Erica Synths Hexdrums

The Lounge Other Gear
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I think some of the sounds that some people are finding underwhelming, or at least whelming, are ones that I think I’m going to get a ton of use out of. For example, I love shift-register based (pitched digital) noise. Absolutely love it. I use it all the time in my music, sound design, and have designed several different modular modules that use it in some way. So that portion of the snare/machine/clap modules is going to be in heavy use for me just as one example.

The rimshot module seems extremely flexible too.

I’ll probably load some non-cymbal samples into the cymbal module. :smiley:

I agree on the square. It’s a bit too much I think, and I’m thinking I’ll probably modify it in some way. Maybe follow it with a simple RC filter to tame it a bit, or at the very least, lower its output level.

Otherwise, I’m finding the sounds to be very appealing. Loving your demos by the way. Thanks for posting them!

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You’ve mad me think about using the Sherman Filterbank to process two different outputs on a drum machine with its two channels. Hmmm.

I’m definitely warming to the HexDrums, now I have user samples in the Crash and Ride channels (Cymbals module). Really widens the timbral scope of the device.

That would be really cool, I hadn’t thought of doing that. My issue with the square waveshaper on BD1 is that it sucks the click ‘punch’ out of the voice - not sure how one would bring it back, maybe somehow control the blend with an attack phase? You can of course use BD2 as the ‘click’ instead, that works nicely.

Added a couple more vids to my previous post. :smiley:

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I think it could be harder to get a real punch out of the square. In general I’ve typically found that a square wave gets mushy or sometimes thin for kicks. For basses I think it’s incredible, but that’s because you typicall low pass it a bit, which shifts the harmonics around. The first thing I thought of as I started reading that was “use BD 2 for that” :smiley: Or you could load transient samples into the cymbal channel, nad layer that maybe? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a punchy square kick that didn’t have other components to it. (hardcore, etc. seem to have a more sine/tri component mixed in, or are just a distorted/clipped kick that came from sine waves in the first place (making them SOUND a bit more square). Like I said, I love squares for bases, but I don’t think I ever use them for kicks.

I bet modding in a simple low pass RC filter after the square would make it much more usable. The nice thing is, you can test this by running the individual output through a filter, and then seeing if that helps a bit. :slight_smile: (of course the filter needs an envelope to make that work. If I did the mod, I’d hope to put it right after the square wave before the amplitude shaping just to round the wave off a bit.

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so can you turn one of the bass drum voices into a bass voice and use the other for kicks? That would be awesome and let me carry less gear.

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I think you COULD do it that way, but it would be pretty akward since you can’t sequence note values (as far as I know). I was more talking about how I find square waves more useful in general for bass sounds rather than kicks. (give or take anyway) :slight_smile:

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I need to experiment. Anyways I have plenty of bass synths the excitement will be hands on drum tweaking for me.

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Hmm I’m not liking the Hexdrums so far… why why why always 808 style hats like Syntakt etc ? :flushed: I like the cymbals as they’re samples. I love drum machines tho so I might buy a Korg Drumlogue :grinning:

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So load some hats into the cymbal module. :slight_smile:

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If you ever end up doing this mod, please get in touch. I’d love to see/hear the outcome!

I had an extensive session on the HexDrums round my mate’s house today - he has really decent preamps and Adam monitors - and the HexDrums sounded MASSIVE! But even there, the square waveshaper sucked the energy out of the BD1 transient… When engaged, the Click Level knob doesn’t seem to do anything, it’s like you say, layering is the best way to achieve punch when using BD1 in this mode. :slight_smile:

As long as you’re happy with a single-note bassline, absolutely! And the compressor helps glue things together. But as there’s no p-locks or external chromatic control of the voices, you may not find your bass desires met. :cry:

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They should have just added the Hats-D module along with the Cymbals on Hexdrums :rofl:

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This sounds interesting. I’d like to hear some of it.

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I’ve got some things up that use it. I’ll try to find them in a bit. Basically think typical 80s computer/console digital noise. C64, NES, 2600 etc. They all generate noise this way.

If you’ve use a Noisering or Turing Machine or Zorlon Cannon module clocked at audio rates, it’s more or less the same. :slight_smile:

Digitone 2 has it too as well as I think Rytm, possibly Syntakt.

Edit: Here’s something from one of my own modules (Bit Station). Around 5 minutes has some more pronounced examples:

This is a little bit different than what’s on the Hex because I route the bits a bit differently, which results in those cyclical patterns. It’s generally a bit smoother and uniform sounding on many implementations (like on the Hex, Elektrons, etc.)

Syntakt noise at 1:36 here:

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Shift-register based noise isn’t a term I’ve heard too often. But some of the sounds from the first example around the 5-minute mark remind me (in a good way) of the sorts of sound effects found in games of the 8-bit era, such as the Sega Master System. Those scratchy sounds that made one’s teeth itch. And the second example at 1:36 reminds me of the sound of scuffing boots on concrete or stone. Amazing what noise can evoke in the mind. The sound of rain on a tent, for example, or the crackling of a fire. And of course, vinyl noise.

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Definitely invokes certain things for me too :slight_smile: There are endless ways to route the bits that are responsible for this too, in order to make those fluctuating, cyclical, and seemingly random white noise styles too. It can also make some really nice low rumbles when clocked low and running through a nice low pass filter with some envelopes modulating it. Like digital/game taiko sounds or something. :smiley:

Basically, a shift register just holds X amount of bits in a row (8 in the case of mine). A clock (or VCO for example) is sent to it, which moves the bits over by one position each clock pulse. You can feed the last bit into the first, so it cycles the data through indefinitely.

You can either load it up with bits (perhaps using latches with buttons for example) which would send the data through in a repeating cycle. OR, you can do other things, like sample in bits through a compator. Like send REAL white noise into a comparator, and anything read as high goes into the shift register as a 1, and anything the comparator reads as low, goes in as a 0. This happens as they shift down based at the rate of the clock/VCO.

So you can actually set up things that sound a bit more tonal, or completely random.

Most Linear Feedback Shift Registers (like Turing Machine, Noisering, etc.) take specific bits from specific steps (taps) of the shift register, run them through a loop of XOR logic gates, then feed THAT back into the input. This configuration is basically a pseudo-random number generator, which basically makes semi-quantized white noise, like the noise on the HexDrums. I’m guessing the HexDrums is using 16-18 bits which results in a very white-ish noise. Same as the TR-909.

This is actually how computers and game consoles generate random numbers for things, and also how many PSGs, SID, and other early sound generators create noise effects, which is why it sounds like old consoles and computers. :slight_smile: C64, Atari 2600, NES, Master System, Coleco, Intellivision all do this sort of thing for some examples.

Also, the bits can get fed into a simple DAC (in my case, an R/2R 8 bit DAC) which outputs a voltage for each combination of bits in the register, and that’s where you can get pseudo-random voltages for sample and hold style patterns (though a bit more cyclical usually)

Anyway, I’ll paraphrase Scott from Harvestman/IME and say “I’m a big nerd for shift registers.” :smiley:

More examples:

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mine just arrived along with my h90 and sherman filterbank. Will get familiar with it and upload my video experience.

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Oh god no. Must not watch Baseck. If I watch the then I’m sure I’ll cave and buy it. I’ve been telling myself that no modulation = no purchase. But Baseck videos sell me on anything.

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Mine arrived and I spent few hours jamming on it. Zero regrets it is super immediate, really fun to jam on and sounds massive! I messed about with microtiming, probability, ratcheting and using it with Sherman Filterbank. Awesome drum machine! Now I want a Perkons haha. Here is a beat or two I made after work:

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What’s the consensus on the drum machine with the best analog (non-808-style) hihats? I feel like they’re all kind of similar from what I’ve heard.

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that is part of my drum quest as well. From what I can tell, it is a toss up between Roland 606 and CR-78 style hi hats. But I heard good things about Vermona DRM hi hats. One idea is try hi hat samples out in a DAW and see how they work in a mix. I actually like the claps and hi hats on the Hexdrums even though some do not. The only thing is that I wish I could have a separate OH from CH on the Hexdrums like I do on my Jomox AB and Rytm.

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