This morning I was stuck at my desk doing some long and very boring things for work, and decided to kill the time by trying to make two of my drum machines sound as close as possible to each other.
Here’s what I ended up with, which do you like better? To preserve objectivity, I will refrain from saying which is which until later on.
EDIT: Added a second example, same machines, same format, different beat. Digitone provides a little melody on the second half of both tracks. (For science.)
Are the sounds synthesized or sampled? There’s a big difference between the kicks, and I’m curious if that was because of the limitations of the device or if your headphones (assuming you used headphones at the office!) didn’t have the range to monitor those low frequencies.
I added a second beat attempting to address this, does your opinion change or stay the same? Thanks for the H/T for the pattern.
@panelist these are synthesized drums. I was at home, in front of monitors, but at very low volume and not paying particular attention to the low end. I did another one to see if I could make the A kick as beefy as B.
Alright one more then I will reveal. In this one I tried to let each machine do what it does best. I picked my favorite saved kits and did minimal tweaking to give them the same composition, but left the sounds pretty much alone.
If it had been solo drums I’d have said B, but A goes so much better with the digitone parts. And B is even a bit annoying in that context. Really like the parts of test 2 when it’s A+melody
A digital B analog? I’m listening on laptop speakers and they really sound pretty different.
The melodies sound like an old sega genesis game - quality fm tones.
@jeffe both digital. @Clancy and @panelist guessed correctly. @phaelam after the first test the sounds diverged quite a bit, I admit this wasn’t anywhere near scientific. This was two drum machines competing on my desk for space and mixer inputs.
Synth A = Sonic Potions LXR
Synth B = Nord Drum 2 (sequenced via Digitakt)
On test 1 I think the Nord Drum 2 walked away with it.
On test 2 the ND2’s kick got sloppy and I think the LXR’s tight sound prevailed.
On test 3 I think it’s a tie, though when the melody comes in the ND2 cowbell gets annoying.
I feel like the Nord can sound bigger and boomier but can be more challenging to fit into a mix due to the space it takes up. However it also is a really competent monosynth, and I’ve done entire tunes with it.
The LXR, on the other hand, tends to be pretty tight and precise. It’s sequencer can divide each step into 8ths and 3 of it’s engines are basically 2 oscillator VA or 2 op FM with a multimode filter so you can get a pretty huge array of sounds from it. It’s definitely more flexible in terms of modulation whereas the ND2 is quicker and has a bit broader palette.
I am leaning towards keeping ND2 on the desk because while the LXR does sound great, I don’t need another sequencer, and I can get close enough to it with the Nord. (and sample it with the DT!)
I’ve actually found, through this exercise, that the ND2 and LXR really complement each other nicely. I was on the verge of selling the ND2 but I’m definitely planning to keep it. It pairs so nicely with the Digitakt.
I will probably sample the bejeezus out of the LXR and eventually pass it on or put it on a shelf for safekeeping only because it is a tad quirky, and yet another sequencer to manage. But it is shockingly good for a 0.37 release of a semi-DIY device!