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Heartbeat Black Friday deals come to 71% off this Softube drum machine plugin, which costs $39 until Nov 15, 2026.
Heartbeat is a drum synth built on modeled analog synthesis. Softube says it takes its cues from the best analog drum synths of the 1980s without copying any existing drum machine.
Most of the sound comes from Softube's own modeled analog engine, with some carefully chosen waveforms added on top.
The core is eight instrument channels. Each one has its own synthesis engine, so you can shape every drum from scratch.
The bass drum channels cover punchy, deep kicks as well as snappy, hard-hitting woody tones. Each snare channel has six parameters, which stretch from edgy rimshots to soft snare rolls to machine-style claps.
The percussion channels can be dialed in for 80s-style synthetic toms, cowbells and noise drops.
The Auto Layer Machine has four channels. Each can layer sounds or trigger a chain of events.
That gives you new sound textures, or automatic fill patterns of up to four steps.
The Chaos sliders add randomness to its behavior, from subtle variations up to what Softube calls trigger-riot mayhem.
Global velocity knobs for volume, pitch, attack and decay make the sounds respond to how hard you play. Time Gate shortens the overall decay for a stuttery, stiff machine sound.
Heartbeat has its own effects section, so you can finish a beat without leaving the plugin.
Dyna-mite covers limiting, compression, gating and sidechained ducking. Each of the eight channels also gets its own mixer strip, with volume, pan, ping-pong auto panning, an EQ adapted to that instrument, and send levels to the reverb and delay.
You can also use Heartbeat's instrument and EQ modules in Modular. That applies only to those components, not to TSAR-1 or Dyna-mite.
Heartbeat runs in AU, VST, VST3 and AAX hosts. Softube recommends VST3, since some of its plugins have features the older VST format lacks.
No iLok USB dongle is needed. You do need a Softube account, an iLok account and internet access to download installers and manage licenses.
Supported systems are macOS Big Sur 11, Monterey 12 and Ventura 13, plus Windows 10 (64-bit) and Windows 11. Apple silicon is supported natively.
Yes. The Heartbeat Black Friday deal takes 71% off Softube's drum machine plugin, so it costs $39 until Nov 15, 2026.
Heartbeat has eight drum channels based mostly on modeled analog synthesis, a mixer with EQ, sends and panning for each channel, and the four-channel Auto Layer Machine. Adapted TSAR-1 Reverb and Dyna-mite, Filter Echo and output saturation are built in too.
Heartbeat works in any 64-bit AU, VST, VST3 or AAX host (Pro Tools 11.0.2 or higher). Softube officially tests Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase, Ableton Live, Studio One and Reaper, and recommends VST3.
No. Softube says Heartbeat draws on the best analog drum synths of the 1980s but does not emulate any existing drum machine. The sound mostly comes from Softube's own modeled analog synthesis, plus selected waveforms.
Prices and end dates are checked at publishing time and can change, so confirm them at the store before you buy.