Bass drum synthesis

latigid on · Post by **latigid on** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 12:00 am

Hey all

I've just powered up a Roland SPD-11, and the drummer was very pleased to find that his acoustic bass drum can trigger the samples with just a microphone.

So we're getting some nice boomy kicks, but I am a little bit of a purist, and would like to use an analog sound. We have a Voyager, which obviously does excellent bass drums, but it would seem a little OTT to use it for just this purpose. We also tried the MAM ADX-1, but he said the sounds seemed a little too "housey." (Would a compressor fatten up the kicks?)

I have thought about getting a nice analog drum machine, e.g. X0X, but we really only want the bass drum sounds.

So really, the two options would be 1) a cheap monosynth, dedicated to bass drums, or 2) a module e.g. Analogue Solutions' BD88. Has anyone had any experience with any cheap-ish synths or modules that make great sounds? MIDI would help, but isn't nesassary.

Finally, it might just be me, but analog bass drums usually sound wierd, whereas sampled bass drums tend to be more boomy and sub-ish. Is that something I need to get used to?

Cheers
Andrew

OysterRock · Post by **OysterRock** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 2:13 am

Check this out:
http://www.audiomidi.com/MBase-01-P3827 ... 392&AFID=3

Here is a sample a buddy of mine made:
http://www.phloemlabs.com/index.html#MBase%2001

They're discontinued, but I bet you could find one on eBay.

Or you could just get a cheap sampler. Then you'd have all the bass drums you wanted.

Rogue · Post by **Rogue** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 9:53 am

With my limited knowledge, I'd agree that a sampler could be ideal.

There is also this analog drum machine, it seems to cost only about $200.

"Kick Drum with adjustable Attack, Pitch, Decay and Level. 2 programmable pitches. Individual output."

minime123 · Post by **minime123** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:55 am

i agree that a sampler would be best. it would be a shame to tie up an analog monosynth on JUST a bass drum sound when you could load up a sampler with a whole bank of bass drums (sampled from your voyager) and other sounds too, for a very nice price.
mini

MC · Post by MC » Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:20 pm

latigid on · Post by **latigid on** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:27 pm

Cheers Oyster, the MBase-01 looks pretty good, I'll just have to find one. I'd rather not sample, but perhaps a mix of analog and digital might work the best.

Thanks for that info MC

, any ideas on analog bass drum sounds

minime123 · Post by **minime123** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 7:36 pm

ditto.

Lengai · Post by **Lengai** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:58 pm

Time to bring back the Moog drum machine thread

StefanH · Post by **StefanH** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 2:20 am

i also recommend the M-Base01!
check out the Jomox Homjepage www.jomox.de

Sounddemo http://www.jomox.de/sound/mp3/MBase01_1.mp3
and http://www.jomox.de/sound/mp3/MBase01_2.mp3

i love this small machine and think that it is worth every cent, for a real analog Bassdrum it is NOT expencieve and work also with a microphone as trigger.
Fact is, that i own also the XBase09 and Xbase999, but not sell the MBase!
Very flexible and deep....

leanah · Post by **leanah** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:02 am

Lengai wrote:Time to bring back the Moog drum machine thread

i agree, the old ones got the best sounds

nicholas d. kent · Post by **nicholas d. kent** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:44 pm

Spike wrote:With my limited knowledge, I'd agree that a sampler could be ideal.

There is also this analog drum machine, it seems to cost only about $200.

"Kick Drum with adjustable Attack, Pitch, Decay and Level. 2 programmable pitches. Individual output."

I have one of those MFB 502s. Incredibly small and easy to use. The drums are kind of early sounding. Think CR-78 and those old preset boxes, though patterns are of course programmable. Not like Roland XOX or Jomox (I have an Air Base 99).

I've got an Analogue Solutions Concussor BD99. It sounds great to me. If you can power and trigger it with what you have (many people probably would need to spend a fair amount to do that) then it's by far the cheapest new option for a really solid sound.

northern hope · Post by **northern hope** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:16 am

latigid on wrote:

Finally, it might just be me, but analog bass drums usually sound wierd, whereas sampled bass drums tend to be more boomy and sub-ish. Is that something I need to get used to?

This is absolutely true, and something I've gotten so used to that I can usually spot a sampled analog kick. Sampling captures those subsonic and attack-like frequencies that seem to lose impact when they're just triggered straight from the synth over and over.

Neverthless, I've come up with some insanely powerful kicks without sampling. Resonance full up, cutoff completely down, and then it's simply a matter of adjusting the envelopes until you get the desired effect. The smallest adjustments can make a huge difference, though, and make sure you test things out in a lot of different systems. Something that sounds good in the studio might not translate well in other places....too much low end, not enough attack or mids/highs, etc. A good preamp and compression is always the ideal, as well.

latigid on · Post by **latigid on** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:45 pm

Hi N.H

Which synths do you use to make your kicks?

latigid on · Post by **latigid on** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 5:08 pm

Hey all

I just got an MBase-01 from Germany via a visiting Uncle. It is the new, blackface version (which looks much cooler IMO) released only a few weeks ago. And the SOUND IS INCREDIBLE! So deep, down to 10 Hz, I belive. 808, 909, synthy, realish, you name it. Things start getting freaky with a few LFO waveforms (which can sync to MIDI clock) and it can play three octaves of fat bass (no sustain, though).

The serial number is 606, which is kinda cool too.

So thanks for recommending the MBase; I'm gonna go and throw the SPD-11 off a 17-storey building!

OysterRock · Post by **OysterRock** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 10:08 pm

Glad it worked out! I guess the demand was great enough that Jomox reissued it. Thats cool, that thing has some crazy bass.

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Re: Bass drum synthesis