Unfiltered Audio Battalion 1.2 is out now, featuring three new sample engines for the synthesis/sample drum machine powerhouse for macOS, Windows, and iOS.
Battalion by Unfitted Audio is one of the most powerful and experimental drum machines currently available in software. It’s also been available on iPadOS and iPhone since 2025.
The free update 1.2 is now available on all platforms, featuring new features and improvements.
Update 1.2
The new update 1.2 introduces two new sound engines. First, the new Phase Slice engine is a sample-slicing engine with control over the start/end points, pitch, slices, slicing probability, algorithm, and an “unused” parameter.
With this, you can create wild, unpredictable slicing fun right into Battalion. According to Unfiltered Audio, the engine was already available on iOS but was misnamed “Garbage-Fi.” Now it has the official name of Phase Slice.
If you had existing presets, turn the new WINDOW parameter all the way down to match the sound. If you had non-default start/end points, the preset sound may have changed.
Secondly, it introduces the Phase Stretch sample engine, for which there is still no precise information on the key points. The same applies to the third new engine, which is the real Garbage-Fi sample engine. Same here, no details.
Other new feature additions are:
- drum triggers from MIDI Inputs now use sequencer step values.
- add global option for mute behavior: Audio Mute (previous behavior: instantly mute/unmute track) or Trigger Mute (let drum finish ringing, prevent new triggers from triggering the drum).
- global option to reset sequencer lanes in TRIG or RETRIG mode when playback restarts or before renders.
- “Load Random Sample From Same Folder” to the sample menu.
- Clear All Sequencers” in the preset menu.
Plus, there are various bug fixes across the macOS, Windows, and iOS versions, as well as new presets from Useful Noise, mleuc, and Bank Tonsur. I’m very happy to see that Unfiltered Audio is further expanding Battalion’s capabilities.
The new update 1.2 is available now as a free update for existing Battalion users.
Unfiltered Audio Battalion is now on sale for $99/91,26€ instead of $199 at Plugin Boutique until April 30, 2026. The iOS version with AUv3 is out now for $29,99 on the Apple App Store.
Update from June 17, 2025
Great news for iPad musicians. Unfiltered Audio has just released its Battalion hybrid generative drum machine for iPadOS.
They initially published it as a VST3, AU, and AAX plugin for macOS and Windows. After one year of work, you can now explore the exciting drum machine/drum Synthesizer on iPadOS.
It’s available now for $29.99 on the Apple App Store and runs as a standalone and AUv3 plugin on iPads.
Article from April 17, 2024
Plugin Alliance is currently one of the largest plugin providers. The company that belongs to Native Instruments sells plugins from Brainworx, DS Audio, Elysia, or Unfiltered Audio. The latter is one of my favorites because it offers modern, experimental-colored synth and effect plugins.
The latest plugin, Battalion, takes you into fascinating, deep worlds of drum synthesis, samples, and rhythms.
Unfiltered Audio Battalion
Unfiltered Audio’s previous plugins offered playful and experimental ideas. I can say with certainty they are not the classic ones. Neither is the Battalion drum machine. It’s hybrid and offers samples and synthesis on eight tracks.
The drum synth part offers 24 algorithms, each with five tweakable parameters. Synthetic models for kicks, snares, hats, claps, cowbells, FM, additive, and more are included.
Below is the sampler, where you can load a sample from the factory or your custom libraries. The playback modes are exciting: classic, phase warp, cloner, or granular.
The latter sounds interesting in a drum machine plugin. It also ships with five parameters for each mode, allowing you to tweak the samples in detail. For example, the granular algorithm has pitch, size, rate, speed, and blur.
Just as exciting for me is the possibility of mixing the synthesis with the samples. You can use synthesis or samples or both, making it very capable—and that per track.
Then, you can route each track through a tone-shaping section, starting with a multimode filter of various types. From here, it goes into a distortion with multiple modes (bitcrush, wavefold…). Nice, you can tweak the filter routing to post for different shaping flavors.
Each voice has a dedicated modulation engine, each with two multi-wave LFOs, two envelopes, random, velocity, and two macro controls.
If that’s not enough of movement, each voice also has a big variation knob. It’s a unique random generator that modulates nearly every control on the voice page. Perfect for incorporating small inaccuracies or for making the entire track unpredictable.
Mixing, Sequencing & Performance
Mixing is also a topic in Battalion. A virtual mixer allows you to mix and fine-tune your sounds with extra goodies. Besides gain and pan control, you can route two and send FX (shatter delay, headspace reverb) to each voice.
Both effects are flexible and offer a solid feature set. The reverb is especially mighty with its 10 algorithms. On the same page, you can also create groups for your tracks and more. And for the entire mix, it also hosts a 3-band EQ with controls for the low, mid, and high frequency bands.
Further, there is a sequencer, which should not be missing in a drum machine. It’s also deep and playful. Special feature: it is not just a classic step sequencer. It’s a generative one. Something very trendy at the moment. You can generate patterns, using the three sections: generate, modify, and settings.
The results range from classic, complex up to glitch-like rhythms. Unfiltered Audio also has something built-in for the upcoming Richard Devine musicians.
Besides its generative engine, the sequencer boasts a modulation engine with various per-step modulators. Tweak the velocity, add ratcheting or probability per step, or create parameter automation using the macro control. With the built-in dice, you can turn your entire pattern upside down in seconds by randomizing all slots.
Last but not least, there is a performance page where you can set/mute tracks, mangle the sounds with filter and distortion on the fly, and more. Don’t forget that the GUI color is not fixed to blue/rose. Like the other UA plugins, Battalion ships with 22 different GUI color themes.
First Impression
Battalion is wild and very deep. I downloaded the 14-day demo version, and at first glance, I have slight flashbacks of iZotope BreakTweaker or Sugar Bytes DrumComputer. Unfiltered Audio’s drum machine goes to the same depth of customization.
It’s certainly not another 808 or 909 emulation. This is a modern, even experimental drum machine with a mighty feature set. I’m happy that it’s coming to iOS too. It is an excellent release. Check out the 14-day full version demo to explore it and see if it fits your sound and workflow.
And if you’re not interested in the current offer, just wait a bit. New Plugin Alliance plugins are discounted relatively quickly. I’m pretty sure we will discounts for Black Friday or Christmas 2024.
Unfiltered Audio Battalion is available now for an introductory price of $129 instead of $199. The introduction offer includes LION Synthesizer for free. Battalion runs as a VST, VST3, AU, and AAX plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows. An iOS version is coming in the near future.
The plugin is also part of the Plugin Alliance MEGA bundle subscription.
More information here: Plugin Alliance
Looks fantastic!
finally – yes (:))
thanks for the info!
FYI, I don’t think Battalion is available for Linux.
sorry, that should be iOS, fixed 🙂
Got it recently for iPad & Mac and really impressed with it.