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KUUSOUTOSHI AUDIO · Version 1.0.27 · Windows & macOS · VST®3 / AU / Standalone

DrumUnveil
User Manual v1.0.27

Split a drum recording into its kits and turn them into MIDI.

What is DrumUnveil

DrumUnveil is a plugin that splits a drum recording into six parts — kick, snare, toms, hi-hat, ride, and crash — and writes each one out as MIDI. Even if your drum track is a single mixed-down recording, DrumUnveil pulls out where each hit lands and how hard it was played, so you can re-trigger it with your own drum instrument.

The separated audio itself (six audio stems) comes out at the same time, so you can decide on the spot whether to rebuild the part in MIDI or just use the separated audio as-is.

Formats: Windows — VST3 and Standalone. macOS — VST3, Audio Unit (AU) and Standalone.

Installation

System Requirements

Installing

Windows — the installer for version 1.0.27

1. Run the installer
2. Choose what to install (Standalone / VST3, or both)
3. Restart your DAW

macOS — the installer package for version 1.0.27

1. Open the .pkg and follow the steps
2. Enter your Mac password when asked
3. Restart your DAW

Install Locations

In your DAW's plugin list, it appears under the manufacturer name KUUSOUTOSHI AUDIO.

Activating Your Licence

Before you enter a key, the same app runs with limited features: separation, detection, audition and editing all work, and you can export kick and snare MIDI with no time limit. Once you enter a key, all six parts and the separated audio can be exported. There's nothing new to download.

1. Your licence key arrives in the receipt email (it also stays under My Orders on Lemon Squeezy)
2. Open DrumUnveil and choose File → License…
3. Paste the key into "Enter your license key:" and press ACTIVATE (an internet connection is needed at this point)
4. When "License activated successfully!" appears, you're done. The top of the window then reads "This machine is activated"

One licence covers two machines. To move to another computer, open File → License… on the current one and press Deactivate this machine, then enter the key on the new computer.

Uninstalling

Windows

1. Select Start > Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find DrumUnveil by KUUSOUTOSHI AUDIO, then select More > Uninstall. You can also start it from Uninstall DrumUnveil in the Start menu
2. You'll be asked whether you have closed every DAW. A DAW that is still running keeps the plugin files open and they are left behind, so close them first, then choose Yes
3. If the cache isn't empty, you'll be asked whether to remove it too

macOS

1. Open Uninstall DrumUnveil in /Applications
2. Click Continue and enter your Mac password when asked
3. If the cache isn't empty, you'll be asked whether to remove it too
4. A list of what was removed and what couldn't be removed is shown at the end

Interface Overview

1 — Logo & About

The D mark and the KUUSOUTOSHI AUDIO wordmark, top left. Click it to open the About screen, which shows the version and the technologies used.

2 — Tempo Row

The BPM number (click to type in a new value), ×2 and ÷2 (double / halve), Auto (re-detect the tempo), the metronome icon, Beats (time signature), grid resolution, Snap (snap to grid), the drum map list, and 📌 (always on top).

3 — Tool Row

File · ↶ · ↷ · Select · Pen · Save As · Cache · Reset.

4 — Source Waveform

The topmost waveform. This is the audio you loaded, as-is. The thin band above it is the loop range for playback.

5 — Six Lanes

From top to bottom: KICK / SNARE / TOMS / HH / RIDE / CRASH. Each lane has the separated audio's waveform, marks for detected hits, a hit count, Sens / Gate / Swing knobs, a volume knob, Mute (M) and Solo (S), and a drag handle ⠿ for exporting.

6 — Transport

▶ · ■ · ↻, and the Listen switch (MIDI / Audio / Both).

7 — Bottom Bar

The export name field, a progress bar, status messages, and the Done badge.

Window Size

Drag the bottom-right corner to resize the window.

Loading Audio

Drop a drum audio file anywhere on the screen. Supported formats are .wav .aiff .aif .mp3 .flac.

Dropping a file starts the process of splitting the audio into six parts. Progress is shown in the bar at the bottom of the screen. Press Cancel if you want to stop partway through. The Done badge appears when it finishes.

If you load the same file again, DrumUnveil reuses the previous processing from its cache, so it takes almost no time.

The Six Lanes

The separated audio is arranged into six lanes from top to bottom: KICK, SNARE, TOMS, HH, RIDE, CRASH. Each lane shows a waveform and marks (vertical lines) for detected hits. The height of a mark is the strength of that hit. The number to the right of the lane is the number of hits found there.

Pressing M mutes that lane; pressing S solos it. Each lane's volume knob only changes the audition volume — it does not affect the exported MIDI.

Tempo, Time Signature & Grid

When you load audio, the tempo is detected automatically and shown in BPM. If it's wrong, click the number to type in a new one, use ×2 / ÷2 to double or halve it, or use Auto to detect it again.

Beats is the time signature (the number of beats per bar). You can choose from 2 to 7.

Grid resolution can be set to one of eight values: 1/4 1/8 1/16 1/32 1/64 1/8T 1/16T 1/32T. The grid is drawn as lines over the waveform and is used both by Snap and when placing or moving notes with the Pen.

Pressing the metronome icon makes it click on the beat during playback.

Listening

▶ plays, ■ stops (returning to the play cursor you placed; press it again while stopped to go back to 0:00), and ↻ loops inside the working range. You can also play/pause with the spacebar.

Until audio has been loaded and split into six parts, ▶, ■ and ↻ can't be pressed (and the spacebar does nothing).

The Listen switch decides what you hear.

• MIDI … plays the transcribed MIDI using a built-in drum sound
• Audio … plays the separated audio itself
• Both … mixes both together. Only in this mode can you choose, per lane, whether MIDI or separated audio (or both) is heard, and each one's left/right position

The MIDI and AUDIO knobs in the bottom bar are the overall volume for each.

Mouse & Keyboard

Everyday Operations

While the Pen is ON

Sensitivity, Gate & Swing

Each lane has three knobs.

• Sens (sensitivity) … raise it to pick up quieter hits, lower it to pick up only louder ones
• Gate … discards anything quieter than this. Raise it if bleed or ringing is being picked up too much
• Swing … 100% keeps the hits exactly where they were recorded. Lowering it pulls the hits toward the grid

The floor gate and global swing in the bottom bar set the same value across all six lanes at once. Moving a lane's own knob afterward overrides that lane only.

Working Range & the Settings Card

Right-drag across the waveform to create a working range. Click the [⋯] that appears at its right edge to open the settings card.

The card lets you use different values just within that range.

• Retention … how much of the range's hit positions are kept exactly as recorded
• Sens / Gate / Velocity … only rows with "override for this range" checked take effect. Unchecked rows just show the global value in dim text

Press Confirm to confirm the range, which remains as a band. Click a confirmed band to reopen it for editing, or Delete to remove it.

Right double-click removes a working range. The card can be dragged and dropped anywhere you like.

Pen Editing

Press Pen to enable it. While the Pen is on, mouse actions on the waveform become note edits instead (see Mouse & Keyboard).

With Snap on, notes you place or move snap to the grid. Turn it off if you need finer placement.

A moved note gets a thin lime-green line on its right, and a faint line stays at its original position. A note you placed by hand gets a thin white line. A moved note plays and exports exactly where you put it (Swing doesn't affect it). Move it back to its original position and Swing applies again.

If you save moved notes in 1.0.27 and open them in 1.0.26 or earlier, detected notes go back to their original positions. Notes you placed by hand and then moved stay where you moved them, but without the faint line.

The Pen's on/off state is not saved. It is off again the next time you open the plugin.

Undo & Reset

↶ undoes one step, ↷ redoes it. Moving a knob from press to release counts as one step.

Pressing Reset discards all your edits and returns to the state right after loading.

Drag & Drop Export

Drag the ALL knob and drop it onto a DAW track or folder. The file is created on the spot. Drag a lane's ⠿ handle to export just that lane.

What comes out depends on the Listen state.

• MIDI … a single MIDI file containing everything
• Audio … six separated audio files
• Both … whatever is selected per lane in the mixer

Press Select to enter selection mode, which shows a checkbox to the right of each lane's name. Drag from the name of any checked lane and all the checked lanes are exported together. Checked lanes show the ⠿ grip — drag from it or from the lane's name. Save As also saves only the checked lanes. ALL ignores the checks and exports everything selected in the mixer.

A lane with no notes is not exported.

Save As

Press Save As to choose a save location. The default location is Music\DrumUnveil\.

• If there's only one output, a single file is saved
• If there are two or more, they are sorted into <name>\MIDI\ and <name>\AUDIO\

File names are prefixed with whatever is entered in Name: in the bottom bar. If it's left empty, the loaded audio file's name is used instead.

You can also drop a file directly onto the Save As button to save it to the same location.

Saving Your Edits (.duv)

Use File → Save edit data… to save your edits as a .duv file. Use File → Load edit data… to load one back. A .duv file can also be loaded by dropping it onto the screen.

Only the edits themselves are saved — not the audio. To load a .duv file, the original audio file must be in the same location.

Drum Maps

Choose your drum instrument from the list in the top bar. Selecting an instrument automatically assigns each kit's note number to that instrument's layout.

If your instrument isn't in the list, open Edit drum map…, set the six note numbers (0–127), give it a name, and save it — it will always be available afterward. The three built-in maps cannot be deleted.

The last map you selected is remembered, and is still selected the next time you open the plugin.

Full Parameter List

Per Lane

Global

Selection Card

File Locations

The cache keeps only the 20 most recent entries — older ones are removed automatically. Use Cache → Clear cache to empty it manually. Cache → Clear view just removes the currently open audio from the screen.

Uninstalling keeps your custom drum maps. For the cache, the uninstaller asks whether to remove it (only when it isn't empty). To remove everything including your maps, delete %APPDATA%\DrumUnveil\ (Windows) or ~/Library/Application Support/DrumUnveil/ (macOS) by hand. See Uninstalling for the steps.

Troubleshooting

The plugin doesn't show up in my DAW

Restart your DAW and have it rescan for plugins. If it still doesn't appear, check that the plugin file is there — C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\DrumUnveil.vst3 on Windows, /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/DrumUnveil.vst3 or /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/DrumUnveil.component on macOS. Some DAWs require this location to be added to their scan settings.

No audition sound

If you see Audition samples not found (see manual), the audition samples couldn't be found. Check whether files exist in C:\ProgramData\DrumUnveil\audition\ (Windows) or /Library/Application Support/DrumUnveil/audition/ (macOS), and if not, reinstall.

The play button toggles, but nothing moves and nothing sounds

Most often: DrumUnveil is sitting on an empty audio track — move it to a software-instrument track. This catches people out most with the Audio Unit (AU) version on macOS. Inside a DAW this happens on a track that has no audio running through it. Audition rides on the DAW's audio processing, so on a track the host isn't processing, only the button's appearance changes — the playhead and the sound stay where they are.

Either of these fixes it:

• Put DrumUnveil on a software-instrument track (most reliable). Instrument tracks keep processing even when nothing is playing.
• If you want it on an audio track, place one audio region on that track. The file you loaded inside the plugin doesn't count — the DAW needs audio of its own on the timeline.

The standalone application has no such limitation.

Observed in GarageBand. Some DAWs keep processing empty tracks, in which case none of this is necessary.

Audio won't load

If you see Couldn't load the file, the file is either corrupted or in an unsupported format. Try re-exporting it as .wav and load it again.

It says the previous file can't be found

Previous file not found -- drop it again (settings restored) means your saved settings were restored, but the original audio file has been moved or deleted. Drop the same audio file again to continue working.

No sound when running the Standalone and a DAW at the same time (Windows)

Run only one of them at a time. This does not apply on macOS — there, the Standalone app and the plugin can both play at once.

Picking up too much / too little

Adjust that lane's Sens and Gate. If bleed is being picked up too much, raising Gate helps.

Nothing happens when I try to export

Check the bottom bar for one of these messages: Drag from a checked lane / No notes in the checked lanes / No output selected (enable MIDI/AUDIO in the mixer).

I can't undo anything

Editing isn't available while processing is in progress. Wait for Done to appear before making edits.

Support & Specs

Technical Specifications

• Formats: VST3 / Standalone (Windows) · VST3 / Audio Unit (AU) / Standalone (macOS)
• Supported OS: Windows 10 (1809) or later, x64 (not Arm-based Windows) · macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later, Apple Silicon (M1 or later) only
• Supported input formats: .wav .aiff .aif .mp3 .flac
• Export formats: MIDI (.mid) / Audio (.wav) / Edit data (.duv)
• Number of separated parts: 6 (kick, snare, toms, hi-hat, ride, crash)
• Internet connection: not required for analysis. Needed once when you activate your licence; after that a short background re-check runs at startup and about once a day. If it cannot reach the server, the plugin keeps working for 30 days.

DrumUnveil 1.0.27 · (c) 2026 KUUSOUTOSHI AUDIO

ASIO® is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, registered in Europe and other countries. ASIO is a registered trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.

VST® is a registered trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.