I want to start exploring the thought of adding drums into my patches. I’ve got stuff by Autodafe, Hora. However, I’d like to kick it up a notch. I’m kinda inspired by System 80’s 800 module. But I’m also geeking over the Analogue drums by Entrian. But upon review, It kinda feels out of place with what I want to do. Tipping me closer to the Sequencer and drums by hora.
I’m not saying I’ve made up my mind, yet. I’m looking for what you all have to say. What do you use, why do you use it?
And can it be blended into an ambient track. I’m looking for something that can be blended into ambience and electronic music.
I find it strangely difficult to make beats that satisfy me, so I tend to be fairly reluctant in my use of drums. That said, Plaits’ drums are nice for minimal things and can blend seamlessly between tonal and (purely) percussive content, Trummer² usually is my default for kicks (and ~shakers via Noise!), Hora* Hi-Hat of course and the Lomas sampler for claps and snaps.
(*the complete drum collection is something I don’t have, yet)
I’d echo the suggestion to use Trummor2 because it’s great but I also like to use it’s ext slot to mix in a little Lindrum via Autodafe Kick. Other stuff I have used include SV Modular, Starling Meta, Fehler Fabrick Psi-Op, Erica Pico Drums and (a long time ago) MSCHack Synthdrums.
Also don’t forget that it’s not that hard to make your own percusion out of preexisting oscilators and filters.
That’s definitely something I will be experiment with. I’m starting to lean towards what mimics the Roland TR-808. But, I love to still experiment with stuff. I gotta say, I’ve never been this much in to playing around with synths till I found VCV Rack.
I really enjoy creating my own drums using FM. TBH, my results are usually not as “good” as I can get when I use Trummor(2), Atelier Palette, or one of the many sample-based drum modules, but a) the effort better satisfies the itch that I use Rack to scratch & b) I do tend to find the results more “synthy” and compatible with the music I’m trying to create. (Though filtering and other post-drum-module manipulations can also produce the kind of character I’m trying for as well.)
And if you want to get some acoustic drums for VCV, I recommend the new Squinky Labs SFZ Player. Lots of free acoustic drum sample libraries out there!
As far as electronic drums, I have a bunch from “Samples From Mars”, but they aren’t free. I think a while ago they had some super sale "get everything for $40 or something, so I did. Anyway, they have a lot of samples of older drum machines.
For VCV Rack, I tend to gravitate to Trummor2 for the kick and Hora hihat for the hihat, not the sampled ones because these modules allow me to modulate the sound for a bit of variation. The Trummor is nice and heavy and the Hora has built in close, open and accented hihats. Still need a good snare and rim click (I like rim clicks) that offer the same. If I want samples I guess I can get them from my TR-8S and use some sample post processing for the variation … oh … that’s a thought
I should probably rewatch that; it is a good one. Thanks for the reminder. Perhaps @AlexanderWolle might find it inspiring too. The nice thing about synthesizing your own percussion using techniques like this is that you can spice it up or dial it back according to the role you want it to play in your piece.
BTW @Squinky, when I do FM percussion, your Basic VCO and Kitchen Sink are two of my go-to modules, so thanks for those as well.
You could always try combining different modules to build up the sound.
I was working on something last night and ended up mixing together Audible Instruments’ “Macro Oscillator 2”, Hora’s “Snare Drum”, and two instances of Vult’s “Trummor”. It ended up being a sort of “fuller” sounding large snare. Or a Tommy Gun, if you speed up the sequencer’s clock.
For drums, nobody mentioned the excellent “Palette” of Atelier which is based on the “Plaits” of mutable instruments. You can really obtain hyper impacting and rich percussions.
Thank you for all the responses. This definitely is giving me a lot of ideas. I think tonight, I’ll set aside some time to play around a bit. I’m finalizing a patch I hope to have up tonight. And one in my head.
