The Locked Expansion Pack is a solid, genre-specific preset collection for BioTek 3 and Attracktive that delivers exactly what UK Garage producers need. At $30, it's a focused investment: 91 presets covering stabs, pads, bass, leads, dub FX and chopped vocals, all aimed squarely at the 2-step and garage sound. If you're outside that world, or you don't already own one of those two synths, this is a hard pass. But if garage is your thing? It's worth it.
Quick verdict: The Locked Expansion Pack earns a 4.0/5. At $30, it's well-priced for 91 presets that cover the genuine width of the UK Garage palette, from deep sub bass to rhythmic vocal chops. The catch is real: it only works inside BioTek 3 or Attracktive. If you've got either of those in your signal chain already, this is a clever time-saver. If you don't, it's simply not for you.
What You're Actually Getting
Ninety-one presets. That's the whole deal, and it's a meaningful number for a genre-specific pack.
Tracktion has organised the content around the core textures that define UK Garage: bouncy stabs that sit in the upper-mid frequencies and lock into syncopated rhythms, warm pads that fill space without crowding the mix, deep bass tones built for bass-forward club systems, and crisp leads that cut through without harshness.
Beyond the melodic and harmonic content, there are dub-style FX presets and, probably the most interesting inclusion, chopped and pitched vocal phrases. Those vocals aren't just samples dropped in; they're shaped to function as rhythmic elements, which is exactly how garage treats vocals.
Tracktion says these sounds work across House, D&B, and Downtempo too, not just straight-up garage. That's a fair claim given the overlap in bass design and pad texture across those genres. Old-school 2-step and more futuristic garage blends are both covered.
The Good
Ninety-one presets in a genre pack might sound thin on paper. Here, it feels like the right number because there's no filler padding out the count.
The bass tones are the highlight. UK Garage lives and dies on the low end, and Tracktion's developer notes specifically call out deep bass grooves. When you're building a 2-step track and you need a sub that doesn't fight your kick, that has its own rhythmic identity, these presets do that work for you. Load one, dial in the envelope to your tempo, and it sits.
The chopped vocal phrases are clever. A lot of expansion packs treat vocals as decoration. These are designed with rhythmic excitement in mind, which means you can drop them into a 4-bar loop and they behave like a rhythmic instrument, not a sing-along.
The stabs are satisfying to play with. Bouncy is the right word. They have that compressed, slightly pushed character that defines the genre. And the dub FX presets add width and movement without the kind of muddy tail that can kill a mix.
At $30, the per-preset cost is low, and there's genuine range here across sound types.
The Not-So-Good
Let's be honest about the biggest limit: this pack does nothing if you don't own BioTek 3 or Attracktive. Nothing. These presets are not standalone instruments or samples. They're configuration files for those specific synths. That's not a criticism of the pack's design, it's just a wall you hit immediately if you're coming in without the right software.
The genre focus is tight. Tracktion says it works in House and D&B, and there's truth to that. But if you're making pop, lo-fi, ambient, or anything outside the UK dance music orbit, you'll find maybe five presets you'd actually reach for. Frustrating if you bought it hoping for flexibility.
And honestly? Ninety-one presets is generous, but this is still a single genre. If you only produce garage occasionally, $30 might feel like a lot for a specialist tool.
Who Should Buy This
- ✅ Buy if you produce UK Garage, 2-step, or UK House and already own BioTek 3 or Attracktive
- ✅ Buy if you want chopped vocal textures and dub FX ready to drop into a session without sound design from scratch
- ✅ Buy if you work in D&B or Downtempo and want bass and pad presets with a UK dance influence
- ❌ Skip if you don't own BioTek 3 or Attracktive. Full stop.
- ❌ Skip if your productions sit outside the UK dance music world. Most of these presets won't travel
- ❌ Skip if you prefer building your own patches. This is a presets pack, not a sound design toolkit
Specs & Technical Details
| Developer | Tracktion |
| Price | $30 |
| Plugin Format | N/A (preset pack for BioTek 3 / Attracktive) |
| OS Support | N/A |
| Activation | N/A |
| CPU Usage | N/A |
| Trial Available | N/A |
| Version Reviewed | N/A |
Score Breakdown
| Category | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sound Quality | 4.0/5 | Bass tones and chopped vocals stand out; stabs and dub FX are genre-accurate |
| Value for Money | 4.0/5 | 91 presets at $30 is fair, though value drops sharply if garage isn't your genre |
| Ease of Use | 4.5/5 | Preset packs don't get easier: load and play, assuming you have the synth |
| Features | 3.5/5 | Good range across sound types but locked to one genre and two synths |
| CPU Efficiency | N/A | Dependent on the host synth, not this pack |
| Overall | 4.0/5 | A well-built specialist pack that does what it promises, for the right producer |
You're building a 2-step loop. The drums are locked. The groove is there. You need a stab that sits in the upper mids without swamping the vocal. You open the Locked pack, scroll through the stabs folder, and three presets in you've found it. That's what a good expansion pack does: it gets out of your way and gets you to the music faster. This one does that, inside its lane.
Load a deep bass preset on your bass bus, set the filter cutoff to taste, and pair it with one of the dub FX presets on a send. That combination gives you the width and low-end weight that defines the genre without you spending an afternoon in a modulation matrix.
And if you're producing at home, working fast, trying to get a demo finished: reach for the chopped vocal presets early. Drop them into a blank MIDI region, play a few notes across different pitches, and you'll have rhythmic vocal texture that most producers spend hours crafting by hand.
The verdict is simple. If garage is your world and BioTek 3 or Attracktive is already in your DAW, this pack earns its keep. If either of those conditions isn't true, look elsewhere. It's a love-it-or-leave-it situation based entirely on your setup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to own BioTek 3 and Attracktive, or just one of them?
Just one is enough. The Locked Expansion Pack works with BioTek 3 or Attracktive, not both simultaneously. If you own either synth, you can load and use all 91 presets. Check which synth's preset format matches your version before buying.
Can I use these presets with any other synthesiser or DAW instrument?
No. These are native presets for BioTek 3 and Attracktive only. They won't load into any other synth, sampler, or instrument. The preset files are tied to those specific architectures, so there's no workaround.
Is the Locked Expansion Pack only useful for UK Garage producers?
Mainly, yes. Tracktion says the sounds work in House, D&B, and Downtempo too, and that's credible given the shared DNA of UK dance music. But if your sessions are outside those genres, you'll find the palette too narrow to be worth the investment.
Are the vocal phrases in the pack samples or synthesised sounds?
The vocal phrases are chopped and pitched creatively within the BioTek 3 or Attracktive engine. They function as rhythmic and melodic elements rather than traditional vocal samples. How they're structured internally is something worth checking with Tracktion directly if that distinction matters to your workflow.