Blue Lue is a new slot-driven drum machine inspired by Fanan Team Pro’s Betelgeuse arranger machine.
Blue Lue functions as a MIDI tool sequencer; It doesn’t generate any sound, but you can use it to sequence drum sounds in your DAW.
MIDI Sequencer and arranger plugins/software can be real timesavers; composers for all media types often rely on such tools for speedy results or to create templates for typical project types.
Fanan Team’s Blue Lue has 880 pre-made drum styles across various musical genres. The available genres include Rock, Pop, Ballad, Swing & Jazz, Country, Latin, and more.
Each genre features many more specific styles, like ’60s guitar pop, classical piano ballad, etc.
Blue Lue offers three style slots that run back to back. Each style provides eight possible variations; the level of variation is fantastic for longer arrangements/performances.
An intuitive interface is one of the most important things about any sequencer/arranger, especially one offering lots of variation. Blue Lue’s GUI lays everything out clearly on pages: Player, Styles, Favorite, and Settings.
Tempo options, including BPM Sync, tap-tempo, and half/double time, are available on the left side of the interface.
While everything is displayed clearly, we still need an intuitive way to perform/trigger these styles and variations. Blue Lue features two keyboard ranges: the Play Kit and Play Style ranges.
The Play Kit range allows you to trigger individual elements of the drum kit, and the Play Style range allows you to trigger styles, variations, and fills.
Unfortunately for me and everyone else on team Mac, Blue Lue is Windows only. So, Windows users, please share your experience/thoughts in the comments.
It seems to tick a lot of boxes, and it could be a great way to get more out of drum sounds sitting unused on the shelf. The ability to trigger variations and fills easily means you can perform almost an entire drum track with close to no fuss.
If you’re in the market for free drum machines, make sure you check out our BPB Cassette Drums, a tape drum machine that delivers the sounds of Roland’s TR Series.
Alternatively, there is the Full Bucket’s DrumTraqs, a free Sequential Circuits Drumtraks emulation.
Enjoy!
Download: Blue Lue (FREE)
More:
- BP-909 is a FREE 909 drum machine plugin for Windows
- DrumTraqs is a FREE Sequential Circuits Drumtraks drum machine plugin
Last Updated on March 26, 2025 by Tomislav Zlatic.
