Play
Any MIDI keyboard, the one you already own. What you need after the plugin is an MPE capable instrument to turn the motion into sound.
MPE Drift
Every note drifts on its own. Any MIDI keyboard in, MPE out.
(MIDI effect plugin · CLAP, VST3, AU and AUv3 · Windows and macOS)
Every note drifts on its own.
Any MIDI keyboard in, per note MPE motion out. The motion comes from the plugin, not from your hand; your own pitch wheel and aftertouch still reach the instrument.
- (01)
Play
Any MIDI keyboard, the one you already own.
- (02)
Drift
Every note gets its own channel and its own motion in pitch, pressure, timbre and pan.
- (03)
Sound
Your MPE synth plays the motion. Record it in the DAW like any other performance.
In the press MPE Drift on AMAZONA.de ↗ German
The window
One chord,
every voice.
The live field across the top draws every voice the plugin sends, as it moves. Point at a part of the head row or the field for what it does; each part has its own chapter in the docs. The four tabs below it follow under Inside the plugin.
01Preset
Step through the factory presets in their groups, mark favourites, and keep your own in a tab of their own.
In the docs02Intensity
One knob over everything: every depth, every humanize amount and every spread reads through it.
In the docs03Motion and Mode
Independent keeps the motion at full depth, Follow scales it with your own expression. Mode sets all five lanes at once to Chaos, Parallel, Orbit or Split.
In the docs04Status
Readings taken off the wire: MPE in, notes per minute, voices stuck at their bend limit, the licence state and the voices sounding.
In the docs05Field controls
Which channels the field draws, output only or input underneath, glow, trail and span, and the view: Flow, Levels, Notes or Lanes. None of it changes a byte.
In the docs06Live MPE field
Every voice the plugin sends, on its own member channel, moving as it is generated. The rail on the left shows or hides each lane.
In the docs
Inside the plugin
What moves, and how
Every note you hold runs five lanes. Each lane picks a target (pitch, timbre, pressure, pan or another controller), a shape and a depth, and runs free or on the host tempo.
The mode sets how the notes of a chord move against each other: Chaos each on its own path, Parallel all together, Orbit taking turns, Split in opposite directions.
Lanes in the docsOne key, more notes
Octave layers, a chord with strum, a scale lock, bend quantize and note spread turn a single key into a moving chord. Velocity and timing can be humanized.
Every generated note gets its own lanes.
The Notes tab in the docsAn arpeggiator with expression
Plays what you hold as a pattern, free or on the host clock, with ratchet, gate and shuffle.
Each step keeps its own motion.
The Arp in the docsReady for your synth
Set the bend range your MPE instrument expects, and resend the zone setup with one click.
The seed makes the random motion repeatable, so a take in your DAW plays back the same.
The Output tab in the docs
See it
Every voice, as it moves
The field draws what leaves the plugin. Flow puts every curve in one band, Levels gives each channel a column of bars, Notes shows note names and drift nodes, Lanes gives each lane a band of its own.
With the monitor on In + Out, your own expression runs underneath.
The field in the docsHow a chord moves
The mode sets how the notes of a chord move against each other: Chaos each on its own path, Parallel all together, Orbit taking turns, Split in opposite directions.
Set it for all lanes at once in the head row, or per lane, with spread and phase for the orbit.
Modes in the docsDraw your own shape
A ninth lane shape you draw yourself: one cycle with up to 32 points, and every segment can bend. Played in sixteen steps or as the smooth curve, at the lane's speed and depth.
Saved with presets and projects, and the same in the DRIFT module of MPE Insight.
The Custom shape in the docsInside your DAW
On the Mac, the AU sits in a track's MIDI FX slot in Logic Pro, ahead of your MPE instrument. In other hosts it goes on the instrument track or on a MIDI track of its own.
Record the motion like any other performance.
Host setup in the docs
Play it
One chord.
Many movements.
Play a chord. Each note in it gets its own oscillators, one per lane, with a shape, a depth and a rate, and the result leaves the plugin as MPE. There is nothing to draw and no automation lane per voice; the movement is generated while the notes sound.
Drift
Every note gets its own member channel and its own motion in pitch, pressure, timbre and pan. The chord stays one chord; each voice in it moves on its own.
Record
The motion leaves the plugin as ordinary MPE, so the DAW records and edits it like any other performance. Or keep it live.
Your own hand
The pitch wheel and channel aftertouch of your keyboard still reach the instrument and move the whole chord, with the motion on top. Polyphonic aftertouch goes into the note it belongs to.
The same take twice
A seed repeats the random motion, so the same part played against the same transport comes out the same. Zero keeps every take new.
Automation
Every control in the lower half of the window is a host parameter. A curve can move a depth, or step a lane from pitch to timbre.
Specifications
Specifications
- Formats
- CLAP, VST3, AU and AUv3Windows, 64 bit. macOS, Apple silicon and Intel. AU on the Mac only; the AUv3 comes as an app from the Mac App Store
- Lanes
- Five per noteUp to 15 voices on 16 MIDI channels
- Targets
- Pitch bend, pressure, controllersBend range up to 48 semitones
- Shapes
- Smooth to stepped, or drawnDrift, sine, triangle, saw up and down, square, sample and hold, static, and a custom shape you draw
- Rate
- 0.02 to 25 Hz, or syncedHost tempo, from four bars down to 1/64
- Modes
- Chaos, Parallel, Orbit, SplitSet per lane
- Automation
- Every controlLanes, chord machine and arpeggiator, automatable in the host
- Presets
- Factory presetsYour own are saved as files
- Window
- Resizable75 to 150 %
Every target, shape and division is listed in the reference in the docs, every host parameter under Automation.
Questions
Do I need an MPE keyboard?
No. Play any MIDI keyboard. MPE Drift creates the per note motion itself. What you need is an MPE capable instrument after it, to turn that motion into sound.
What happens to my own pitch wheel and aftertouch?
They still reach the instrument. The pitch wheel and channel aftertouch of an ordinary keyboard pass through on the master channel and move the whole chord, with the plugin's motion on top. Polyphonic aftertouch goes into the pressure of the note it belongs to.
Can I record what it plays?
Yes. The motion leaves the plugin as ordinary MPE, so the DAW records and edits it like any other performance. The seed in the Output tab makes a take repeatable; the docs explain how.
Which formats and systems? Is there a Mac version?
Yes. On Windows, 64 bit: CLAP and VST3. On macOS, Apple silicon and Intel: CLAP, VST3 and AU, the AU as a MIDI FX in Logic Pro. You pick your system at checkout, and the licence key works on both. On the Mac App Store, MPE Drift is an app with the AUv3 inside: it plays the plugin on its own with any MIDI input and output, and Logic Pro lists it under MIDI FX. That version needs no key, the purchase is the licence. Install in the docs.
Which DAW do I need?
Any host that runs a MIDI plugin ahead of an instrument, as an insert on the track or on a track of its own, and lets that track pass all MIDI channels. The docs describe both routings; the walkthrough shows the setup in Cubase.
How does the trial work?
A free week with the whole plugin, unlocked by a key the store mails to you. The purchased key runs on three machines at a time, and an activated computer keeps playing for ten days without a connection. Start the trial.
Is it the same as DRIFT in MPE Insight?
The same engine, the same presets and the same custom shape, so a preset sounds the same in both. MPE Insight runs it as a module next to its visuals; MPE Drift runs it as a plugin in your DAW, and from the Mac App Store also as an app of its own. In the docs.
Which one
Which one
fits?
They share one engine and one idea, and each is built for a different desk. Pick by what you want to do with it.
| You want to |
MPE Drift
For your DAW
Plugin · CLAP, VST3, AU & AUv3 · Windows & macOS 24,99 € · seven day trial Get it |
MPE Keys
For your screen
App · Windows & macOS 14,99 € Open MPE Keys |
MPE Insight
For the whole picture
App · Windows & macOS 34,99 € Open MPE Insight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Play an ordinary MIDI keyboard and get MPE out | |||
| Octave layers, a chord machine and an arpeggiator | |||
| Run it inside your DAW as a plugin | |||
| Run it on its own, no DAW needed | |||
| See the Keyboard, wheels and Grand Staff on screen | |||
| AURA, FORGE, CASCADE and the LOG | |||
| Record a take and export it as .mid | |||
| Play with no controller at all: Typing Keys and Mouse Mode |
MPE Drift is the DRIFT module of MPE Insight, extracted into a plugin around the same engine. MPE Keys is the Keyboard, PB / Mod and Grand Staff of MPE Insight as an app of their own. Each one is complete by itself, and none of them needs the others.
Price
One payment.
One week to decide.
MPE Drift costs 24,99 EUR, once. Before that comes a free week with the whole plugin, unlocked by a key the store mails to you. An activated computer re-confirms its key when it loads and keeps playing for ten days without a connection.
MPE Drift
VST3, CLAP, AU & AUv3 · Windows & macOS
24,99 €
price incl. VAT
Pay once · No subscription
The first two lanes send a licence key by email, and both keys go into the same field in the plugin window. The trial key stops after seven days; the purchased one does not, and it runs on three machines at a time. On the Mac App Store there is no key at all: the app is tied to your Apple Account.
Before you go
Want it in your DAW?
MPE Drift is out for Windows and macOS. The list carries the next builds and what is being built next, for this and the other tools.
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