It will make you a believer

The first (and still only, as of 2026) software instrument to accurately emulate the sample-playback architecture of early 1980s drum ROMplers like the LM1 and DMX -- and more importantly, it sounds like nothing else.

Each individual drum voice in an LM1 (or DMX or SCI Drum Tracks, etc) had it's own DAC (digital to analog converter), and each of those converters ran at its own clock speed, so you had tiny sample files recorded at 28kHz that could be playing back at speeds as low as 14khz (1/2 speed) and as high as 56kHz (2x speed), depending on where the user set the tuning pots. Result: you got wild, crunchy aliasing grit on sounds pitched down and a unique metallic-yet-glassy effect on sounds pitched up, all blending together into a stew that modern samplers and sampling software don't dare attempt to emulate. There was no sample re-interpolation in these early days, the per-voice playback engine was just sped up or slowed down to alter pitch, like a fleet of tape recorders... crude and inefficient, but oh what a sound!

I've played VProm side by side with top-shelf LM1 sample sets (in Simpler, Kontakt, etc) and asked people (blind to which was which) to tell me which one sounded more like records they remember from the 80s... whether they're a musician or totally tone deaf, VProm always wins.

I've run the GForce DMX plugin alongside VProm3 loaded with DMX .bin files, and... GForce's version just sounds so subdued compared to VPROM.

Downsides? This is a 1-developer effort by a person clearly obsessed with the details of playing back ancient .bin files exactly as the LM1 and DMX once did, complete with full emulation of each VAC and VCF chip within the signal path. This obsession pays off sonically, but there are rough edges elsewhere:

• Finding and loading banks, presets and the individual sample files (antique .bin files) is a rough experience. There are surely legal considerations behind why the plugin requires you to download and install many of the .bin and preset files separately, but the process seems to get more and more convoluted with each new version of vProm.

• The UI for adjusting all the various sample playback and envelope behaviors of each drum voice is starting to sprawl pretty bad. Actually, navigation across the whole plugin is feeling pretty rough these days -- you'll be needing the PDF manual. I'm hopeful VProm4 will tidy things up considerably.

• VProm3 (unlike VProm1 & 2) has some UI performance issues in Ableton Live 12 on Mac (M-series). The sound engine and timing for VProm3 seem rock solid no mater what, but messing around in the VProm plugin window for several minutes can start to slow down the entire UI in Live... things seem to return to normal once I close the VProm3 plugin window, though.

These issues aside, even after 10+ years on the market, nothing out there in software-land sounds like VProm. No sane Engineer would dare attempt what Aly has clearly poured his whole self into acheiving. The kicks knock hard, the snares slap, the hats will make your tweeters sweat and the playback timing quirks that give the LM1 (and others) their unique feel are replicated with the exacting precision afforded by modern DAWs.

If you've read this far, go give VProm a try -- feel those DMX kicks punch you in the face, wince in pain as the Drumulator Digidrums Rock snare dominates your mix at any volume, then detune the LM1 side stick, and hear that huge, Princely sound that you didn't know you've been searching for your whole damn life.

Thank you, Aly. #&$%ING. James.

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