Cherry Audio KR-55C is an authentic emulation of the Korg KR-55A & KR-55B drum machines (1979/1982) with unlocked programming and sequencing fun.
In the continuing massive interest in the legendary Roland drum machines (808, 909…), it is often forgotten that there were many other great-sounding analog drum machines. One or even two were the Korg KR-55A from 1979 and KR-55B from 1982. These were pure preset drum machines based on analog technology.
Cherry Audio has now revived the relatively little discussed classics in their new plugin KR-55C. This much can be said: they did not leave them at fixed preset machines.
Cherry Audio KR-55C Review
Many famous artists have used the KR-55 (A+B), including Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Jean-Michel Jarre, and most famously, in Joe Jackson’s 1982 hit “Steppin’ Out.”
Knowing that both vintage machines used the same analog circuits is essential. However, the only difference was the built-in patterns and look. The KR-55B, released in 1982, had twice as much pattern content and a darker housing. Otherwise, they were identical. That’s why the Cherry Audio KR-55C plugin melts both drum machines into a single instrument.
The KR-55C has an easy-to-use user interface reminiscent of the original, one in cream and one in a darker blue finish. It consists of three switchable areas that can be expanded and collapsed within the main interface: instrument, mixing, and FX.
The instrument section contains all 12 original drum sounds: bass drum, snare, cymbal, hi-hat, low tom, high tom, low conga, high conga, rim shot, cowbell, and claves. The distinction between open and closed hi-hat is not visible in the interface as they use the same parameters.
Cherry Audio recreated them using analog modeling technology and says no samples were used. A big highlight and improvement over the vintage versions is the ability to shape each drum element independently with five tweakable parameters: EQ freq, EQ amount, tone, tune, and decay.
The original Korg KR-55’s sound spectrum was very limited by its preset limitation. Cherry Audio breaks through this with the KR-55C plugin, making the original sounds much more versatile and adaptable to your tracks. In practice, the range of possible sounds is not massive but much more extensive and interesting than the original tones.
Routing and Effects
The KR-55C also opens the door to flexible routing. With the press of a button, you can pull out a straightforward mixer where you can perfectly set the proportion of each drum sound in the pattern. Per channel, you get controls for L/R pan and volume, as well as buttons for soloing and muting individual sounds on the fly.
Take a look above, and you will get an effect routing matrix. You can easily route effects to the individual sounds using color-coded buttons. However, I miss the option to individually set effects proportions for each drum sound. This way, you have the same effect on every sound. It would be more interesting to have an option to set them more precisely per channel.
Press the FX button at the top of the interface, and the effects section unfolds with its four creative effect blocks. Each hosts multiple algorithms, including overdrive (tube/fuzz), flanger/chorus, echo/delay (digital, tape, ping-pong), and reverb (room, plate, galactic).
Each FX is fully editable and has various controls. For example, the echo processor offers controls for feedback, dampening, level, and time with the sync option. The algorithms are well-known from the other Cherry Audio plugins and sound solid. They are not on a high-end level but have a quality and flexible sound. The Galactic Reverb, in particular, sounds very pleasant
Additionally, you get a fully customizable bus compressor and bus limiter. The latter is beneficial in many cases because the plugin’s levels are often a bit too high for my taste, even with less global volume.
Retro & Modern Sequencing
Cherry Audio KR-55C is not only a drum Synthesizer but also a drum machine. In addition to reproducing the character and revealing the drum synthesis parameters, the plugin also offers a sequencer engine. It follows a bi-sequencing concept: retro and modern.
The retro, aka preset area, offers the user all 240 preset drum patterns of the original Korg KR-55A and KR-55B, including all factory, intro patterns, and fills. These can be fired with retro-like buttons like in the old days. Three color-coded level buttons (A/B/C) let you groove through all the banks.
Using the dedicated model switch, you can move between the two hardware pattern banks where the interface changes simultaneously. It is also possible to start each pattern with an intro pattern and then add fill-ins on the fly.
Press the user button to open the sequencer engine if that’s too much retro romance. Unlike the original hardware, the Cherry Audio KR-55C plugin features a fully programmable XOX sequencer (12 or 16 steps) with up to 32 steps and a song mode. The latter can hold up to 99 patterns and 99 steps per song.
Sounds can be selected with the large switch on the right side and easily programmed in XOX manner or in real-time with the instrument trigger button. Further, you can add swing and set the tempo of the pattern. A tempo sync option to your DAW is also possible.
It’s a shame that every track has to have the same number of steps. This means that no polyrhythmic sequencing options are possible. Good, you can also export the MIDI patterns via drag-and-drop in your DAW.
Cherry Audio KR-55C Sound Demo
On the sound content side, Cherry Audio ships the plugin with 200 additional rhythms and sound presets. I had a lot of fun with them; they showed that you can easily achieve retro vibes and modern grooves with the KR-55CC plugin. Here is a sound demo that showcases this.
Cherry Audio KR-55C Review: Conclusion
The new Cherry Audio KR-55C plugin is a high-quality emulation of these vintage drum machines from 1979 and 1982. I have to admit that this emulation was a surprise. You always expect software replicas of Roland, Linndrum, or Oberheim drum machines. A few people had an emulation of the Korg KR-55A/B on their radar. I’m glad that Cherry Audio has tackled it.
The plugin is fun and sounds very authentic. However, I can’t say whether it’s exact because I don’t have the original hardware. I only have samples of it, and they sound the same, but only here, with the difference and big advantage that each sound is a fully tweakable drum synth instrument.
However, there is some criticism. On one side, the levels are pretty high in places, so thanks, there is a limiter. Then, I miss an option to route effects more precisely to the channels instead of one setting to all drums. Plus, a sequencer with a polyrhythm option would be great to see in an update.
Nevertheless, the KR-55C is a great-sounding drum machine plugin for macOS and Windows. You can’t surpass this emulation if you want the Korg KR-55A/B in your DAW.
Cherry Audio KR-55C is available now for $49. It runs as a standalone and VST, VST3, AU, and AAX plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows.
More information here: Cherry Audio
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