Beat Scholar

After watching Beat Scholar's refreshing take on step sequencing on youtube, I picked this up on a holiday sale for $49. There are some other pros/cons that differentiate it from other beat makers to qualify my 3-star rating. For context; I can find my way around most step sequencers in DAWs and VSTs, and sharpened my teeth on Scream Tracker in the mid-90s.

+ intuitive beat/pattern visualization.

+ flexible randomization tools.

+ each bar can have it's own measure.

+ lots of keyboard shortcuts.

+ factory preset patterns are useful for learning what's possible (but not much else).

+ developer seems responsive to community feedback.

- UI feels a bit clunky: Needs tooltips, larger clickable areas on buttons, and better control affordances on hover, press, etc.

- Aside from note and velocity, I don't think any other parameters can be modulated/automated (humanizing, sample pitch, panning, reverse, etc.).

- Most factory preset kits/samples are not inspiring (YMMV) and the sampler is.. minimalistic. For that reason you'll almost certainly be routing the pads to another VST via MIDI.

- Remapping MIDI keys for each drum pad is difficult (improvements to this are planned).

- Regular price is high for it's current capabilities (buy on sale).

Overall: I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to sketch out intricate beats, but many will still reach for their favourite step-sequencer/DAW to polish and fine-tune the exported MIDI.