Well, I don’t know, but a year later their development and marketing is all well and kicking, considering that this is a small company (3 people?). Based in Dresden, Germany.
They have just released their v1.3 firmware, and in the past days they have published several videos featuring the Digitakt 2 (among others) to show how you can not only hit notes / samples but also how to hit CC and PC changes i.e. to change presets or pitch or filter etc without leaving your sticks. Being all plain MIDI, it also integrates with any DAW. Very interesting!
What i was talking about there comes from the video directly above my comment. At 2:00 in the video this is said :
Speaker1 : Our vision for the company, is to go away from keyboard, as our name really says. So Drumbeam is the first step in that direction.
Speaker2 : Which is the musical instrument of the future.
So to clarify, AFK stands for “Alternative für Keyboard”.
To me this all indicates a road map for the company with products beyond Drumbeam, saying to me they have more gear in progress, likely using this or similar technologies.
This is right on the edge of enough for me to drop a post in the Gear in Progress thread.
AFK is on the list of exhibitors for Superbooth 2026.
Most demos and reviews out there feature the Drumbeam inserted in a drum set and played by a savvy drummer. For them, the Drumbeam is an extension for a (traditional / hybrid / digital) drum set. Of course this makes a lot of sense, but these drummers are already “away from keyboard”, two sticks in hand most of the time.
I’m not a drummer but someone interested in controllers to actually step away from (qwerty) keyboards. And I’m interested in the Drumbeam for a setup like these, playing standing with two sticks, with the Drumbeam on top of a cymbal mount (or similar) and then a Launchpad (or alternative) underneath for clip launching chords or whatever background sounds. Looks really fun, accessible for players like me with lots to learn, and very different from the usual “sit in front of a cool controller with keys / pads / knobs / faders”. Also, it is cheaper and less committing than stepping into actual drums territory. It doesn’t take much space either.
Using the Embodment Erae 2 in combination with the Drumbeam is an interesting idea… but expensive indeed. I didn’t know you could use sticks with the Erae. I found this page + videos explaining probably everything relevant about this:
But well, at least in my case the Launchpad X wins hands down:
I already have a Launchpad X, and it has been pushed more and more to the corner with the arrivals of the Roto and the Oxi One to my desk. The Erae would cost an extra 900€ (double the Drumbeam). The Launchad X new is at about 200€, and you can get second hand ones for half that price. The Launchpad Mini is even cheaper, and more than enough to launch clips and scenes.
The Launchpads are officially supported in Bitwig and they integrate well with the clip launcher. I don’t know how Bitwig’s clip launcher can be used with the Erae. There seems to be an alpha script with disclaimers developer by a volunteer.
The Erae is bigger than the Launchpads and it might be more difficult to attach to a stand and keep it stable.
All in all, it looks like the Erae would be more an alternative to the Drumbeam than a complement, for most of us anyway.
I’m sure one can launch clips and scenes from the Drumbeam, and probably also actions like next/previous scene (I will check when I get the hardware). However, that quickly takes slots away from the Drumbeam. It might be enough, especially for beginners / beginnings. But I see no reason to not use a launchpad if you have it right there, literally at your fingertips, to launch up to 8 scenes and/or up to 64 clips.
This is only a thought before actually using the device but after seeing demos and reviews, I have the impression that dedicating Drumbeam areas for PC, CC, and other actions makes sense for tight performances when you want to hit those areas quickly and at precise times. Changing a looping scene or clip is (usually) a more sporadic action that (usually) can be just queued, and in that case one might prefer the flexibility of choosing among multiple clips and scenes that a controller like a Launchpad gives.
Ok, I just got the Drumbeam plus some accessories and I have mounted everything with a Launchpad X, all connected to Bitwig.
There is zero setup: just add the Drumbeam as a MIDI controller to your DAW and if you want something beyond the 8 factory presets, connecting to the browser-based app is easy. The app itself is self-explanatory and user frendly.
The responsiveness and the velocity of the Drumbeam feels natural with the sticks. Percussive sounds just work as expected. It can be used with fingers / hands as well, but then a bit of fine tuning of the sensitiveness is probably needed. I haven’t investigated this yet. There is a “squeeze” gesture that I also want to investigate. In addition to the drum-like use cases, I believe people with imagination and time can come up with interesting stuff controlling CC / pitch / other with sticks or hands.
Ah, and turns out tapping the Launchpad X with a stick works just fine for launching/stopping clips and scenes. This is very convenient because you can keep your grip on the sticks if you want to.
I’m curious to see how I integrate this combo in my setup. First impression: this is fun!
The build quality feels very robust. I treat all my gear with care, and here I don’t have second thoughts hitting it hard with the sticks, if only to test velocity curves. It’s a single body of aluminum, there are no moving parts other than the two buttons to change presets, and the adapter to the cymbal stand feels also of good quality and doesn’t wiggle a bit.
The sticks bounce and the feeling is all in all “mechanical”, convincing. BUT I don’t have experience with electronic pads, practice pads or, really, anything with sticks. Today it’s been my first day and before that I just watched a bunch of videos about drumming with pads.
Also, I’m bad / shy at recording video. What I have done is to run a test, first grabbing each stick with only two fingers and letting them bounce as freely as I could. Then doing the same but exerting just a bit of force. I hope it helps getting an idea. Here is the audio and a screenshot where you can see the notes of the left and right hands (panned because why not) and the velocities.
I just meant to poke a pad with the stick to launch a clip. That might work.
