Hi folks. In an unexpected twist, I’ve begun to see the potential in a dedicated drum synth. I’ve always used samples for all my drums, but I can see how with the right choice. Synth drums is an area I’ve just not explored. I’m already well covered for sample based drums via XO and others. It looks like drum synths are a lot less common than sample based drums, so many of the synths are a bit older.
Looking around, I see a few options but I’m not sure if what I’m hearing is just internet chatter or a good indication. The music I make features both organic sounding samples for textures, percs, hats etc; but underpinned by classic 808/909 Roland style sounds for the core of the sound. I feel that a plugin that caters to both might be an interesting option (if that even exists), so I’d be interested to hear if any of you have had experience with any of them, or in fact if there’s a good combo out there.
Key to me would be a simple interface without the overwhelm of options to make a sound. More appropriate would be something that has solid starting points and simple dials to adjust. I do like SugerBytes stuff, but I found Drumcomputer tended towards the esoteric. On board sequencing is always good, but if the synth can be sequenced by MIDI, then there’s no need to worry about that, since Logic has its own sequencer.
The wishlist:
Microtonic: I hear so many good things about this. Aside from the sequencer (can it be sequenced externally?) and the GUI (which can be skinned?) this sounds like it has a real mix of sounds, that range from classic to synthesised & organic. Can be useful for main drums but also for percs & backups.
Visco: The new kid on the block. I’ve got this and am playing with it. Not totally sure about the blob as an interface, but I love what it’s trying to do. Since it’s resynthesis in a similar vein to Synplant, this could in theory make both synth like and organic sounds.
Heartbeat: Looks like a nice way to get simple classic tones from what I can see. Seems to be a combo of “classic” sounds rather than a direct emulation of a specific box.
D16 Drum Machines: I have a real soft spot for the 808, so Nephoton would be of interest for sure, potentially more so than Drumazon. The bundle seems decent too, however it is also quite power hungry in terms of CPU. Quite like the pattern editor and the option to choose patterns via MIDI, so it’s a set & forget setup from a song perspective. Also the sounds seem very high quality with little tweaking which is always a plus.
Anyone have any specific takes on each of these and which ones passed the long term use test?
I think there’s a lot of untapped potential in Visco still waiting for someone to tinker enough with it. You can get some really cool & precise sounds out of it
Battallion looks insane. I think the biggest key here would be to get something that you can easily map to a hardware MIDI controller. The best part about a hardware drum machine for me is the ability to sequence and live perform into the DAW. I get the best arrangements that way because im not copying and pasting on a grid.
It can be sequenced externally.
It can be skinned
I used to think it has a unique sound, but after they released the classic modes I could safely back away from that. It covers lots of ground in a very easy interface.
Plus there this: Sonic Charge - Patternarium for additional sounds and inspiration.
Next, there’s the Pocket Operator PO-32 which allows you to add sounds from Microtonic to the PO with A/B morphing capabilities (if the patch was setup that way).
Heartbeat, to me, is probably one of the best sounding software drum machines out there. I don’t use it enough, but damn… it gets a lot right. I think this one goes on sale often too.
I’m not familiar with the others. I keep Drum Computer on the iPad to mess around with, but never tried to make it a dedicated drum source (and I probably should change that).
Battalion layers a synth engine with a sample for each of the 8 tracks……, like the rytm.
Interface isnt necessarily clean or simple but the way it does randomization is wild and fantastic. The 808 esque sounds in some of the presets are giant.
The company also says they are committed to improving etc over the long haul.
Sorry i have not tried the others you actually mention but in my brief research on topic and then discovery of battaltion, the search was complete! For now:).
Do you happen to use Ableton? I like to make my own drum instruments from the stock instruments/effects and from various VST synths and fold them neatly in a rack with restricted parameter ranges so it only makes the drum sounds and textures I want. The result is sort of like a synthesis machine in Elektron boxes, but in ableton. Plop the instruments in a drum rack and it’s easily sequence-able and controllable via the elektron boxes. You can go as far as building an entire drum machine this way. Could be something to try if the VST’s don’t do it for you and if you want specific Drum sounds.
If you have zebra and Ableton live I’d be happy to share some example racks
Thanks for mentioning that. I don’t use Ableton and I’ve been curious about Fors stuff. I didn’t realize they made an actual plugin! Tela looks really cool
Cheers, a nice hidden thread! Yeah 808/909 is the main area I’m looking at. It would be cool if something did both synth and organic sounds (which is what I think Visco is aiming at) but 808/909 is cool if that’s the main emphasis.
I think initially I’m somewhere between the all in one Heartbeat, and picking up a couple of the D16 ones. I really like 808 sounds most of all, so Nepheton2 might be the ticket, but I do like how Heartbeat gives you pretty much an 808/909. I hear Maschine integration is a bit broken but some of the NI community have worked out how to make it still work so that could be something to check.
The nice thing about the D16’s is that you get the sequencer, and I do think the controls are pretty simple to get into, so that’s something but they do use a fair bit of CPU.
That’s interesting, I use Reaper as my main DAW (and only for recording/basic editing) but I have a Live Lite licence I got with some hardware. Any suggestion on where to look for a more detailed explanation on how to do this? Sequencing drums in the DAW from my Elektrons would be great.
I still use Arturia spark in 2024. Sure I have microtonic and drumcomputer, but I just love messing with samples and the available synth engine in spark. Also the spark le controller is still fun to use (it is not needed to use the software).
As far as I know live Lite doesn’t have the external instrument device that links to hardware which is how I have it set up. You probably might be able to get around that by dropping an overbridge on each drum pad in Ableton. I’ll try setting it up in Live Lite sometimes to see if it works and I’ll update you. The way it works with external instrument is on each pad of the drum rack it send MIDI to a single channel and receives audio from that same channel. And you have one of those on each drum pad corresponding to a track.
If you want to only send MIDI you probably don’t need external instrument and can just use the MIDI tracks on you Elektron box via midi cable (or overbridge) and set it up so the trig’s play drum pads in Ableton and the knobs can be mapped to racks. On Syntakt I can do this with the MIDI machines. I’m not sure how the other boxes do it.
Microtonic is pretty awesome and my top pick. UI is a bit dated, but it supports skins and there are lots of rumours of a v2 in the works
Drum computer great for weird sounds and randomisation, but it’s complicated and it’s not amazing at bread and butter sounds like massive punchy kicks etc
D16 Drumazon - Alright, but too CPU intensive and didn’t wow me
Kick 2 - Amazing for Kicks as you might imagine, but can do other stuff (not tried it)
Bitwig - Has pretty decent drum synths built in.
Bonus option - Ruismaker there are a few of these and I think maybe iPad only, but they sound excellent!
