Quite simply THE coolest drum synth ever to hit your DAW...

[JoeCat]

My daughter and I were listening to Gotye yesterday, and she said "I don't think he synthesized that bongo sound - I recognize the use of two mixed samples - one from Live's Library, the other from an old SoundsToSample lib. He did not have the decency to use a Buchla. I will not listen to that song". That's also why she hates "Call Me Maybe".

Seriously - really?
There are a number of Kontakt devs bridging the gap between outright sample playback (which, understandably, many want to avoid), and sample/synthesis. I (and a number of others have posted the same) bought Kontakt because of these devs - haven't even installed the Kontakt library.

I understand keeping the devs honest, but focus matters, and it's like going out with your significant other and spending the whole night pointing to a pimple. Indy devs do a little marketing on KVR, we laugh when it's over the top, and save some $ in the long run. If I were a developer on KVR, I'd be banging my head against the wall and quoting Basil Fawlty:
"I mean, why do we bother? We should let you all burn."

I like the RR stuff - will be checking back on this one.

[SampleScience]

I would be interested if it was made with SynthEdit.

[synthmagic]

I would be interested if it was made with SynthEdit.

Please don't start that Synth Edit debate
I like the idea of this Grit Kit.
I own most old samplers and the Ensoniq Mirage is a hidden masterpiece of sound mangling - The mirage is a sampler which will have you pulling your hair out at 3am with it's terse unforgiving operating system of Hex and cryptic parameter controls, but it sounds great in an organic lo-fi way plus it has real analogue filters. The Mirage and S950 do nice things to drum sounds.
Grit Kit looks an interesting approach to create 'synthesised' drum sounds and from what I can see in the video looks fun to use.

When is it coming out?
Cheers,
Steve

[Frantz]

So what I hope we're offering is the best of both worlds - a lot of customisability, but without the endless depth involved in a modular solution (or indeed the necessity to code / build / charge you guys the going rate for a Nord Modular equivalent!).

Note the complexity of a drum synth does not need to be exposed to the users. The TR-808 gives users just Tone and Decay cymbal controls. Users did not have to become experts on modular synthesis to use a TR-808 even though Roland had complex circuitry under the covers.

What I think, though, is that a lot of people who want drums with a particular "flavour" of vintage sound to them - which comes from the hardware samplers - will find this to be a great way to create those sounds themselves from scratch, rather than rely on existing loops. That's what we were aiming for.

Yes, I think capturing the sound of old hardware samplers by sampling the output of their DACs is a reasonable claim for this product. Comparisons to Vermona are less valid because even though their synthesis is very simple, its analog instability and variations cannot be accurately replicated in Kontact.

[Frantz]

I understand keeping the devs honest, but focus matters, and it's like going out with your significant other and spending the whole night pointing to a pimple.

Don't overlook the simple pleasure of popping a zit.

I think we reached some points of agreement in the end which is rare in interwebz debates.

[hollowsun]

Define 'drum synthesiser'?

The Simmons SDSV was a 'drum synthesiser' in that it allowed you to create your own drum sounds ... to 'synthesise' them, i.e. create a complex result from simple components (according to the definition of the word). It generated a triangle wave and noise as the source material which could be used and combined, processed with filters and envelopes, etc., in order to make drum and percussion sounds (and various other sounds).

We did our own take on that with our HSDV a year or so back...



But we used sampled sine, triangle and noise waveforms from valve and vintage gear as the source material. What's the difference what the source material is as long as it produces the results - i.e. drum sounds you have created yourself?

And so it is with the prof's 'Grit Kit'. Being able to combine raw (albeit sampled) waves with each other to create/synthesise one's own drum sounds constitutes the definition 'drum synthesiser'. It veers a little towards S&S than my HSDV in that is has samples of cymbals but so what?

Now, whether or not it is "Quite simply THE coolest drum synth ever to hit your DAW" and which will cause embarrassing trouser splitting across the nation remains to be seen, of course. But it IS a drum synthesiser not a drum library and I wish the professor (and Mongo - who I suspect is the real driving force there in the robot bunker) every success with it.

Cheers,


Stephen

[dune_rave]

the coolest drumsynth is RMV in my oppinion!

[SampleScience]

What's the difference what the source material is as long as it produces the results - i.e. drum sounds you have created yourself?

You mean I could mangle samples beyond recognition myself in FL Studio and call FL Studio a drum synth? While were at it every DAW is a drum synth...

[X2]

i Like CFA Drum synth and kong drum designer, in fact Kongs analogue drums are some of the best ive heard and of course linplugs free cm 505, Ive heard Tremor too and it also sounds excellent, in fact software these days is getting to the point where you really cant tell the difference when you play back on whatever media device is applicable

[the professor]

Define 'drum synthesiser'?

And so it is with the prof's 'Grit Kit'. Being able to combine raw (albeit sampled) waves with each other to create/synthesise one's own drum sounds constitutes the definition 'drum synthesiser'. It veers a little towards S&S than my HSDV in that is has samples of cymbals but so what?

Now, whether or not it is "Quite simply THE coolest drum synth ever to hit your DAW" and which will cause embarrassing trouser splitting across the nation remains to be seen, of course. But it IS a drum synthesiser not a drum library and I wish the professor (and Mongo - who I suspect is the real driving force there in the robot bunker) every success with it.

Cheers,


Stephen

Cheers, Stephen!

You're wrong about Mongo, though. He's dead weight most of the time. And I suspect that what he costs us in alcohol is hardly made up for by his coding abilities.

PS - there are no samples of cymbals, either! Just samples of cymbal attack transients. The waveforms you mix are sampled noise, with various analogue effects applied: ring mod and FM, mainly, though there are pure noise samples in there too.

[the professor]

I like the idea of this Grit Kit.
I own most old samplers and the Ensoniq Mirage is a hidden masterpiece of sound mangling - The mirage is a sampler which will have you pulling your hair out at 3am with it's terse unforgiving operating system of Hex and cryptic parameter controls, but it sounds great in an organic lo-fi way plus it has real analogue filters. The Mirage and S950 do nice things to drum sounds.
Grit Kit looks an interesting approach to create 'synthesised' drum sounds and from what I can see in the video looks fun to use.

When is it coming out?
Cheers,
Steve

Couldn't agree more about the Mirage. You have to have the manual open on your lap and your hexadecimal hat on, and there's 2 secs of sampling maximum at its best quality, but it's so worth it. And the S950 is just a revelation: makes everything you put into it sound better.

The EPS was a nice surprise, though: initially I thought of it simply because it felt like fun to have 8, 12 and 13 bits (instead of eg 8, 12 and 12...) but I'm really glad I went for it. It's a weird and fun machine. Dead simple to use - absolutely a joy to sample on - and the sound, which I was expecting to be crisper than the S950 because on paper it has a greater sampling depth and a higher sampling rate (52kHz!), turns out to be much warmer and more rounded. For my money, if you could only buy one sampler for drums (and if Grit Kit didn't exist to do it for you ), the S950 would be the one to go for. But adding the Mirage and the EPS to the mix gives some really interesting sonic variety: all that mad distorted mangling from the Mirage, and a kind of lovely warm hug from the EPS, blending with the S950's gritty, crisp goodness

As to when it's coming out... next week or two. Just doing the preset kits now

[SampleScience]

Couldn't agree more about the Mirage. You have to have the manual open on your lap and your hexadecimal hat on, and there's 2 secs of sampling maximum at its best quality, but it's so worth it. And the S950 is just a revelation: makes everything you put into it sound better.

I have the Mirage and it's not that hard, but I'm used to these kind of devices from the '80. I have a Poly-800 and a Roland JS-30 and they both have a very similar two digits interface, once you get use to it, it is quite easy really. It's just that today things are so easy with modern technology that people find it hard to use a reference card to know what parameter number 45 is and what is the range of that parameter.

[the professor]

It's just that today things are so easy with modern technology that people find it hard to use a reference card to know what parameter number 45 is and what is the range of that parameter.

Well, for the record, I don't find it hard to use a reference card so much as tedious! Hell, you can program a computer with punch tape if you really want to...

But for me, programming the DX5 was bad enough. Hexadecimal is just masochism... Still, the Mirage is worth it

[Vectorman]

You're wrong about Mongo, though. He's dead weight most of the time. And I suspect that what he costs us in alcohol is hardly made up for by his coding abilities.

He'd be much happier if he could just have his anagram.

The Mirage does seem to be kind of magic for drums, doesn't it? There are some Mirage drum samples from the Zero-G Nostalgia pack that have amazing character. I've thought a time or two about picking up a Mirage to run things through for coloration.

[the professor]

You're wrong about Mongo, though. He's dead weight most of the time. And I suspect that what he costs us in alcohol is hardly made up for by his coding abilities.

He'd be much happier if he could just have his anagram.

The Mirage does seem to be kind of magic for drums, doesn't it? There are some Mirage drum samples from the Zero-G Nostalgia pack that have amazing character. I've thought a time or two about picking up a Mirage to run things through for coloration.

Then definitely get the keyboard version, not the rack. So you'll have a wide, flat surface on which to rest the manual

SampleScience, above, is actually pretty much right: the Mirage isn't impossible. Far from it, really. But it is a bit laborious, and you have to plan around that 2 sec time limit. If you can find a cheap-ish one I'd grab it like a shot and I really doubt you'll be disappointed, even if you only use it once in a blue moon. There's no way I'm not parting with mine Like I said before, the EPS is a joy to use - but nothing else sounds like a Mirage!