Inside UJAM Virtual Drummer NEON: Nu Disco Grooves
UJAM Virtual Drummer NEON is a $49 intro nu-disco drummer with five vintage kits, 690 phrases, and a Real/Glam slider. Specs, price, and who should buy it.
UJAM shipped Virtual Drummer NEON on 12 August 2026. It is the phrase-based session drummer aimed at nu disco, dance-pop, and house: five vintage acoustic kits, 690 grooves across 30 styles, and a Real/Glam slider that walks the kit from a dry booth to a processed dancefloor. List price is $119. Intro is $49 through 30 September 2026 at Plugin Boutique and €49 at Best Service. Existing UJAM owners get a loyalty price at ujam.com. This is a first look at official specs and UJAM's own films. We have not used it in a session.
At a glance: $49 intro / $119 list through 30 September 2026. 5 kits, 690 phrases, 30 styles, 23 phrases per style. Real/Glam slider. 6 mix presets. VST2, VST3, AU2, AAX. Windows 10+ / macOS 11+. 7-day trial.
What NEON is, and what it is not
NEON is another title in UJAM's Virtual Drummer series, not a rebuild of the engine. You pick a style, trigger human-played phrases from MIDI keys, and drag any phrase into the DAW as a clip when you want the piano roll. The pitch is a session musician that already knows the genre, not a multi-mic sampler you program hit by hit.
UJAM's page frames the nu disco drum sound as tight, snappy, and on top of the mix, with a forward rhythmic feel. The reference points on that page are 1970s disco — Chic, the Bee Gees — recorded on vintage Ludwig and Rogers kits, then finished through a modern mixing console. The kits were tracked in a small booth with era-specific mics, including the Sennheiser MD 421, through Neve 1073 and 1081 preamps and a Studer 962 console. Bernhard "Böni" Hahn close-miked every drum and added overhead and room pairs. Six mix presets sit on top of that recording chain.
That is a different job from EZdrummer 3, which is a songwriting drum suite with Hansa kits and a huge MIDI library across rock, pop, and score work. It is also a different job from Addictive Drums 2 or Superior Drummer 3, where you build a kit from multi-samples and then write or import the performance. NEON starts with the performance. The kit is the costume.
If you want a drum machine rather than a virtual drummer, the 2026 drum machine guide is the better first stop.
UJAM's own first look with Richie Beretta is the cleanest picture of the groove before you install the trial:
Phrases, kits, and the Real/Glam slider
30 styles, 690 phrases
NEON ships 30 styles and 690 phrases. Each style holds 23 phrases for intros, verses, choruses, fills, and the other song parts you actually need when you are arranging rather than designing a kit. Pick a style that matches the energy of the track, then combine phrases into a drum arrangement. Trigger the ready-made grooves from single MIDI keys, locked to the DAW tempo, or drag a phrase out as a MIDI clip and edit the hits.
That drag-and-drop path is the escape hatch. Phrase instruments feel locked until you can drop the MIDI on a track and rewrite a fill. NEON keeps both workflows.
Five kits and six mix presets
The instrument includes five acoustic 1970s vintage kits. Official copy names Ludwig and Rogers as the kit makers on the session. Each kit has seven individual drum instruments, plus overhead and room microphones, with optional separate outputs for close mics, overheads, and room when you want to finish the kit in the DAW.
Six mix presets — Pocket, Snap, Glossy, Slam, Boom, and Crunch — macro-control the mixer under the hood. You are not building a console from scratch. You are choosing a character and then riding the kit. The five kit characters on the official panel are Soft, Tight, Grit, Pop, and Loose.
The factory library also lists 100 presets. Use those as starting points for kit-plus-mix combinations, then swap styles underneath.
Real/Glam
The Real/Glam slider is the control UJAM is selling as special. Real is the more natural, open, acoustic booth. Glam is the processed, punchy, almost electronic dancefloor version of the same take. The recording is vintage. The mix is modern. The slider is how far you push that second stage.
If you already own other Virtual Drummer titles, this is the new macro. LEGEND has Dust and Color for miking. NEON has Real/Glam for how disco the kit should feel.
The official preset film is the fastest way to hear that range:
Who recorded it
Hahn has been producing, recording, and mixing since 1991. UJAM's page lists pop, rock, and indie credits including Kim Wilde, Nena, and Tarja Turunen. The published recording story is close mics plus overhead and room, Neve 1073 / 1081, Studer 962, then the NEON mix engine. Treat the artist quotes on the product page as manufacturer copy. We have not printed the kits in a mix.
Virtual Drummer NEON specifications
| Spec | Official detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | UJAM |
| Type | Phrase-based virtual drummer |
| Released | 12 August 2026 |
| List price | $119 |
| Intro price | $49 through 30 September 2026 at Plugin Boutique; €49 at Best Service |
| Loyalty | Discount for existing UJAM owners at ujam.com |
| Trial | 7 days, free |
| Formats | VST2, VST3, AU2, AAX (64-bit) |
| Windows | Windows 10 — Windows 11 |
| macOS | macOS 11 (Big Sur) — macOS 26 (Tahoe), Apple Silicon |
| Kits | 5 acoustic 1970s vintage kits |
| Styles / phrases | 30 styles, 690 phrases, 23 per style |
| Presets | 100 instrument presets; 6 mix presets |
| Special control | Real/Glam slider |
| Outputs | Optional separate close, overhead, and room |
| MIDI | Phrase triggering; drag-and-drop MIDI export |
| Recording chain | Ludwig / Rogers kits; MD 421; Neve 1073 / 1081; Studer 962 |
| SKU | VD-NEON |
NEON vs the Virtual Drummer series vs EZdrummer 3
The family card is /plugins/virtual-drummer. EZdrummer 3 is the songwriting drum suite most people already compare against.
| NEON | UJAM Virtual Drummer family | Toontrack EZdrummer 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job | Nu disco / dance-pop / house drummer | Seven older titles across rock, pop, hip-hop, heavy | Songwriting drum suite, wide genre spread |
| Street / list | $49 intro / $119 | $119 per title on our family card | See the EZdrummer 3 card |
| Kits | 5 vintage acoustic | 35 kits across the seven titles | 7 Hansa kits in the core library |
| Grooves | 690 phrases / 30 styles | 6,941 phrases / 301 styles in the family | 2,500+ MIDI grooves plus Song Creator |
| Front-end extra | Real/Glam | Dust / Color and other title-specific macros | Song Creator, EZX ecosystem |
| Formats | VST2, VST3, AU2, AAX | VST2, VST3, AU2, AAX | VST3, AU, AAX, standalone |
| Reach for it when | The track wants punchy disco-pop drums this week | You already live in the UJAM phrase workflow | You want one drum tool for a whole catalog of songs |
Which to pick. Choose NEON if the song is nu disco, dance-pop, or house and you want the kit pre-finished for that lane. Choose another Virtual Drummer title if the song is rock, vintage dry, hip-hop, or heavy — that is what LEGEND, HOT, BRUTE, DEEP, PHAT, SOLID, and HEAVY are for. Choose EZdrummer 3 if you want one instrument that writes songs across genres and then grows through EZX packs. Choose Superior Drummer 3 if you need the deep multi-mic mixer and you will program or replace a recorded kit.
NEON does not replace the family. It adds the disco-pop drummer the older titles were not built to be.
Who NEON is for
Consider it if you write dance-pop, nu disco, or disco house and you would rather audition phrases than draw ghost notes. The 7-day trial is the honest filter.
Consider it if you already own a UJAM instrument. Log in at the official store for the loyalty price, or use the Plugin Boutique crossgrade path.
Consider it if you want MIDI out. Phrase triggering gets you the arrangement. Drag-and-drop gets you the edit.
Skip it if you need a kit you can rebuild from individual hits, swap rooms, and layer with your own samples. That is Superior Drummer or Addictive Drums.
Skip it if the song is not in this genre lane. A metal chorus or a jazz brush verse is the wrong title. Look at the Virtual Drummer family first.
Skip it if you want a hardware groovebox. NEON is a DAW plugin.
How much NEON costs
$119 is the list price on UJAM's product metadata.
$49 is the intro at Plugin Boutique through 30 September 2026. Best Service has the same intro window at €49 against €119.
Existing UJAM owners get a loyalty price at ujam.com/drummer/neon. The trial is 7 days.
The plugin card lives at /plugins/ujam-virtual-drummer-neon.
FAQ
Is NEON a new engine or another Virtual Drummer title?
Another title on the existing phrase-drummer engine, specialized for nu disco, dance-pop, and house. The new control is Real/Glam. The phrase count is 690 across 30 styles.
NEON vs EZdrummer 3?
EZdrummer 3 is a broad songwriting drum suite. NEON is a genre-locked session drummer with a processed disco mix. Buy EZdrummer when you need one tool for a whole catalog. Buy NEON when this week's songs all want that tight, on-top kit. See the EZdrummer 3 card.
What are the system requirements?
Windows 10 or 11. macOS 11 through macOS 26, including Apple Silicon. Hosts: 64-bit VST2, VST3, AU2, or AAX.
Can I try it before buying?
Yes. UJAM lists a free 7-day trial on the official NEON page.
Can I export MIDI?
Yes. Drag any of the 23 phrases per style into the DAW as a MIDI clip, or keep triggering phrases from MIDI keys.
The bottom line
NEON is UJAM's nu-disco Virtual Drummer: five vintage kits, 690 phrases, and a Real/Glam slider that walks the same take from booth to dancefloor. $49 is the intro through 30 September 2026. $119 is the list price.
This is a first look, not a scored review. We have not arranged a chorus with it. Download the 7-day trial, park Real/Glam in the middle, and find out whether the phrases already play the part you would have programmed. The live storefronts are UJAM, Plugin Boutique, and Best Service.
