Sonicware CyDrums

The Lounge Other Gear
226

If the president of the United Snakes does what he’s threatening to do with respect to tarrifs, this thing is going to be 145% more expensive after 30 April… so I have very little time to decide.

I have no groovebox with wavetable percussion capabilities. My Roland SH-4d has 30+ wavetables, plus a host of other synthesis options… as well as a drum machine with all of the classic Roland kits.

But, I haven’t been able to replicate the ‘gabber-kick’ sound in the SH-4d yet… I’ve gotten close though.

I like to create beats and breaks on the SH-4d, and then sample them into my Elektron Digitakt II for rearrangement, and further mangling. But even then… I’m not quite hitting ‘gabber-kick’ territory.

The Sonicware CyDrums seems to be an IDM/glitch machine that excels at the ‘gabber-kick’ sound. It’s interface reminds me a lot of my Elektron Digitakt. And Sonicware machines seem to have parameter-locking too. But I don’ know how robust it’s parameter-locking capabilities are. I don’t think the CyDrums has assignable LFOs like my Digitakt does. Then again, its also only $399 until my country’s dictator decides to move forward with the aforementioned tarrifs on May day.

I own a Korg Drumlogue, a Polyend Play, a Twisted Electrons Blast-Beats, as well as the aforementioned Roland SH-4d and Elektron Digitakt II. So… I’m trying to figure myself out with respect to the decision to purchase the Sonicware CyDrums.

People have said that the Sonicware CyDrums is a very capable device that stops short of being fun. I know all about interesting grooveboxes that stop short of being fun. I own the Twisted Electrons Blast-Beats. It’s a fascinating FM groovebox/glitchbox that uses old Ensoniq Soundblaster chips… but in my experience, it is a very frustrating machine to use. The only reason that I haven’t sold it is because it’s sound is so interesting… and it makes these glitchy artifacts that I get out of no other piece of hardware in my collection.

But, the lack of fun could also be filed under ‘learning-curve-due-to-unfamiliar-interface’ as much as it could be a matter of ‘unintuitive-interface’. Trying to remember the button combinations of Korg, Roland, Polyend, Twisted Electrons, Elektron, and then Sonicware… might get to be too much.

So, I’m going to spend some time trying to replicate the crazy metallic wavetable-kick drums I hear the CyDrums making on my Roland SH-4d and Twisted Electrons Blast-Beats. If I can get it to sound nearly identical, I’m going to sample them into my Digitakt and try to forget all about the CyDrums.

I mean… I’ve been trying to consolidate my gear, and purchasing another device is the exact opposite of that.

But, every time I hear the CyDrums ‘gabber-style’ kicks, it underscores a significant hole in my arsenal of sonic capabilities. So… I may pick one up before May 1st.

Does anyone know if the wavetable being used can changed on a per-step basis via parameter-locking?

If it can… that might just convince me to pull the trigger on this thing!!

Cheers from Delco, PA!

3 Likes
227

Yes you can absolutely lock in different wave tables and wave table combinations per step. I have to say it’s extremely fun to play as well. I look up and I’ve been jamming on a 128 step sequence for an hour before I know it!

4 Likes
228

I just got mine yesterday and haven’t had a lot of time to explore it but, man, I feel like I’m on another planet with this machine. There is very little I understand. I feel it’s going to take a while for me to get comfortable with.

But I don’t feel discouraged either. I can totally relate to what you write about the BlastBeats, that can feel counter-intuitive. But after a good deal of woodsheding, you’re rewarded with a beautiful and unusual instrument. It just takes some time.

I feel the CyDrums is going to require some practice as well. But, people shouldn’t restrict their judgment on a machine to how easy-to-use it is. It should be about sound and music. We are really spoiled with Elektron’s user interfaces, but I don’t think all the machines should be like them.

5 Likes
229

I am very intrigued by the sounds of this thing, particularly in Vaag’s jams, it sounds like it’s super raw, possibly a little fatiguing like MD or the Hydrasynth?

How are people finding the absence of LFOs?

3 Likes
230

So far, quite puzzling. But that’s cool, maybe it will lead me in other directions.

231

Can you do much chance-based/generative stuff? I know there’s different play modes and probability.

Also: can you do direct-jump style pattern changes?

232

Direct jump, yes

Generative, prrrrrobably, depending on what you mean exactly

233

I guess more chance based stuff rather than real generative

1 Like
234

Yes by holding function and selecting the next pattern.

235

So… after significant internal debate, I ordered the Sonicware CyDrums.

I’m pretty excited to start parameter locking some of the wavetables to create some additional interesting percussion textures which will hopefully depart from my incessant use of breaks… or more likely complement the use of breaks.

As for the Twisted Electrons Blast-Beats, I haven’t sold it yet. I’ve been creating different percussion loops with it and sampling/loading them into other grooveboxes for further manipulation.

Here’s a few examples of what goes on lately with the different grooveboxes in the Necrobot household. Note: the laptop is only for recording purposes.

The microSD card in my Polyend Play went belly-up. So, now I have to rebuild about 10 months of tracks where that unit was being used.

Which brings me to one thing that I want to be thankful about. While it sucks to rebuild tracks, thanks to the good people I’ve come to know on Reddit, YouTube, and more recently, Elektronauts… I feel like today, I have understandings and sensibilities about what I want to do, and how to use these devices to do what I want to do… that wasn’t always there over a year ago.

I can’t wait to see how the CyDrums plays into the groovebox symphony we’re creating!!

7 Likes
236

CyDrums will be in great hands with you! I’m looking forward to hearing what you can do with it. You should print out a chart of the numbered wave tables. When you edit steps, they’re listed by number on the menu.

2 Likes
237

I hope the CyDrums will suit you!

I can’t say I’m in the honey phase with it yet, rather in the “what kind of person are you?” phase.

And great music, by the way, congrats!

2 Likes
238

Don’t normally share my videos on Elektronauts but the CyDrums is somewhat underrepresented so thought it might be appreciated. :wink:

By no means is the audio all coming from the CyDrums unit recorded during this session - I recorded the audio from the hardware, then added processing and some effects automation on top in Ableton Live, then added two more tracks of oscillator sounds I’d sampled from the CyDrums, played as polyphonic pads in Live’s Simpler device, with Arturia Fragments after them for those lush modulated soundscape washes.

So the base sounds you are hearing are 100% CyDrums, but the processing (EQ, compression, tape emulation, saturation, limiting, reverb, delay etc) are from the DAW.

16 Likes
239

Really nice sounds!!

1 Like
240

Great video, kind of music i will do with it

2 Likes
241

Raw breakbeat set. CyDrums, P-6, SP404A, vinyl. It’s dirty. Hopefully someone enjoys!

7 Likes
242

this goes hard, very sick!

1 Like
243

Thank you! I appreciate you watching it.

244

Thanks for the heads-up!! I just got mine yesterday!

It took a bit for me to wrap my head around the interface (well, I guess not too much time since I’m already working my way around the OSC, SND, FLT, AMP, MOD and EFX, and learning how I want to parameter-locking different elements.

I really love how I can shape a sound!! But, the interface isn’t quite ‘intuitive’ for me yet. I haven’t built up the muscle memory to easily navigate the different functions.

But its only been less than 24 Hours… not even the length of a Joy Division song.

So, hopefully by tonight or tomorrow (at work now… so I can’t really dive too much into the CyDrums), I’ll be pairing it with the Digitakt for some IDM/glitch/breakcore madness!!

4 Likes
245

Yes this one takes a while to learn! I wish I could change the order of the wave forms, but the progression makes sense. I’ve learned a ton by studying the presets and all of their parameters. Aftertouch can do so much! It feels like a drum nerd’s dream and I’m a drum nerd, so I’m really loving it about a month in with daily sessions! I bet you’ll feel the same.

2 Likes