processing inside the host DAW:
- Stereo output.
- 16-output configuration.
- 32-output configuration.
- 48-output configuration.
Individual pads can therefore be routed to separate DAW channels for processing, automation, and mixing with third-party effects.
Also included in version 1.0
- 48 drum pads arranged across three pages of 16 pads.
- Up to eight sample layers per pad.
- Velocity-based layer switching.
- Drag-and-drop loading of user samples.
- Integrated waveform editing.
- Sample start, end, fade-in, and fade-out controls.
- Attack and release controls.
- Velocity-response and humanization controls.
- Independent effects processing for every sample layer.
- Reorderable per-layer effects chains.
- Custom pad names, colors, MIDI notes, and positions.
- Complete kit saving and loading.
- Selective loading of saved kit components.
- Stereo, 16-output, 32-output, and 48-output routing modes.
Pricing and availability
Price: $20 – To celebrate the release, it is available for the introductory price of $9.99 for the first month following launch.
More information is available from the official ASTER Drum Lab website.
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