it is not what I thought it would be, for example I was under the impression that one can live perform synth parameters with the Velocity and AT sensitive Pads while a pattern is playing. But one can’t [unless I am mistaken!].
And even though it tries hard to be like an Elektron, the interface is really off-putting (a lot of it is, actually), and fun never really commences …
Lots of anti-user-friendly quirks, as an example: sometimes “OK” being the “OK” button, but sometimes the black button on the right below the Display when it says “OK” there …
On the positives: It can sound good and crisp, and the flexible routing to the effects busses enabling similar sound design possibilities as on Syntakt. And it can sound brutal.
For me, personally, I do have a Syntakt. And a Digitone II if I want wavetable drums (Either FM drum, turning up the wavefolder and modulating Harm Wavetable - or - Wavetone, adding Phase Distortion and modulating Harm Wavetable - gives a very similar effect.)
Agreed, the interface is just weird. Takes a while to figure out what does what and where. Have you tried saving and naming a sound yet? It’s really weird bouncing between using the rotary knobs to the side and buttons under the display to using the D-pad and A/B buttons. Also some buttons click and others don’t, with no apparent visual cues. These things make me appreciate the Elektron UI/UX so much more!
SonicWare’s ambitions seem hampered by odd design choices. Like, yeah, the Digi line has basically the same setup, but Elektron managed to make them all make sense despite the differences between the various engines. SonicWare put the CyDrums in the same box as a sampler, including the microphone, which don’t make much sense on a synth. It’s weird.
On the plus side, it is capable of putting out some really beastly sounds! CyDrum is a kickdrum monster. Snares can sound really tasty. Hats can be crisp, bass thick… The sequencer has locks… Really impressive stuff considering the price. It just feels a bit… Odd, you know what I mean?
And it REALLY makes me want that Elektron wavetable synth of my dreams!
I’ve had my CyDrums freeze up a couple of times in the last 24 hours - it was while messing with the Pitch control on the Sound parameter. Only way to turn it off was to disconnect the power from the back of the unit. I didn’t lose anything, but imagine I’d be a bit miffed if I had!
Nailed it. This was my lofi xt end experience…
It should be a dynamic, fast and expressive, but everything ends up a bit stilted and stunted with the workflow.
I’m still ever hopeful they drop some updates that switch things up for the human box interplay.
Or someone creates a new fw one day that prioritises speed, performance and fluidity. It should be more fun than it is.
It’s one of those devices that fills out a specs sheet quite nicely - a recipe of many ingredients, where the resulting meal lacks a certain something. It’s definitely not bland - far from it - but given the choice I’d likely slim down the ingredients next time.
That said, I really do love the sound design - dual wavetables with a noise and transient source offers so much potential. And there are loads of algorithms, including several that let you progressively blend the two wavetables together with FM or AM. The available timbres are vast in scope.
Dare I say it, the CyDrums feels like the best bang-for-buck digital kick drum synth on the market. To my mind, it excels at super niche, almost physical modelling percussive sounds, like the jangling of keys, tapping on pots of various substances like clay, marble and metal… The sound world of the CyDrums I’ve been inhabiting has been a cold, dark place, but I’m enjoying my stay.
Cydrums is not very intuitive at all, for example if I press a few steps in the step sequencer then decide I want to change pitch/note on some of those steps, god only knows how you do it, setting the length of a step sometimes works then other times it doesn’t, hold your finger down on a step to tweak the A,B,C,D knobs to add some parameter locking only to find when you remove your finger from the step the step is muted (so frustrating, maybe I’m doing it in the wrong mode)
To be honest just adding an effect has me scratching my head.
Maybe its all user error but one thing is for sure, the headphone jack position is f*cking pathetic, if your sat in bed its stuck in your belly.
I really want to like this machine but I’m back on my elektrons at the moment.
Sometimes I wonder if I can be so wrong, but then I remember all the devices that are so easy to use in comparison … off the top of my head … All the Elektrons, Hydrasynth, Opsix, Novation Circuits, Nord Drum, Beatstep Pro, … a bit less Blast Beats, Volca Drum, …
(Disclaimer: I haven’t used CyDrums yet, I’m basing my comment off of what I’ve seen through YouTube demos and read from others)
It’s always interesting to me how the landscape changes for hardware. If this box came out in the mid-2000s (maybe imagine a different screen) it would have been a big deal despite the weak interface and bugs. Of course a lot changes in 20 years, and I’m not saying it to defend CyDrums in 2025. Just thinking of all the bad interfaces and limitations of gear in the past…
I really like that there’s a segment of the market for deep sound design in a relatively small price bracket. If Sonicware could come out with firmware updates to fix the more glaring difficulties, this could really be a good value.
This seems like a pretty standard Sonicware release, at least according to my assumptions based on past threads about their gear. A very cool synthesis engine and idea held back by bugs, mediocre build quality, and baffling UI/UX decisions. It’s a bummer it is turning out like this, but not surprising.
To compensate for only having four encoders, they made pairs of parameters, which are toggled by clicking the encoders, and they made the screen being able to display two shades of yellow, to indicate which set of parameters is active.
However, if there were eight encoders (there’s room enough on the left side where the speaker sits) and a bigger screen …
I don’t know what’s the deal, maybe the courage to create a 700 Euro device (instead of a 500 Euro device). Maybe that’s a future step, the Deluxe series
It gets so confusing to know what controls what when you have the more complicated algorithms. The right one controls the bottom parameter, the left encode the middle one… It’s a mess.
Edit/Update: I’ve been working with the CyDrums all morning and it’s so satisfying to find sweet spots in all the tonal shaping options. There really is a ludicrous amount of sound design available in this box. I love the various playback modes for the wavetables, how you can have different playback modes for both wavetables with different scan speeds, I enjoy modulating those shelving filters and making stuff sound really weird.
Would be cool to be able to play with these sounds in a quick and musically pleasing way beyond the keyboard. I was reminded earlier how fun it is to play with the Korg EMX-1’s arpeggiator strip - it was such an intuitive way to come up with crazy riffs! Would love something like that on the CyDrums.
They do a lot of the time, but others, no… It’s weird. The parameters that the encoders control are lit up, and clicking them in makes other ones light up instead. But it gets so confusing when the left encoder controls the top parameter, the right one the bottom etc.
Having had and sold the SmplTrek, my problem with that form factor wasn’t the number of encoder. Was that the screen was just too small. There’s they could easily increase the price of the product and it would’ve been fine
