Drum Loop through Analog Heat (audio)

Elektron Gear Analog Heat
#1

A very dynamic vintage drum loop has been put through the 8 distortion circuits of the Elektron Analog Heat.
The 4-bar drum loop is performed live by underground New York drummer Evan Pazner. It was made using a late 1960’s Ludwig drum kit similar to the kit used in the famous Amen break.

The 4-bar loop is played 2 times for each circuit.

  • 1st time: Drive = 100 and Dirt = 0
  • 2nd time: Drive = 100 and Dirt = 100

The processed sounds are 100% wet.

The original recording is played twice at the beginning and twice again at the end.

The RMS level has been kept constant at -18dBFS for the whole recording.

Below you can see the waveform of the recording with the different circuits used.
As you can see the peak levels are very different for a constant RMS recording!

Distortion
Distortion.jpg1523×901 390 KB

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Analog Heat and master buss processing
#2

Interesting, thanks for doing this…

#3

interesting comparison, thank you for sharing, but I’m a little confused - you were surprised by these results? the whole design is about introducing artifacts and non-linearities using custom analog processing with who knows what kind of gain staging happening inside each custom circuit to produce saturation and distortions. the entire workflow is about various types of gain control and the way it interacts with the other processing

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#4

Yes for a novice like me that had no clue about soft clipping or distortion a couple days ago.
I confess the above exercice was too simplistic with the Drive and Dirt parameter at a fixed value and the 100% wet signal.

I will redo the exercice with more subtleties and try to play with the Dry/Wet knob especially for the last circuits.

As for the gain staging, I have just understood that the Drive and and Dirt knob are just gain control!!!
The first before the distortion circuit and the second before the filter.

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#5

Messing with distortion is kinda like making soup, it becomes an instinct driven thing with the various gainstages once you’ve made a few bowls. At first you tend to overcook alot, its a part of the process! enjoy

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#6

Below, you can see the waveforms from the recording I made for the first post audio example.
It shows the beginning of the first kick from the drum break.
On the left, the Drive is set at 100 and the Dirt at 0 and on the right, both the Drive and the Dirt are set at 100.

Waveforms 1-4
Waveforms 1-4.png831×742 37.1 KB

Waveforms 5-8
Waveforms 5-8.png833×745 29 KB

A couple of observations can be made:

  1. the phase of the waveform seems to have been inverted by the Rough Crunch and the Round Fuzz circuits
  2. the Dirt parameter should be set to a very high level (at least higher than 100) for it to begin to have an effect on the audio source
  3. the clipping of the waveform is apparent (the transient of the kick). For certain circuits, they are more apparent than for others.

It illustrates quite well what @tsutek was saying so rightfully in his ‘just-above’ post about the various gainstages we are given to manipulate. Their sensitivities are very different from circuit to circuit.

I’m off to make some soup (with the help of my ears this time) :wink:

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#7

Regarding this phase issue I was mentioning in my previous post, I guess you won’t get the same result if you mix the dry and wet signals in your DAW than the one you have mixed inside the HEAT.

Have someone tried to mix the dry and wet signal in a DAW? What was your results?

#8

I took the same vintage drum loop and apply some “heat” to it! This time with more subtleties.

I haven’t used either the filter (dirt at zero) or the eq (other than the default settings from each circuit).

The 8 circuits in succession with the dry loop between each of them.

I think it’s a good showcase of the different distortion circuits applied to an acoustic drum loop.

Next: same exercice with a drum loop from the Rytm and one from Microtonic.

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#9

Another one :wink: this time with a drum loop from my Machinedrum :angry:

Like the other two, the 8 circuits have been engaged in succession

The novelty is that there are two versions for each circuit:

  • one without modulation, only the distortion circuits
  • a second with a negative drive envelope

The second version allows for the transients not to be impacted by the distortion, only the areas around the peaks. Thanks to @William_WiLD and @tsutek for the tips

Have a listen. There is a change after each CRASH! And I put the dry loop between each circuit.

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#10

Hey that stand of your looks nice! Where did youu get one for the heat?

#11

I don’t own one. I was just looking for a nice picture!
I found the link to it all the same …

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