Drum Unmixer manual

01Install

1. Download the Windows zip from the link in your receipt email, or sign in to My downloads on superweaponaudio.com with the email you bought with.
2. Right-click the zip and choose Extract All.
3. Copy Drum Unmixer.vst3 into C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3, the standard folder most DAWs scan. Windows may ask for permission to copy into Program Files; press Continue.
4. Open your DAW and rescan plugins if it doesn't find Drum Unmixer straight away. It appears under Superweapon Audio.

There's no installer to run. To update later, replace the old file with the new one. To uninstall, delete it.

02Your copy and updates

There's nothing to activate. No codes, no sign-in and no internet needed: Drum Unmixer works as soon as it's in your VST3 folder, including on studio machines that never go online.

Your copy is yours to use on the computers you work on. We're a very small creator and trust you not to share it. It's what keeps new tools coming.

Updates

Every update is free. Sign in to My downloads on superweaponaudio.com with the email you bought with, or use the link in your receipt, to get the latest version. Download it and replace the old Drum Unmixer.vst3 with the new one. Your projects and settings carry over.

Moving to a new computer

Copy the plugin into the VST3 folder on the new computer, or download it again from My downloads.

03Quick start

1. Load Drum Unmixer on a MIDI or instrument track. It's an instrument plugin, so in Ableton put it on a MIDI track.
2. Drop a drum loop onto the plugin, or press Load loop to browse. WAV, AIFF, FLAC and OGG work, up to 60 seconds.
3. Leave it on 3 lanes and Natural, then press Re-unmix. A typical break splits in about a second.
4. Press Play or Space to listen. Solo and mute lanes, adjust their levels.
5. Drag a lane, the MIDI or the kit into your session.

04The window

The window is resizable. Each lane has its own colour, with its waveform, hit marks and controls in one row.

Drum Unmixer has a light and a dark theme. Switch between them with the Light / Dark button in the top-right corner of the window.

Top bar

Load loop

Browse for a loop. You can also drag a file straight onto the plugin.

File line

The loop's name, its tempo and its length in bars.

Lanes menu

How many drum lanes to split into, from 2 to 6. See Lanes.

Re-unmix

Splits the loop again with the current lane count and separation style.

Separation

Natural is smoother and keeps a little room in each lane. Tight gives harder edges and less bleed.

Gate all

Turns on the gate for every lane at once.

Hints

Switches on short explanations that appear when you hover over any control.

Reset

Puts the lane controls back to their defaults.

Export folder

Chooses where exported and dragged files are saved.

Bottom bar

Play

Previews the lanes with your DAW stopped. Space does the same.

Original

Switches to the untouched loop so you can compare.

Follow host

Locks playback to your DAW's transport and tempo.

Drag all · Drag MIDI · Drag kit

Drag every lane, the whole MIDI pattern, or every one-shot into your DAW. See Dragging and exporting.

05Lanes

Lanes aren't fixed slots. You choose how many drums to split the loop into, and Drum Unmixer names each lane after what it hears. Every setting also gets a Remainder lane.

On a simple break with only three real drums, extra lanes tend to split one drum in two, such as the kick's click and its body. That's why 3 is the default.

Lane names and MIDI notes

Every lane is named from its own sound and hits, so a loop with a cowbell gets a Cowbell lane. Guessed wrong? Click the lane's name and pick another from the menu (Drums, Cymbals, Hand percussion, Tuned), or choose Automatic to go back to Drum Unmixer's guess.

If two lanes come out as the same drum, they're numbered (Kick 1, Kick 2) and get the next free note. Notes follow the General MIDI drum map, so patterns play straight into a Drum Rack or any GM kit.

Nothing is lost

The lanes always add back up to the original loop exactly. Anything that isn't in a drum lane is in the Remainder. Drum Unmixer works in stereo and keeps the loop's sample rate.

06Lane controls and the gate

S Solo

Hear this lane on its own. Solo more than one to hear them together.

M Mute

Take this lane out of the mix.

Level

This lane's volume.

Gate

Tick to switch it on. It closes the lane between its own hits to remove faint bleed from other drums, and the depth slider sets how much it cuts, in dB.

Lane name

Click it to rename the lane from a menu, or choose Automatic to go back to Drum Unmixer's guess.

Hit marks

The triangles above each waveform show every hit Drum Unmixer found, placed to the sample.

Solo, mute, level and gate are all automatable in your DAW.

Using the gate

Gates are off by default so every lane keeps its natural tails. If you hear a little hi-hat in the snare lane, or snare in the kick, raise that lane's gate until it's gone. What the gate removes moves to the Remainder lane, so the loop still adds back up exactly. Gate all turns the gate on for every lane together.

07Playing in your DAW

• With Follow host on, bar 1 of the loop plays on bar 1 of your song and follows your project tempo.
• Drum Unmixer detects the loop's tempo and recognises loops that are a whole number of bars, lining the grid up with bar 1.
• To get half-time or double-time right, it also reads a BPM from the file name (for example Amen_174.wav) or your project tempo.
• Your settings and the loaded loop are saved with your project and come back when you reopen it.

08Separate outputs

As well as its main stereo output, Drum Unmixer has 8 extra stereo outputs, one per lane. Route them to their own mixer channels in your DAW to give each drum its own effects and sends.

Every lane also plays through the main output, so when you route lanes to their own channels, mute or turn down the main channel to avoid hearing them twice. How you enable a plugin's extra outputs depends on your DAW; look for multi-output or additional outputs in its plugin or routing settings.

09Dragging and exporting

Loop on a lane

Drag that lane into your DAW as a WAV, full loop length and lined up with the others.

MIDI on a lane

Drag that lane's hits as MIDI, with velocities taken from how hard each hit was played.

Drag all

Every lane at once, one WAV per lane.

Drag MIDI

The whole pattern, one MIDI track per drum.

Drag kit

The cleanest single hit of every lane, trimmed and ready for a sampler, named with its MIDI note.

Where files go

Files are saved to the folder you pick with Export folder, with clear names made from the loop name, tempo and lane, such as Amen_174bpm_Snare.wav. Different settings get their own subfolder, so a file a project already uses is never overwritten.

10Troubleshooting

My DAW can't find it

Check Drum Unmixer.vst3 is in C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 (not still inside the zip), that your DAW scans that folder, and rescan plugins.

It's in the folder but still won't show

Install Microsoft's free Visual C++ Redistributable (x64) from aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe, restart your DAW and rescan. Drum Unmixer can't load without it.

A drum is split across two lanes

Try fewer lanes. On a simple break, 3 is usually right.

I hear bleed in a lane

Raise that lane's gate, or try Tight separation and press Re-unmix.

The tempo is half or double

Put the BPM in the file name, like Break_174.wav, or set your project to the loop's tempo, then load it again.

I've lost my download link

Email hello@superweaponaudio.com with your order details and we'll send it again.

The loop won't load

Use a WAV, AIFF, FLAC or OGG file of 60 seconds or less.

11Getting help

Email hello@superweaponaudio.com with your DAW, your Windows version and what happened. We're a very small team in Cornwall and reply as soon as we can.