The year is 1980, the Linn LM-1 is the top of the line drum machine. Then out comes the Roland TR-808. This piece of equipment changed the beat making industry and set a new course for the world of rap and hip hop. In the modern-day, you can recreate those fantastic sounds (that are still common in today’s beats) at a fraction of the cost. The way to do this is with the Nepheton by D16 Group.
How We Reviewed Nepheton
It was easy giving this plugin a high rating. When you look at the price, combined with the features and abilities that it has, you’ll understand. D16 Group was able to take a fantastic piece of equipment and improve upon it. When you can improve an already fantastic piece of equipment, you know you’re doing something right.
Overall
Best for: The Nephetan is a perfect digital recreation of the world-renowned 808 drum machine. Even beyond it being a recreation of all of the classic tools and options, it expanded upon what can be done. There are new parameters and modes that help you create a perfect beat loop and build out sounds for any song you might use it on.
Features
Check out these amazing features that are on this plugin. These are just a few of my favorites, but there is so much more available on the Nepheton.
17 Instruments – The Nepheton has a total of 17 different instrument sounds that can be programmed and edited to make the ideal beat for you. That is 1 more sound than the original Roland 808 drum machine (the additional sound is the “Laser Gun”).
Instrument Controls – Each instrument has its own controls for at least Level and Tone. The majority have a third control that is generally labeled as Decay, but the third on Hand Clap is a Reverb control. And only 7 have a fourth control that is one of 3 options, Sweep, Snappy, or HH FRQ.
Randomizer – D16 Group was super creative when they added in the Randomizer option. This will randomize either the existing pattern you have or create a whole new one. This is perfect when you’re stuck on where a beat should go or even when coming up with a new beat idea.
Sharing Sounds – Transferring your sounds from studio to studio is so easy now. All patterns and banks that you have stored are saved in XML format making it easy to share online with friends to easily share in a post.
Compatibility
When it comes to compatibility, I don’t see this having any issue with any DAWs. D16 Group is great at making all of their plugins compatible and easy to install with any program, as well as making it able to work with AU or VST in both 32bit and 64bit.
| Mac | Windows | |
| Memory | 4 GB RAM 8 GB recommended | 4 GB RAM 8 GB recommended |
| Operating System | 10.7 and later | Windows 7, 8, or 10 |
This plugin comes to you digitally.
Pricing
The price of the Nepheton is lower than any physical piece of equipment and almost every other version of the 808 drum machine. Take advantage of this insane opportunity from D16 Group.
Total Price: $109
Bonus & Extras
There 96 simple patterns that are included with the Nepheton as well as 16 extended patterns. You can use these for the beats themselves, use them to get yourself started, or completely ignore them. It’s up to you. But with them being included you are giving yourself a huge boost by taking advantage of them and learning how this machine works.
What’s Old is New
They say that trends go out of style then come back in again, but I don’t know if these drum sounds ever left. This is less reviving a classic tool and more improving the mechanics to fit modern production. If the 808 drum machine sound ever goes away, it’s going to be a long time. These sounds are either ingrained in songs or have influenced the sounds that you hear in modern pop, rap, hip hop, techno, EDM, and many more. Bring the sound and style of your beats to the forefront of production with this classic/modern tool.
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Jarrett is a hardcore Lover-Jazz Lover-Rock Lover-Blues Lover-just a music lover. He has the hair to match — Jarrett and provides in-depth insight into all things guitar and music engineering.