RAV3: The Ultimate Chord and Rave Stab Plugin for Modern Producers

Chord stabs and rave stabs have been the backbone of dance music since the early nineties. From classic UK garage to peak time trance, from indie dance to modern deep tech, that punchy chord sound is everywhere. We built RAV3 because every producer we know has the same problem. You want a great chord stab, but to get one you either spend hours pitching and chopping samples from old records, or you tweak a Serum patch for an afternoon and still do not nail the vibe. RAV3 solves that. Load a preset, play a chord, done.

What Is RAV3?

RAV3 is our first ever plugin release. It is a chord and stab instrument that brings the energy of nineties rave production into a modern, instantly playable VST3 and AU plugin. Inside you get over 250 stab sounds across seven categories, a two layer system so you can blend and stack two stabs together, quick controls for octave, pitch and ADSR, an effect rack with filter, distortion, bit crush, delay and reverb, and a randomizer that generates new stab and effect combinations on demand. Every single sound is ready to drop straight into your track without any further processing.

Where Do the Sounds in RAV3 Actually Come From?

To build the core sound of RAV3, we went back to the basics. We sampled real hardware synths including a Roland Juno 106, a Sequential Prophet, a Yamaha DX7 and several others. Then we built every stab using the same techniques producers used in the nineties. We sampled chords directly off the hardware, chopped them up, pitched them around, and ran everything through tape saturation and bit crushing to bring out the grit and character that makes vintage rave stabs sound the way they do. That is why the sounds in RAV3 feel authentic the moment you load them. The character is baked in at the source, not pasted on as an afterthought.

What Are the Seven Stab Categories?

The 250+ stabs inside RAV3 are organised into seven categories so you can find the right sound quickly. They are:

• Synth stabs for the classic chord textures used across house, techno and rave.
• Piano stabs with the kind of pitched and processed piano sound you hear on classic UK garage and pirate radio era tracks.
• Organ stabs for that warm, vintage chord tone that anchors house and disco influenced productions.
• Orchestra stabs for the cinematic, hit style chords that drive trance and big room productions.
• Fifth stabs built on a root and a perfect fifth, perfect for hard house, hard trance and rave revival.
• C minor 7 and C minor 9 stabs for the jazzy, funky chord voicings that work especially well in deep house and tech house.
• Pads for slower attack, sustained chord textures that sit underneath the punchier stabs.

How Does the Two Layer System Work?

RAV3 has two independent sample layers that you can blend together. Each layer has its own octave control, semitone pitch control and volume knob. You can load a synth stab on layer one, an organ stab on layer two, pitch the organ down an octave, and create a chord sound that does not exist in any other library. The previous and next buttons let you cycle through stabs quickly, so you can audition combinations live while a loop plays. The two layer system is where RAV3 stops being a sample library and starts being a real instrument. The same chord pattern with a different layer combination can completely change the energy of a track.

What Are the 150 Plus Presets?

RAV3 ships with over 150 production ready presets across all the stab categories. There are synth presets, bass presets, multi presets that combine a synth with a bass layer, orchestra presets, organ presets and combinations across every category. Each preset has its own effect settings dialed in, so loading a preset gives you not just a chord sound but a fully processed stab with the filter, drive, crush and reverb already set for that vibe. If you are working fast, the presets alone are enough to carry an entire track. If you want to go deeper, the edit knob in the top left corner of the display opens up the ADSR envelope, so you can drag down the release for a more choppy chord, or stretch the attack for a slower pad style entry.

What Does the Randomizer Do?

The randomizer is our favourite feature in the plugin. It is the question mark icon on the left side of the interface. Press it once and RAV3 generates a new combination of stabs across both layers, along with randomized effect settings. Press it again and you get another. Every press generates a completely fresh chord sound. This is the fastest way to break out of a creative rut, because instead of scrolling through hundreds of presets you let the plugin throw new ideas at you until something clicks. When it does, you hit the save button and store the preset for later. We have used it to generate the chord hooks for entire tracks in under two minutes.

What Effects Are in the Effect Rack?

RAV3 includes a five effect rack that you can use to push the sound further. The effects are:

• Filter, a simple low pass filter for shaping the brightness and creating filter sweeps.
• Distortion, which you can use lightly for warmth or push hard for fully overdriven chord textures.
• Crush, a bit crusher that lowers the digital quality and gives chords that broken, vintage edge.
• Delay, a one eighth note ping pong delay that adds rhythmic bounce.
• Reverb, for adding room and depth without losing the punch of the stab.

The effect rack is intentionally simple. There are no pages of hidden parameters, no menu diving and no presets to scroll through. Five effects, five knobs, instant results.

What Genres Does RAV3 Work For?

RAV3 was designed to be genre flexible. The seven stab categories cover the chord sounds you need for:

• UK garage and speed garage, especially using the synth stabs, piano stabs and C minor 7 voicings.
• Hard house, hard trance and rave revival, leaning on the fifth stabs and orchestra stabs.
• Trance and big room, using the orchestra stabs and pads layered together.
• Indie dance and melodic house, where the organ stabs and softer synth stabs sit naturally.
• Deep tech and tech house, using the C minor 9 voicings and bit crushed synth stabs for grit.
• Classic house and disco, leaning on the piano and organ stabs with the right effect chain.

If your track has a chord stab in it, RAV3 probably has the right sound for the job.

Does RAV3 Work in My DAW?

RAV3 ships as VST3 for Windows and Mac, and as AU for Mac. That means it works in Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper, Pro Tools and every other major DAW. Drop it on a MIDI track, load a preset and start playing. There is no extra installer, no library manager and no separate sample download. Everything you need is contained inside the plugin itself.

What Is the Plugin Plus Samples Bundle?

RAV3 is available in two tiers. The plugin on its own is 24.99 euro, which includes the full 250+ stab library, the 150+ presets and the complete effect rack. The plugin plus samples bundle is 29.99 euro, which adds 40+ ready made loops on top of the plugin. The loops are useful when you want to drop a fully formed chord progression straight into a project, or when you want to study how RAV3 stabs sound in context. For five euro extra, the bundle is the obvious pick for most producers.

Why Did We Build RAV3?

Chord stabs are one of the most important elements in dance music, but they are also one of the slowest sounds to design from scratch. Every producer we spoke to had a folder of sampled stabs from old records and a Serum patch they were never quite happy with. We wanted to build something that was easy to use, sounded great straight out of the box and actually felt like the real thing. No tweaking required. Just load a preset, play a chord, and have a finished sound that sits in a modern mix without any further processing. That is what RAV3 does, and it is why this is the first plugin we have ever released under The Producer School name.

Get RAV3

RAV3 is live now. 250+ rave and chord stabs, 150+ presets, a two layer blending system, an effect rack with filter, distortion, crush, delay and reverb, and a randomizer that generates new sounds on demand. VST3 and AU for any DAW. Plugin only at 24.99 euro, plugin plus 40+ loops at 29.99 euro. If you make any genre that uses chord stabs, this is the fastest path to the sound you have been trying to nail.

Plugin by Niek and the team at The Producer School. For plugin walkthroughs, tutorials and free tools, subscribe to The Producer School on YouTube.