Funny thing, everytime I watch tutorials where people are using the Drumbus device in Ableton, then it sounds great. But when I try to use it myself, my sound becomes woody and muddy. And yes I do try to tweak the parameters to taste. Maybe I should try eq before and after, and also save an initial preset where Drumbus is not so overly loud
Mostly I end up using Small Radiator, Saturator and EQ8 on a drum group Oh! And the SSL Drumstrip that I just got with my SSL 2+ is also a new fave.
Oh, but since I don’t use click anyways, I guess that instead of using the 2nd lfo for Synth Mix, I should use it for modulating the pitch as well, but at a slightly different setting. That should make it more full.
Edit:
Oh wait, click is not what modulating the Synth Mix is doing.
It’s doing modulation between the X and Y, so the sound gets sort of layered between the 2, so it becomes fuller, as long as I have it set the mult on 1, so that it doesn’t become flabby.
So I messed around a bit more and could still not get the sound I was looking for. Maybe I need something analogue haha. I like the AR kicks more for once. Very easy to get 909 kind of kicks with the Hard BD. I don’t really like any of the Mbase11 demos though. But I really do like the Erica Synths Bass Drum. Just a bit to expensive, when you don’t already have eurorack. Kick Lancet is a little tame, but seems to have a quite full body. With some overdrive it’s not bad. DFAM can be good, but needs a lot of processing.
But I did like several of the M:C kicks in the demos. More so than the ones in the DN demos.
I did figure out that with algorithm 8 on DN you could get some nice overdriven sounds with the feedback set low.
And there’s not a single one of the presets that I really like. Mega Kick and a couple of others is fine, but still not ideal for me.
I still need to try and layer with a sample.
Have to dive into it but i know what you mean. My friend came over couple of weeks ago with MC and those kicks smacked the PA. While most of the DN kicks sound ok ish, i noticed the oumph from MC .For the overall sounds i liked my DN better but it suprised me too: Gonna dig deeper in DN, perhaps the kicks need unison 2 spread 0 /1 to match volume.
Could a couple of extra lfo’s help make DN kicks fuller?
Edit:
Ess mentioned once that they used compression curves, whatever that means. Shouldn’t an lfo in oneshot mode modulating some sort of gain be able to do that?
And 909 kicks. I think I remember that there’s something about clipping or something to get that caracter. But what else is there. How many envelopes do they use to modulate the pitch. Do they stack 2 voices or something? Haha.
But I mean, I could easily do that on DN. Maybe it’ll be good.
In the example above I remember now I used master overdrive, not amp overdrive, which is stronger. After filters unfortunately.
Feedback definitely helps for attack, kind of overdrive you can tame with filters.
I planned to use Analog Drive with DN kicks. You can use it as an insert in DN (using an hard pan output and one input).
I already did it, but especially for acidish synth.
AD Big Dist
The compressor-esque envelopes in MC are quite specific but you can get close with the DN by using an exponential LFO shape that fades in so that the initial attack hits hard, ducks a bit and then comes back in.
It’s a lot of juggling with different things as any modulation, pitch sweeping etc will affect transients and bass response etc - it’s a good idea to slap the HP filter on it with a bunch of resonance. I usually apply some filter modulation to that too so it really booms.
Like a beefy 909-in-spirit:
(Clean first then with master overdrive + other stuff, just straight out the DN)
But yeah obviously the MC has a few more tricks that really makes it punch in these specific ways, and that’s why it’s a drum machine and the Digitone is a synthesizer!
the model:cycles kicks are crazy good. theres a very transient heavy click, but also muffled, i suppose due to compression and the ultra snappy envelopes. not sure you can replicate that on the dn. i was not aware of the internal compression but that makes a lot of sense.
the rytm can so some insane kicks though. BD Classic with osc 0 or 1 and the C, D, & E ( i mostly use C1) Transients (very clicky), tuned low, short sweep decay, 12 o’clock hold time, lp1 filter, auto hold on env with short (abt 19) decay, very low to 0 overdrive and pumping compression settings (max ratio, low thresh, atk 30, rel .1, lpf sc eq. It can do the muffled, shorter decay kicks (909-esque) very well
i think drum bus sounds good, but i think the Eventide Omnipressor is the absolute best for ultra snappy thud kicks
i dont remember the exact settings but i think it was something like this
I’m fiddling DN with a scope and it seems that with the modulators retrigger on, i cant manage to create a full wave amplitude on 0 attack It always kinda fades millsecond in amplitude wise as if the envelope attack won’t kick in at 0. With the modulator retriggers off the transient is massive while sequencing but not when you just hit a key. Gonna explore some more and share my observings. At the moment i have a decent kick but…it’s fluctuating volume wise and there is absolutely no modulation that is not retriggered with every shot applied.
The good part, i’ll probably hit happy accidents along the way ending up with a japanese 40ft drumsound
