How Just 4 Kicks Actually Works

A peek under the hood, chaos included.

6 min read · Updated October 2026 · Written by real, human producers

Here's a confession: when you press "Generate" in Just 4 Kicks today, nothing is actually being generated. Not in that moment, anyway.

We recently explained this to an artist over email, and the reaction was a mix of surprise and "wait, that's actually kind of clever." So we figured it was only fair to tell everyone else too. We talk a lot about Ethical AI and transparency in our other posts, and that should apply to our own setup as well.

SO, let's open the hood :)

Why the model isn't on your machine (yet)

The end goal has always been to run the Just 4 Kicks model locally, right inside your DAW. No internet connection needed, no servers in between. We're working on that, and it's coming.

But running a generative audio model inside a plugin is a big ask. A model like ours needs serious computing power, and your computer is already busy running your DAW, your synths, your effects, and probably 40 browser tabs. We didn't want to ship a plugin that eats your CPU, takes forever to install, or makes your session stutter the moment you press a button.

So we needed a way to give you fast, high quality, unique kicks today, while keeping the plugin's footprint on your machine as small as possible. Our answer was a bit unconventional.

Step 1: We generate a million kicks on our own machine

Instead of running the model on your computer, we run it on ours. Ahead of time, we use the Just 4 Kicks model to pre-generate around 1 million kick drums on our own device.

These aren't samples from a pack, and they aren't recordings. Every single one is a fresh AI-generated one-shot from the same model that will eventually live in your plugin. That model was trained entirely on audio we created in-house, so the ethical side of things stays exactly the same.

Each kick is generated across the same parameters you see in the plugin: Style/Genre, Dynamic, Body, and Decay Length. That means for pretty much any combination you can dial in, there's already a large pool of matching kicks waiting.

Step 2: Pressing "Generate" is actually a search

That pool of a million kicks lives in a database online. When you set your dropdowns and press "Generate", the plugin sends your selection to that database and searches for a kick that matches it. The result gets sent straight back into the plugin, ready to shape with the built-in controls and drag into your DAW.

From your side, it feels exactly like generating. You pick the sound you hear in your head, press one button, and get a brand new kick a moment later. The difference is that the heavy lifting already happened on our end, before you ever opened the plugin.

This is how we keep the plugin itself light. No giant model to download, no GPU needed, and no extra strain on your session.

Step 3: Once a kick is yours, it's gone from the database

This is the part we're proudest of. When a kick is used on someone's device, we remove it from the database. Nobody else will ever be served that exact sample.

Why does that matter? Because uniqueness is one of the main reasons Just 4 Kicks exists. In our post on why you'll never finish tracks if you keep scrolling Splice, we talked about thousands of producers using the exact same sounds from the exact same packs. A search based system could easily fall into that same trap if two people with similar settings kept getting the same kick.

Removing each kick once it's used means the sound in your track is yours, and only yours. Same promise as true on-device generation, just delivered differently.

Step 4: The database refills itself based on what you actually use

If kicks keep disappearing, the pool would eventually run dry. So we keep adding more.

We watch which parameter combinations get used the most, and we generate more kicks for those combinations first. If a lot of you are dialing in a hard hitting Trap kick with a long decay, that's where new samples go. If a combination barely gets touched, it doesn't need topping up as often.

The result is a database that slowly shapes itself around how producers actually work. The settings you reach for most are the ones with the deepest supply of fresh kicks.

Put together, the whole loop looks like this:

We pre-generate kicks with the model on our own machine.
You set your dropdowns and press "Generate".
The plugin searches the online database for a matching kick and sends it back.
Once that kick is used on your device, it's removed from the database for good.
We generate more kicks for the most popular settings and add them to the pool.

Our honest take

We'll be straight with you: it's a bit of a chaotic setup right now. It works, and it works well, but it's very much a stepping stone and not the final form.

What's great about it

The plugin stays light on your CPU and your hard drive
Results come back fast, because the hard work is already done
Every kick is still AI generated, ethically trained, and 100% royalty free
Every kick is unique to you, because used kicks are removed
The pool gets smarter over time, based on real usage

Where it falls short

You need an internet connection to get new kicks
You're picking from a very large, constantly refreshed pool, not a sound made in the exact moment you press the button
Rare or unusual parameter combinations have a smaller supply than popular ones
It takes work on our side to keep the database topped up

For most producers in most sessions, none of this changes the experience. You still pick the kick you hear in your head and get it in seconds. But we'd rather you know exactly how it works than find out later.

What's next: the model comes home

Soon, we'll embed the model locally in the plugin. When that happens, pressing "Generate" will mean exactly what it says: the model creates a brand new kick on your machine, in real time, from your settings.

That unlocks a few things we're really excited about. Working fully offline. Truly infinite variations for even the most niche settings. And more room to experiment with new controls, like the Pitch and Click controls we've been testing in the lab.

Until then, the million-kick database is doing its job: keeping your sessions fast, your sounds unique, and your computer happy. Not bad for a workaround :)

FAQs

Is Just 4 Kicks really AI generated if it's searching a database? Yes. Every kick in the database was generated by the Just 4 Kicks model. The only difference is when the generation happens: ahead of time on our machine, instead of the moment you press the button.

Could someone else get the same kick as me? No. Once a kick is used on your device, it's removed from the database, so it can't be served to anyone else.

Do I need to be online to use Just 4 Kicks? For now, yes, to get new kicks. Once the model is embedded locally, generation will work offline.

Will the database ever run out? We keep adding new kicks, prioritizing the settings producers use most, so the pool keeps growing as it's used.

Are the kicks still royalty free? Yes. The model behind every kick was trained entirely on audio we created in-house, and every kick you use is 100% yours.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for putting up with a little behind-the-scenes chaos :)

Keep creating, and keep having fun!

-Max (max@just4noise.com)

Just 4 Kicks: AI kick drum generator. €79 one-time. No subscription.