companies

XLN Audio AB

Stockholm plugin studio behind XO, a machine-learning drum sampler that auto-tags huge one-shot libraries so producers can build beats by dragging, not digging.

XLN Audio was founded in Stockholm in 2005 by Lars Erlandsson and Niklas Moller, with early backing and continued co-ownership from Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Max Martin through his company Maratone. The studio built its name on Addictive Drums, a sample-based drum instrument line used across pop and rock production, before shifting attention to tools that apply machine learning to the more tedious parts of beat-making. XO, released in 2016 and still the company's most distinctive product, uses a trained classification model to scan a user's own sample library - however large or disorganized - and automatically tag each one-shot by instrument type and character, then lays them out in an explorable 2D "XO Space" instead of a flat file browser. Producers can drag combinations into a step sequencer, swap similar-sounding samples on the fly, and export finished patterns as MIDI or audio. The company remains privately held and stays small and focused, releasing updates to XO and its Addictive line rather than expanding into unrelated product categories.

Founded

2005

Headquarters

Stockholm, Sweden

Sector

applications