Drum Machine for death industrial/Power electronics?

Started by latexcity, July 15, 2020, 08:33:24 PM

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latexcity

I've only started on this journey since April but I currently have a fairly nice set up I'm using to make industrial noise, a few synths, a mixer, some pedals etc.

However I feel like a drum machine is the one thing I am missing currently, I would really like to experiment with one and try imitating the thick and heavy classic 80s style PE drums.

Unfortunately I can't seem to find any videos online of drum machines being used for this kind of music so I have no clue what kind of one I should be looking into. or how pedals can alter the sound to make it how I want?

Any recommendations or advice either for effects to add to a drum machine or a particular drum machine would be great.



cosmonaut

That old thread does have a lot of nice suggestions (esp Korg ER1, if you can find one for a reasonable price, it is a goldmine for DI sounds). When it comes to newer machines, the electribe sampler is not very expensive and, in spite of some well known brutal limitations ( that in my view really matter, in the end, only if one wants to play live conventional dance music) it allows you to load up (or directly sample) your own sounds, and you could use it both as a substitute for the ubiquitous SP-XXX sampler a plurality of noisemakers seem to love, and as a proper drum machine. Recently grabbed a Moog DFAM, that seems to be popular with the last generation of Euro heavy electronics (and some older acts, like Wertham iirc). I do not understand it fully yet but it covers, at a minimum, the synthetic Leichenschrei-era SPK sounds, as well as basic distorted bass drum territories.

Atrophist

Which synths and pedals are you working with now, and what's your budget? Will you klock your synths with the drum machine, or the other way around? Will you use midi or cv to do that?

Soloman Tump

I purchased a second hand Volca Drum, and it is pretty powerful for the price. 16 patterns, 16 different drum kits, 6 instruments at once, you can edit loads while it is playing. Great value for money Nd sounds impressive too.

Also with new 3rd party software you can save / create kits and patterns. Well worth a look if you don't want to break the bank.

host body

Digitakt if you don't need it to be analog. It's the most powerful sampler for the price available and capable of much more than just sequencing drum patterns, but it excels as being a drum machine as well. Only negative is the lack of song mode or ability to program pattern chains. If you really want an analog device, Moog DFAM is a beast.

If you're on a budget, I'd just go with a drumbrute or a similar low cost analog drum machine. Volcas are ok but too limited (for example, only mono output I think?) when considering that you can get a used, proper analog drum machine for just a little bit more.

Soloman Tump

Volca drum is stereo, you can pan each instrument independently too. Not sure about previous models. It has song mode so you can chain patterns.

An other great feature is that each instrument has the option of changing length of pattern so you can easily create complex polyrhythms.

DFAM is my dream purchase... Maybe one day


Euro Trash Bazooka

I use a Drumbrute, the first model. I like to add a compressor as well as a diy fuzz pedal with a blend on it in the signal path at times.
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host body

Quote from: Soloman Tump on July 16, 2020, 06:03:09 PM
Volca drum is stereo, you can pan each instrument independently too. Not sure about previous models. It has song mode so you can chain patterns.

An other great feature is that each instrument has the option of changing length of pattern so you can easily create complex polyrhythms.

right, well that sounds useful then! not a bad piece of gear for around 100 euros used.

Eigen Bast


theworldisawarfilm

Quote from: latexcity on July 15, 2020, 08:33:24 PM
I've only started on this journey since April but I currently have a fairly nice set up I'm using to make industrial noise, a few synths, a mixer, some pedals etc.

However I feel like a drum machine is the one thing I am missing currently, I would really like to experiment with one and try imitating the thick and heavy classic 80s style PE drums.


Not to be 'that guy' but given this information I'd venture you're safe using basically anything. I can't think of many classic PE releases with 'thick and heavy' drum sounds, but maybe I am just ignorant.

latexcity

Quote from: Atrophist on July 16, 2020, 05:00:40 AM
Which synths and pedals are you working with now, and what's your budget? Will you klock your synths with the drum machine, or the other way around? Will you use midi or cv to do that?

I currently have a Korg MS-10, Arturia Microbrute and Doepfer Dark Energy MK1, my budget is probably up to £400. I plan to create a thick industrial drum/beat with the drum machine so I guess I would be clocking the synths to it.

I use exclusively CV for now as I'm yet to experiment with midi, but I plan to buy a midi keyboard for the dark energy further down the line.




latexcity

Quote from: theworldisawarfilm on July 22, 2020, 09:39:27 PM
Quote from: latexcity on July 15, 2020, 08:33:24 PM
I've only started on this journey since April but I currently have a fairly nice set up I'm using to make industrial noise, a few synths, a mixer, some pedals etc.

However I feel like a drum machine is the one thing I am missing currently, I would really like to experiment with one and try imitating the thick and heavy classic 80s style PE drums.


Not to be 'that guy' but given this information I'd venture you're safe using basically anything. I can't think of many classic PE releases with 'thick and heavy' drum sounds, but maybe I am just ignorant.

Xenophobic ejaculation, Con-Dom, grey Wolves etc. all have this type of drum sound, Certain releases from prurient and puce Mary do too out of newer and less orthodox artists.

When I say thick and heavy I mean a very loud and noticeable beat even if it's had a lot of effects applied to it

latexcity

Quote from: cosmonaut on July 16, 2020, 12:38:56 AM
That old thread does have a lot of nice suggestions (esp Korg ER1, if you can find one for a reasonable price, it is a goldmine for DI sounds). When it comes to newer machines, the electribe sampler is not very expensive and, in spite of some well known brutal limitations ( that in my view really matter, in the end, only if one wants to play live conventional dance music) it allows you to load up (or directly sample) your own sounds, and you could use it both as a substitute for the ubiquitous SP-XXX sampler a plurality of noisemakers seem to love, and as a proper drum machine. Recently grabbed a Moog DFAM, that seems to be popular with the last generation of Euro heavy electronics (and some older acts, like Wertham iirc). I do not understand it fully yet but it covers, at a minimum, the synthetic Leichenschrei-era SPK sounds, as well as basic distorted bass drum territories.

Just watched some footage of the ER-1 and looks perfect for what I want to do, DFAM looks very nice too but slightly out of my price range sadly.

Does anyone know the difference between MK1 AND MK1 of the ER-1?

Atrophist

#14
Quote from: latexcity on July 22, 2020, 09:42:02 PM
Quote from: Atrophist on July 16, 2020, 05:00:40 AM
Which synths and pedals are you working with now, and what's your budget? Will you klock your synths with the drum machine, or the other way around? Will you use midi or cv to do that?

I currently have a Korg MS-10, Arturia Microbrute and Doepfer Dark Energy MK1, my budget is probably up to £400. I plan to create a thick industrial drum/beat with the drum machine so I guess I would be clocking the synths to it.

I use exclusively CV for now as I'm yet to experiment with midi, but I plan to buy a midi keyboard for the dark energy further down the line.





Okay, in that case I would recommend the DFAM (EDIT: ok it seems you've dismissed this option). A bit over your budget but perhaps you can get a good deal on a second hand one? A second hand Digitakt might also be worth considering — different machine but both are really good.

But really — and I'm being "that guy" here too — since you'll drown it in distortion and feedback anyway it ultimately matters little what you use. If you can afford to get an instrument that is genuinely good, then by sll means go for it, but some 80's digital Yamaha that you can pick off ebay for fifty quid, squeezed through pedals, would do just fine as well.  In fact you could create some pretty killer PE tracks just with what you already have.