frond grid
Drum map
RELAY
A drum machine drawn as a map: place drums, wire them, give them rules, and let the groove rewrite itself.
Each circle is a drum: hats on top, snares in the middle, kicks below, and up to four rows of your own sounds. When a drum fires, its hit travels along its lines and fires the next. Give drums rules (pick a random line, echo, skip, chance, step round, burst, accent), a chance to stay silent and a little lateness, wire distant drums together, and let Drift, Chaos and the Touch LFO keep the groove changing. Keep it locked to your DAW's tempo and bar, or take it off the grid with Loose, Scatter and Jump. 48 built-in instruments — short glitch clicks, acoustic and electronic — plus four of your own, 144 presets, and eleven playable effects.
On saleDemo video coming soon.
What it does
The parts that make RELAY different, in plain words.
You can see what it plays
Lines are the links, tick marks count the 16ths a hit takes, a ring is a drum's charge, a flash is a drum firing. A lone drum plays a crushed ghost note; more links make longer, richer hits.
Program the groove
Eight rules, up to three per drum, that work together: PASS to every line, and seven with a number — PICK, ECHO, SKIP, CHANCE, STEP, BURST, ACCENT. Each drum also has MISS (the chance it stays silent) and LATE. Wire any two drums together; Mutate rewrites a few rules while it plays.
In time with your DAW, or off the grid
Follow DAW (on by default) takes the DAW's tempo, starts and stops with it and keeps the bar. Loose, Scatter and Jump take the hits off the 16th grid: free step lengths, random waits, leaps to any drum.
Your own rows and sounds
Load four WAV, AIFF or FLAC sounds and add up to four rows of your own under the kicks. Sounds are saved inside the project.
48 instruments, 16 kits
Acoustic kick, snare, brush, ride and hand percussion; short glitch clicks, blips and lasers; electronic 808s. Kit presets, Random Kit and Sprinkle.
Motion that keeps going
Six drift styles (wander, swirl, flow, gather, breathe, waves), a Touch LFO hand with eleven paths, two LFOs, Swing and Chaos.
Effects to play
Hold Stutter, Tape Stop, Reverse or Half Speed; sweep the one-knob Filter; add Delay, Reverb, Drive, Phaser, Gate and Crush — in tempo and automatable.
144 presets, 4 snapshots
32 maps, 24 styles from Boom Bap to Gamelan and 4 off-the-grid styles, four maps each. Keep four maps of your own and Dice a new one.
How it works
- You bring
Drums on a map
- It does
Hits travel the links — on the grid with your DAW, or free
- You get
Rules, wires, drift and effects keep the groove changing
Screens
Click a screen to see it full size.
Details
- Price
- Launch price $35 (until November 12, 2026 (JST), then $39)
- Release date
- October 24, 2026
- Systems
- macOS 12+ (Apple silicon, Intel) · Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit): VST3 and standalone app (needs Microsoft Edge WebView2)
One purchase covers both Mac and Windows. - Formats
- Audio Unit · VST3 · standalone app
- Status
- On sale
Questions
Is it a sample player?
No. Every built-in sound is synthesised in Relay; you can add four sounds of your own (WAV, AIFF, FLAC).
Which formats and systems?
Mac: VST3, Audio Unit and a standalone app, macOS 12 or later (Apple silicon or Intel). Windows: VST3 and a standalone app, Windows 10 / 11 64-bit.
Does it follow my DAW's tempo?
Yes. FOLLOW DAW (on by default) takes the DAW's tempo, plays while the DAW plays and keeps Relay's bar on the DAW's bar, also after a jump or loop.
Does it send MIDI?
Not in this version. It plays its own drums; MIDI notes fire drums (low notes kicks, then snares, hats and your own rows).
Why does the window take a while on the first start on Windows?
On the first start on Windows the window can take a little while while Windows prepares WebView2.
CUT
MOSAIC
SPRIG
WEFT
BUBBLE STUDIO
ODD PARTS
SIX MATERIALS
FIELD
COLONY