UN/T-01 — Documentation
Overview
UN/T-01 is a free drum machine with two engines. It has six tracks: BD, SD, HH, PERC, TOM and CY. Each track either plays a synthesized 808 voice or works as a sample player, and you can switch every track separately. The 808 voices are synthesized the way the original circuits work.
A 16-step sequencer (32 steps over two pages) is built in.
UNIT-01 is the plain name you'll see in your DAW's plugin list and in file names. The logo says UN/T-01.
Installing
| Platform | What gets installed |
|---|---|
| Windows | Run the installer. It puts the VST3 in C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3, the CLAP in C:\Program Files\Common Files\CLAP and the standalone app in C:\Program Files\All The Machines\UNIT-01 with a Start menu shortcut. 64-bit only. The interface uses the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which comes with Windows 11 and current Windows 10. |
| Mac | Open the PKG. It puts the VST3, AU and CLAP in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins, and UNIT-01.app in /Applications. macOS 12 or later, Apple silicon and Intel. |
| Factory samples | The installer copies the factory samples into your user folder: %APPDATA%\UNIT-01\Samples on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/UNIT-01/Samples on Mac. Every format reads from that one folder. An update replaces the factory files there and leaves any files of your own alone. |
Your own presets are saved next to the samples, in the Presets folder of the same UNIT-01 folder.
The screen
The window opens at 900 x 670 and can be resized from the grip in the bottom right corner. It keeps its proportions.
From top to bottom:
| Area | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Top bar | Preset name with < and >, the settings gear, the ? button (opens this page), the Randomize menu and UNDO. |
| Sound | The controls of the selected track: SAMPLE / SYNTH switch, sample or voice selector, the control bars and a waveform display. |
| Transport | PLAY and the tempo. |
| Voices | The six tracks, each with a select button, TRIG, and M, S and C buttons. |
| Steps | The 16 step keys of the selected track, the edit mode, the edit tools and the randomize row. |
| Groove / Pattern | Swing, step speed, Euclid and the pattern length. |
| Master FX | Distortion and reverb settings, filter, compressor, master volume and limiter. |
Voices
Each of the six voice cells has:
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Name / icon | Selects the track. The Sound section and the step keys then show that track. Selecting does not play the sound. |
| TRIG | Selects the track and plays its sound once, so you can hear what you're changing. It plays even when the track is muted, so you can audition a muted sound. |
| M | Mute. A muted track's steps don't play, and a sound that's still ringing fades out. |
| S | Solo. When any track is soloed, only the soloed tracks play. Solo overrides mute. |
| C | Choke. All tracks with C on form one choke group: a hit on any of them cuts the ringing sound of all the others in the group (with a 5 ms fade). Turn C on for HH and CY, for example, and the hi-hat cuts the cymbal and the other way round. Tracks with C off are never cut. |
You can also drop an audio file onto a voice cell to load it on that track (see Samples).
The two engines
Every track has its own SAMPLE / SYNTH switch at the top of the Sound section, so you can run a synth kick next to a sampled snare. The heading next to it shows the mode and the track, for example SYNTH BD or SAMPLE SD. A track plays either its synth voice or its sample, never both at once.
A new instance starts with all six tracks on SYNTH.
SYNTH
The six tracks play these 808 voices:
| Track | Voice |
|---|---|
| BD | Bass drum. |
| SD | Snare drum. |
| HH | Hi-hat. It's one hi-hat: DECAY takes it from closed (short) to open (long), about 0.05 s to 1.3 s. |
| PERC | One of five voices, picked with the < > selector: CP (hand clap), RS (rimshot), CL (claves), CB (cowbell), MA (maracas). |
| TOM | One of six voices, picked with the < > selector: LT, MT, HT (low, mid and high tom) and LC, MC, HC (low, mid and high conga). |
| CY | Cymbal. |
On PERC and TOM, every voice keeps its own TUNE, DECAY and LEVEL. Switch from the clap to the cowbell and back, and the clap's settings are still there. Only one voice per track plays at a time. A voice change is heard from the next hit.
SAMPLE
The track plays a sample: a factory sound or a file of your own. See Samples below for how to pick and load them.
Sound controls
The bars in the Sound section always belong to the selected track. Drag a bar up or down to change it. Double-click a bar to set it back to its default.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| TUNE | Pitch in semitones, 0 in the middle. In SAMPLE mode the range is -24 to +24 on every track. In SYNTH mode each voice has its own range, set to where the voice still sounds useful: BD -8 to +24, HH and CY -24 to +12, LT -12 to +24, MT -19 to +24, all other voices -24 to +24. The maracas have no TUNE. Every voice keeps its loudness when you tune it up or down. |
| STRETCH | SAMPLE mode only, and only active when STRETCH mode is on (see below). Changes the length of the sample without changing its pitch: 25, 33, 50, 67, 75, 100, 125, 150, 200, 300 or 400% of the original length. Default 100%. |
| DECAY | 0 to 100%. In SYNTH mode it sets how long the voice rings. Each voice starts at the value that matches the original machine, and the range goes well past it: the snare, for example, can ring about five times longer than the original. In SAMPLE mode, 100% plays the whole sample. Lower values fade it out sooner. DECAY in SAMPLE mode can only shorten a sample, never make it longer. |
| LEVEL | Track volume, from silent (-60 dB) to +6 dB. Default 0 dB. |
| TONE | SYNTH mode, on BD, SD, HH and CY. BD: brighter or rounder. SD: the balance between the drum body and the bright upper tone. HH and CY: darker or brighter. Default 50%. |
| SNAPPY | SYNTH mode, SD only. The amount and length of the snare wires (the noise part of the snare). Default 50%. |
| DIST | How much of this track goes to the shared distortion, 0 to 100%. Default 0. |
| REVERB | How much of this track goes to the shared reverb, 0 to 100%. Default 0. |
VARI and STRETCH (SAMPLE mode)
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| VARI | The default. TUNE changes the playback speed, like a classic sampler or tape: higher is shorter, lower is longer. |
| STRETCH | TUNE changes the pitch while the length stays the same, and the STRETCH bar changes the length while the pitch stays the same. The stretched version is calculated in the background, so after a change it can take a moment before you hear the new setting. |
Waveform display
Shows the selected track's sound: the loaded sample, or in SYNTH mode a picture of the voice with its current settings. A line runs through it while the sound plays.
RANDOM and MUTATE (Sound section)
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| RANDOM | Randomizes the selected track's sound: TUNE, DECAY, TONE and SNAPPY, the PERC/TOM voice, VARI/STRETCH and the stretch length. Random TUNE stays within ±12 semitones. |
| MUTATE | Nudges the selected track's sound controls a little instead of replacing them. |
LEVEL and the DIST and REVERB sends are never randomized. UNDO in the top bar takes back the last randomize or mutate.
Samples
Factory sounds
UNIT-01 comes with four sample sets, called Slam, Cushion, Grime and Session, with seven sounds each, plus 808 samples of every voice. In SAMPLE mode, the < name > selector steps through the factory sounds for the selected track. The change is silent and you hear it on the next hit. The list wraps around.
| Track | Factory sounds |
|---|---|
| BD | Slam, Cushion, Grime and Session Kick, 808 BD |
| SD | Slam, Cushion, Grime and Session Snare, 808 SD |
| HH | Slam, Cushion, Grime and Session Closed Hat, 808 HH |
| PERC | Slam, Cushion, Grime and Session Clap, Slam, Cushion, Grime and Session Rim, 808 CP, RS, CL, CB, MA |
| TOM | Slam Wood Block, Cushion Conga, Grime Metal Hit, Session Tambourine, 808 LT, MT, HT, LC, MC, HC |
| CY | Slam, Cushion, Grime and Session Open Hat, 808 CY |
Loading your own samples
UNIT-01 loads WAV, AIFF and FLAC files, mono or stereo, at any sample rate. Samples longer than 30 seconds are cut to the first 30 seconds. A file that can't be read, or is completely silent, is not loaded and a short message tells you why.
There are three ways to load a sample on a track in SAMPLE mode:
| Way | Description |
|---|---|
| LOAD | The button next to the sample name opens the sample browser. |
| Click the name | Clicking the sample name also opens the browser, at the folder of the current sound. |
| Drag and drop | Drop one audio file onto a voice cell to load it on that track. Drop a folder to load it as a kit (see LOAD KIT). |
After you've loaded a file of your own, < > steps through the other audio files in that file's folder, in name order. RESET (shown only while a file of your own is loaded) takes the track back to its factory sample.
The sample browser
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| FACTORY | Always at the top: the built-in sounds for the selected track. |
| Favourites | Folders you've starred. |
| Folders / Files | The contents of the current folder. .. UP goes one folder up. From the top of a drive you get the list of drives. |
| FAV | Stars the current folder, so it shows under Favourites. |
| ADD FOLDER | Opens your system's folder picker to go to any folder. |
| Click a file | Selects it and plays it through the track, together with the running pattern, so you hear it in context. Nothing is changed yet. A loading indicator shows while the file is read. |
| LOAD | Loads the selected file on the track. |
| LOAD KIT | Loads the files of the current folder as a kit. UNIT-01 matches file names to tracks: kick or bd goes to BD; snare or sd to SD; hat or hh to HH; perc, clap or rim to PERC; tom to TOM; crash, cymbal or cy to CY. The first matching file per track wins. A preview shows the mapping before you CONFIRM or CANCEL. |
| CLOSE | Closes the browser without changes. Clicking outside it does the same. |
Favourites and the last folder are remembered.
Samples of your own are saved inside your presets and your DAW project, so a project still sounds the same on another computer or after you've moved the file. Long samples make presets and projects bigger.
Sequencer
Step keys
The 16 keys show the steps of the selected track. Steps past the track's length are dimmed but you can still edit them. When the selected track is muted, or another track is soloed, its steps are dimmed too.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| STEP | Edit mode: click a key to turn a step on or off. |
| VEL | Edit mode: press or drag up and down on a key to set the step's velocity, 0 to 100%. Default 100%. Pressing a step that's off turns it on at that velocity. 50% is a much softer hit, not half as loud. |
| DEC | Edit mode: the same for the step's decay, 0 to 100%. It scales the track's DECAY for that one hit, so 50% rings half as long as the track's setting. Default 100%. |
| VEL / DEC readout | Shows the value of the selected step in VEL and DEC mode. |
| Select buttons | The small buttons under the keys select a step for the readout. |
| 1–16 / 17–32 | Page buttons. The second page is active when the selected track is longer than 16 steps. |
Edit tools
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| CLEAR | Turns off all steps of the selected track and sets their velocity and decay back to 100%. Length and Euclid stay as they are. |
| CLEAR ALL | The same for all six tracks. Press it twice: the first press asks SURE?. |
| COPY | Copies the selected track's steps, velocities, decays and length. Only the steps: no sound settings. |
| PASTE | Pastes them onto the selected track. Dimmed until you've copied something. The copy isn't kept when you close UNIT-01. |
| TRACK STEPS | The length of the selected track, 1 to 32 steps, with − and +. Double-click the number to set it back to 16. |
Track lengths (polymeter)
Every track has its own length from 1 to 32 steps. Give tracks different lengths and they drift against each other, then line up again: a 16-step kick against a 12-step hi-hat, for example. Changing a length while the pattern plays continues smoothly without a jump.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| PATTERN STEPS | Sets all six tracks to the same length at once, with − and +. |
With LENGTH + COPIES STEPS on in Settings, making a track longer fills the new steps with a repeat of the existing loop. This only happens while the new steps are still empty, and not on a track with Euclid on.
Groove
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| SWING | 50 to 75%, in 1% steps, for the whole pattern. 50% is straight. Swing delays every second step, by up to half a step at 75%. Swing follows the step speed. |
| SPEED | The step length for the whole pattern: 1/8, 1/8T, 1/16, 1/16T or 1/32. Default 1/16. A change while playing comes in on the next step. |
Euclid
Euclid spreads a number of hits as evenly as possible over a cycle. Each track has its own Euclid settings.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| EUCLID | Turns Euclid on or off for the selected track. Turning it on writes the Euclid pattern into the track's steps. Turning it off leaves the steps as they are, so you can keep editing them by hand. |
| HITS | How many hits, 0 to 32. Default 4. |
| LENGTH | The length of the Euclid cycle, 1 to 32 steps. Default 16. This is the cycle length only. The track's own length is set with TRACK STEPS. |
| ROTATE | Shifts the pattern by 0 to 31 steps. Default 0. |
While Euclid is on, every change of HITS, LENGTH or ROTATE rewrites the track's steps. Velocities and decays per step stay as they are.
Randomize row
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| RANDOM | Randomizes the selected track's sequence: steps, velocities, decays, length and Euclid. The pattern follows simple drum rules: kicks favour the downbeats, snares the backbeat, hi-hats are busier and cymbals sparse. |
| MUTATE | Changes the selected track's sequence a little: one or two steps moved or flipped, velocities and decays nudged. |
| RANDOM STEPS / VEL / DEC | Randomizes only the steps, only the velocities or only the decays of the selected track. The button follows the edit mode. |
Randomize menu and UNDO
The Randomize menu in the top bar works on all tracks at once.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| ALL | Randomizes the sequence and the sounds of every track. |
| ALL MUTATE | Changes the sequence and the sounds of every track a little. |
| SEQUENCER ALL | Randomizes the sequence of every track: steps, velocities, decays, lengths and Euclid. |
| SOUNDS ALL | Randomizes the sounds of every track. |
| UNDO | Takes back the last randomize or mutate. One step only, and only for randomize and mutate. Edits you made since then stay. |
Randomize never touches tempo, swing, step speed, LEVEL, mute, solo, choke, the DIST and REVERB sends, the Master FX or multi out. It only switches tracks between SAMPLE and SYNTH, and only picks other factory samples, when you turn that on in Settings. It never replaces a sample of your own.
Transport
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| PLAY | Standalone only: starts and stops the pattern. Every start begins at step 1. |
| Tempo | Standalone only: 30 to 300 BPM, with − and + in steps of 1 BPM. Default 120. |
| SYNCED TO HOST | Shown in a DAW. PLAY and the tempo are then controlled by your DAW. |
Master FX
The strip at the bottom of the window. DIST and REVERB are shared effects: each track sends to them with its own DIST and REVERB amount. A track with both sends at 0 stays completely dry.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| DIST DRIVE | How hard the distortion is driven, 0 to 100%. Default 50%. The level is kept steady, so DRIVE changes the character more than the volume. The kick's low end is driven less, so it keeps its boom. |
| DIST TONE | A lowpass on the distortion, from dark (1.5 kHz) to fully open (16 kHz). Default 50%. |
| REVERB SIZE | The length of the reverb, from about 0.3 s to 4 s. Default 35%, about 0.75 s, a mid-sized room. Low frequencies below 200 Hz don't go into the reverb, so the kick stays dry. |
| REVERB TONE | Below the middle the reverb gets darker, above it brighter. Default 50%. |
| FILTER | A lowpass on the whole mix, 24 dB per octave. 100% is fully open and does nothing. Turning it down closes it to about 80 Hz. Default 100%. |
| COMP | A compressor on the whole mix, one amount from 0 to 100%. 0 is off. Low settings glue the kit together, high settings squash it and make it pump with the kick. The meter shows how much it's compressing. Default 0. |
| MASTER | Master volume, from silent (-60 dB) to +6 dB. Default 0 dB. |
| LIMIT | A brickwall limiter that is always on, so the output never goes over -1 dB true peak. It has no settings. The meter shows when it's working. It adds about 2 ms of latency, which your DAW compensates. |
The order on the main output is: the six tracks plus the DIST and REVERB returns, then FILTER, COMP, MASTER and LIMIT.
Presets
Click the preset name in the top bar to open the preset list. < and > step through all presets, factory first, then yours.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Factory | 48 presets. Init is the plain 808 kit with a basic beat. The other 47 are genre kits, from electro and Miami bass to boom bap, trap, house, techno, UK garage, amapiano and drum and bass. Each has its own tempo. Factory presets can't be changed or deleted. |
| User | Your own presets. The ✕ next to one deletes it. |
| SAVE | Saves the current state as a preset under a name you type. Saving under an existing name of your own replaces it. |
* | A star after the preset name means you've changed something since loading or saving. |
To rename a preset, save it under the new name and delete the old one.
A preset holds the whole kit and pattern: all steps with velocities and decays, track lengths, Euclid, tempo, swing, step speed, every sound setting, SAMPLE / SYNTH, the PERC and TOM voices, the samples (factory sounds by name, your own files included), mute, solo, choke, the sends and the Master FX except MASTER volume, multi out, and the two RANDOM settings. MASTER volume stays where you set it when you switch presets.
Saving in a DAW
Your DAW project saves everything, including MASTER volume and the samples you've loaded, and brings it back when you reopen the project. Most controls can be automated from your DAW. The steps, EUCLID on/off and the Settings switches other than MULTI OUT can't.
Sync
| Situation | Description |
|---|---|
| In a DAW | UNIT-01 follows your DAW: play, stop, tempo, song position and loops. Every step lands on the exact sample, at any tempo and buffer size. You don't need to send it MIDI. |
| Standalone | Runs on its own clock with PLAY and the tempo control. |
| Standalone, CLOCK | With SYNC set to CLOCK in Settings, the standalone follows MIDI clock from the MIDI input you enable in its audio/MIDI settings: start, stop, continue, song position and tempo. PLAY and the tempo are then controlled by the clock source. UNIT-01 stays silent until it gets a MIDI start, and keeps the last tempo if the clock stops. |
Multi out
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| MULTI OUT | In Settings. When it's ON, each track can go to its own stereo output, named BD, SD, HH, PERC, TOM and CY, in VST3, CLAP and AU. A track moves to its own output only when MULTI OUT is ON and you've enabled that output in your DAW. All other tracks stay on the main output. Default OFF. |
A track on its own output carries its dry sound with its LEVEL, DECAY, mute and solo. Its DIST and REVERB sends still go to the effects on the main output. FILTER, COMP, MASTER and LIMIT only work on the main output.
Settings
Open Settings with the gear in the top bar. Click outside the panel, or ✕, to close it.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Version | The top line shows the version and build date. |
| LICENCES | Shows the licences of the third-party code and fonts UNIT-01 uses. |
| MULTI OUT | Per-track outputs, see Multi out. Default OFF. |
| RANDOM SAMPLE/SYNTH | When ON, randomize may switch tracks between SAMPLE and SYNTH. Default OFF. |
| RANDOM SAMPLES | When ON, randomize may pick other factory sounds from the track's list. Samples of your own are never replaced. Default OFF. |
| LENGTH + COPIES STEPS | When ON, making a track longer fills the new steps with a repeat of its loop. Default OFF. |
| SYNC | Standalone only: OFF (own clock) or CLOCK (MIDI clock in). |
Tips
- Double-click a bar in the Sound section to set it back to its default. For DECAY that's the value that matches the original machine.
- Use TRIG to hear a track while you shape its sound, even when the pattern is stopped.
- In the four factory sample sets, CY holds an open hi-hat. Turn C on for HH and CY, and the closed hat cuts the open one, like on a real kit.
- For a broken, shifting groove, give one or two tracks an odd length like 5, 7 or 12 steps.
Suggestions and feature requests
Ideas, feature requests and bug reports are welcome. Send them through the support page, where UN/T-01 is already selected.