Really curious to see how this plays with an external sequencer. Love the Vermona drum sounds but love my oxi one, think it would be a blast to combine the two.
If I could just get this crossed with the pulsar 23 that would be best of both worldsā¦
1 Like
Love this unit so far, sounds really good. Love the size and look.
Only question: Can you parameter lock different samples per step on the same track?
(It has 32 sample slots per project, but only 6 tracks).
I got a super cheap Digitakt 1 recently. I made a spot for it next to my Moog Messenger so I basically have been using only messenger sounds into the DT.
Drums, blips, zings, etc. Iām only working with sounds I created on the Moog. Iām enjoying it and I have a clip in the ālatest gear and intensionsā thread. Iāve also used every synth Iāve owned to make drum sounds and full songs at some point.
Anyways. While functionally I have similar bits and pieces the Drumding has to offer, you could say the same about nearly any DAW with only a touch of straw man.
This might start to illustrate that most great machines find a way to be greater than the some of their parts. Iām not sure if this will be one of those machines. It looks really unique and novel in its selection of limitations and design choices. Itās right up my alley. Iām in a bit of a gear freeze otherwise I would be considering it more seriously.
If the specific way it operates and balance of limitations to creative workflow speak to you, donāt worry so much about the specific features and specs. At the end of the day itās the full package that matters.
5 Likes
This is not about the cv nor the fill question, so I assume itās about song mode / pattern chaining?
To make things as simple as possible for this user, that would be really helpful. I like to play rhodes, synths, effects, while the drum machine is doing its thing. No chaining means either extra work and less play, or having to control the drumding over midi for changing pattern, which is a lot more convoluted than an internal way of doing this. And some machines have pretty simple implementations of song mode, so I hope it will be there in a very userfriendly way. If not, midi is the way, but not the simplest wayā¦
1 Like
My impression from the short time with the DD is that thereās nothing there that canāt be covered with some combination of other boxes. The Drumding is no match for say, an Octatrack coupled with a simple monosynth. Its genius is in its simplicity/limitations and its immediacy.
I think the Drumding will appeal to those who accept/embrace these limitations and take it for what it is. I also think that it will frustrate those who expect specific features or functions from it, or compare it feature-wise with Elektrons or others.
I donāt think Vermona have a history of updating their instruments along the way either? I guess I expect them to fix whatever bugs are discovered early on, but as soon as thatās out of the way I wouldnāt expect future updates for the DD.
8 Likes
Thanks, thatās exactly why Iām interested. I want simplicity and immediacy in the workflow, with the potential for deeper sound design. The analog part, internal resampling and external sampling can take you pretty far, sequencer seems really good as well, I think the ALT is a great idea.
Hexdrums and perkons are not for me, as they really have to be āplayedā live, they need your full attention. This looks more like a drum machine that I can play when I want to, and have fun doing it, but play along with once the patterns are programmed.
I tend to play music in periods, so complicated stuff like an octatrack donāt work well for me, as I have to relearn part of the workflow every time.
Did you check that fill button? Any idea how it works?
I will assume for now that there is no song mode or pattern chaining. Chaining or sampling on the mpc can solve that, will have to see later onā¦
1 Like
Isnāt all of their other stuff analog, including the analogsynthesizer? No control over parameters on that one. This is a collaboration, because they did not have any experience with sequencers. So weāll have to see how they approach firmware updates, who knowsā¦
I still wonder why they did not come up with a DRM with sequencer/locks/fx. Technically not possible? Too expensive?
1 Like
Sorry, no. It was the first time I saw one IRL, and there were others in line waiting to play it so I didnāt have that much time with it. But I really liked it. Very immediate, creative and fun.
The sound generation part yes, but I bet there must be some simple digital stuff in many of their synths and modules? But yeah, I guess this is more complex on the digital side than anything theyāve done before. You are right, we will just have to wait and see how they approach the firmware side of it. I guess this is new ground for Vermona as well.
In one of the interviews, he says that this exact question is what lead to the drumding.
A digitally controlled drm was not the answer for them, so they developed a single voice based on the drm voices, the sample idea and the digital part with pitch shifting, effects, ā¦
Which to me is more flexible and interesting, but I have never used a drm, so what do I know.
2 Likes
Hi there, does anybody here know if it will be possible to control the analog voiceās parameters via MIDI, or if MIDI control will be limited to the digital section once a sound has been sampled?
Iād really like to send random values from my OXI E16 to the analog voiceās parameters to generate random drum sounds at the press of a button. However, Iām assuming this probably wonāt be possible. Iād be happy to be proven wrong, though. Does anyone know for sure?
Regarding pattern chaining, @pitrak: There is a button called āChainā on the front panel (above sequencer step 3), so some sort of chaining will be possible I suppose.
1 Like
The most logical reason for this would be to go back to the settings of the sampled voice and tweak it. Since in the demos this is done by ear, I would think there is no digital control. Not listed in the specs eitherā¦
There is one cv input, but no idea what it is for.
Duh 
Thank you, thatās really great news! This will replace my syntakt then, just preordered.
1 Like