Niner

Free Kick Drum Synth (with 909 Clap Engine)

Niner is a fully free, open-source kick drum synthesizer built for producers who want total control over their low-end — not just presets.

👉 No hidden processing
👉 No black-box magic
👉 Everything is audible, tweakable, and understandable

🔥 Core Idea

Most kick plugins:

• sound good
• but hide what’s happening

👉 Niner does the opposite

You hear:

• the sub
• the transient
• the distortion
• the bus processing

All separated and controllable

🥁 Sound Engine (3-Layer Kick Design)

SUB Layer

• Pure sine wave
• Pitch envelope shaping
• Foundation of the low-end

MID Layer

• Sine + noise blend
• Adds punch and body

TOP Layer

• Band-passed click
• Defines attack and presence

👉 Result:
From clean 808s → punchy techno kicks → aggressive distorted hits

👏 Bonus: 909-Style CLAP

• Parallel clap voice
• Noise-based with bandpass filtering
• Tunable frequency + tail

👉 Can create:

• classic 909 claps
• hybrid kick+clap layers
• snare-style hits

🎛 Distortion & Saturation System

5 Distortion Modes

• Clip
• Diode
• Tape
• Transformer drive
• Tube warmth (auto)

Per-Voice Clipping

• Tanh
• Diode
• Cubic

👉 Shape harmonics before the envelope

Master Saturation Chain

👉 Shapes the final character of the sound

🎚 Master Processing Chain

Full analog-style signal flow:

👉 RMS Compressor
→ Transformer Drive
→ Brickwall Limiter
→ Tube Warmth

Master EQ

• Tilt
• Low shelf
• Notch filter

👉 Fast tonal shaping without external plugins

⏱ Built-In Sequencer

• 16-step sequencer
• Host sync (DAW)
• Internal transport (standalone)
• Click / drag editing

👉 Perfect for:

• sketching beats
• testing kicks in context

📀 One-Shot Bounce (SUPER POWERFUL)

Export your sound instantly:

• WAV / AIFF
• 16-bit / 44.1kHz
• Fully processed
• Bit-perfect reproducibility

👉 Design → Export → Use anywhere

⚙️ Key Features

✔ Fully Open Source (GPL-3.0)

• Free forever
• No limitations

✔ Transparent Sound Design

• You hear exactly what’s happening

✔ Monophonic by Design

• Focused, clean kick generation

✔ Preset System

• Factory + user presets
• JSON format (future-proof)

✔ Cross-Platform

• macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon)
• Windows
• Linux

⚠️ Important Limitations

• ❌ No AU support → not compatible with Logic Pro
• ✔ Works in:
  • Ableton
  • FL Studio
  • Cubase
  • Reaper
  • Bitwig
  • Studio One

🎯 Perfect For

🔊 Electronic Music

• Techno
• House
• EDM
• Trap

🎛 Sound Designers

• Custom kicks
• Hybrid percussion
• Experimental drums

🚀 Producers Who Want Control

• No preset dependency
• Full understanding of sound

🧠 Why This Plugin Is Different

Most kick tools:
👉 “Here’s a knob, trust us”

Niner:
👉 “Here’s the sound. Shape it yourself.”

🔥 Final Take

👉 Niner is not just a plugin
👉 It’s a kick design laboratory

If you:

• want unique kicks
• hate overpriced plugins
• care about sound design

👉 This is a must-have

Sources :

hyperfocusdsp.com/: https://hyperfocusdsp.com/plugins/niner/
github.com: https://github.com/hyperfocusdsp/niner