Rob Papen has released eXplorer-11, the latest version of his full plug-in bundle, and the main story is scale with two useful new additions. The package now includes 36 plug-ins, with RAW-Kick 2 and FilterField joining the collection alongside new presets for Predator-3, Punch-2, and WirePluck.
The bundle is priced at €499 or $499, with upgrade paths available for existing eXplorer users and owners of other Rob Papen products. As usual with these larger Rob Papen collections, the value comes from having a wide studio toolkit under one roof: synths, effects, drum tools, sound design instruments, and preset-heavy production devices that can cover a lot of ground inside a DAW.
The two new additions give eXplorer-11 its clearest news angle. RAW-Kick 2 is a three-layer kick drum synthesizer built for producers who want to design kicks from the ground up, while FilterField is a morphing filter effect that uses an XY field to move between filter states, distortion, modulation, and movement-based processing.
RAW-Kick 2 Goes Deeper On Kick Design
RAW-Kick 2 is the bigger production tool of the two new releases.
It builds on the original RAW-Kick, which was developed with Dutch Hardcore and Hardstyle producers in 2018, then opens the concept up for modern club production, hip-hop, house, DnB, EDM, and heavier electronic styles.
The new MAIN page lets users combine three layers quickly, using layer presets from producers across different styles. Each layer can run a dedicated kick synth model or a sample-based layer, with support for factory samples and user-loaded WAV or AIFF files. There is also a granular mode for altering grain length and size, giving the plug-in a more flexible sound-design side than a standard kick generator.
The synthesis section includes oscillator-based kick modeling with harmonic waveform drawing, RAW-style distortion with XY control and recordable movement, 48 filter modes, pre-filter distortion, two effects slots, pre-EQ, post-EQ, and LFO control. The advanced page adds multi-stage pitch and amp envelopes for users who want deeper editing.
FilterField Adds Morphing Filter Movement
FilterField is the other major addition, and it feels like a classic Rob Papen concept: a filter effect that encourages movement rather than static tone shaping. It includes 32 analog-modeled filter types, including all-pass, comb, EQ, phaser, feedback filters, frequency-modulated filters, frequency shifting, amplitude modulation, and ring modulation.
The XY Vector Filter Mode is the center of the workflow. Users can move between filter types and morph parameter ranges, then record XY movement for tempo-based playback. That makes FilterField useful for transitions, risers, synth movement, drum processing, vocal effects, and any part that needs motion without building a long automation lane from scratch.
FilterField also includes a distortion module with 21 distortion types, pre- or post-filter placement, serial and parallel routing across four filter modules, input-following control, per-filter LFO control, two free LFOs, and an eight-slot modulation matrix.
eXplorer-11 is available now for macOS and Windows in AAX, AU, VST, and VST3 formats, depending on platform. RAW-Kick 2 is also available separately for €79 or $79, while FilterField is available separately for €49 or $49.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
