sitemap Operator Synthdrum

Operator Synthdrum!

synthdrum

This is an Ableton live set containing five different versions of a 16-voice, all-Operator drumkit. Also included are demo midi clips for each kit.

Operator Synthdrum (clean) in track 1 is the basic kit, save this one to your drum rack presets, if not the others. The (clean) means that all the effects are zeroed out, all rack chains set to 0 db, all drums panned center. The other four kits (Dubdrum, Bigdrum, Rockdrum, Mnmldrm) have tweaked fx, roughly mixed levels, panning, etc., for the full effect.

All in all the set contains 80 preset voices, and modules can of course be moved about freely...make it a 1000-voice kit if you wish! By default the drum racks run on all white keys, C0-D2. This corresponds with a scene mapped from C1-D3 on a padKONTROL, which I wholeheartedly recommend to get the best "feel" from these kits...many of the drums don't really come alive without nuanced velocity and aftertouch. A good controller keyboard will probably do.

About the drums:

Each of the kits contains two kicks, two snares, two hats, two toms, a clap, a ride, and six other absurdly named "drums." Each module has eight unique macro-mapped adjustments...some of these are familiar, such as "decay" on the kick, "snap" on the snare, etc. However, many of the adjustments are pretty non-traditional - I generally picked the Operator (or occasionally effects) parameters that would create the most drastic adjustments, so each of the drums can make a pretty wide and potentially harsh variety of sounds.

On the tail end of each module is a pair of effects racks that provide EQ/filter/redux/saturation/delay for each individual drum. Full disclosure: these "EFFECTS" and "ROUTING" racks are stolen from the excellent Elektron Machinedrum pack by defeq ( get it now! ), which uses Samplers instead of Operators. I used their general layout as the blueprint for these kits, but the Operator presets and macro mappings are my own demented plan. There's 30 or 40 hours of labor poured into this mess so far.

A few of the modules have one or two other effects in the chain right after the Operator...mainly Grain Delays, and a Limiter on one drum with a tendency to get out of control. :)

Why?

Because when you want a hardware drum machine, but what you have is Ableton Suite 8, a few midi controllers and $0, you have to make do.

 

*LISTEN to a song that uses Operator Synthdrum at Soundcloud

This relatively powerful toy is free to download. If you have more money than I do and really like the Synthdrum, feel free to use the button below to send me some love in the form of your dollars. The amount is up to you. If you're broke like me, well, remember me when you have your hit single.

 

DOWNLOAD - 308k zip file

(**This was created in Live 8.0.4 - may cause trouble in earlier versions)

And finally, if you need me for something, or just want to hook me up with your own modified presets for this thing, feel free to email. My name is Jason. Hope you can make some good music with the Synthdrum. :)

HOME