Drumazon Looks Bitchin

[1-2-Many]

Surprised I've seen no talk about Drumazon. Of course there could have been, but how would one know without the search function working

Visited the site yesterday and was impressed with the MP3 demos, still need to try the demo.

[mistertoast]

I liked the demos a lot. Maybe it's easier to get a convincing 909 than 303. This is the first time that I might like a drum machine at least as much as Drumatic.

[pwedza]

Just tried the demo. Really nice. Sounds crazy running through CamelPhat!

[electro]

Its the best done of all the d16 synths

[whitecloud]

Actually am DL'd the Demo a couple days ago but haven't tried it as much as the other drum Vvi's I am also trying(Spark and VDM and today MicroTonic)
Kind of turned off by D16's GUI. Perhaps I need to study it more.

[cyphersuit]

How do you like spark/spark vdm?

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

How do you like spark/spark vdm?

I hated Spark. I thought it sounded terrible. Right now my favorite drum synths are:

Drumatic4 (Public Beta) - Can't wait for the RC version to come out in the coming days, as it adds a bunch of features I've been wanting, but right now, Drumatic4 is my favorite sounding drum synth.

Tremor - Love the sequencer to bits here. It's fantastic. The one downside is that sound-wise it's almost too versatile. By that I mean, it's easy to spend a lot of time trying to get that perfect kick sound out of it.

D16 synths - These sound great, but built-in sequencers are awful. What's the point of having computers if we're going to be forced to sequence a la the D16 synths. For this reason, I don't use the built-in sequencer in these synths, and I'd otherwise really like to. No sequencer would be better IMO (at least then I wouldn't get frustrated with "how do I program a song on this" type questions).

Note: I don't own uTonic, which is another hugely popular choice around here (plus the 64bit version just came out).

[whitecloud]

How do you like spark/spark vdm?

Well the workflow is nice when you have a controller setup right. I've seen
the SparkLe controller on some YT vids and you can get around w/o much mouse work at all so that part is cool. With My MPD32 I actually can do most of what that controller can, besides step input, but actually in some cases I can access somethings faster. The thing is I am not sure I like the sound so far.
So I guess the biggest plus is getting your beats going pretty painlessly,
and again the sound may be an issue that might make me pass on SparkLe or VDM.
Try the Demo's, one is the CDM full version software but you pay for either the
Spark controller for $500.00 +CDM, or Sparkle controller with the same version of software for around $250.00, but shop around for better pricing.

[whitecloud]

How do you like spark/spark vdm?

I hated Spark. I thought it sounded terrible. Right now my favorite drum synths are:

Drumatic4 (Public Beta) - Can't wait for the RC version to come out in the coming days, as it adds a bunch of features I've been wanting, but right now, Drumatic4 is my favorite sounding drum synth.

Tremor - Love the sequencer to bits here. It's fantastic. The one downside is that sound-wise it's almost too versatile. By that I mean, it's easy to spend a lot of time trying to get that perfect kick sound out of it.

D16 synths - These sound great, but built-in sequencers are awful. What's the point of having computers if we're going to be forced to sequence a la the D16 synths. For this reason, I don't use the built-in sequencer in these synths, and I'd otherwise really like to. No sequencer would be better IMO (at least then I wouldn't get frustrated with "how do I program a song on this" type questions).

Note: I don't own uTonic, which is another hugely popular choice around here (plus the 64bit version just came out).

I don't know. I own "Geist" and have an MPD32 template so it is more like working with hardware, Spark even a bit more. Geist is pretty deep so there is
a some mouse work but that is mainly working with the sampling option. The built in sequencer(pads)and pattern changes are done with my Akai. So I do like built in Sequencers that integrate well with midi controllers, but dislike only mouse/keyboard shortcuts to generate the patterns and song mode. Also some have drag and drop or midi out to other drum plugs or hardware.. uTonic has both. I did just listened to the sound demos of Drumatic4 and yes great drum sounds. I wonder how hard it would be to use uTonic's midi note out and mapped for it. Hell Drumatic is pretty cheap actually.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Please note: my comments about Spark were just on the software side. As a drum synth, I found the sound lacking.

[fisherKing]

Please note: my comments about Spark were just on the software side. As a drum synth, I found the sound lacking.

to each his own eh? i have been playing with my collab's spark LE, and loving the sounds (altho a few too many 90's acid jazz/techno fx); he has all the soundsets for it, so...lots to sort thru. but some great fat kicks, snares...

i have battery 4, like that. it's sort-of a more polite version of spark.

room for both of them i think...

[audientronic]

Just installed this. Sound great, but feels a little light on presets. Anyone found more?

[whitecloud]

Please note: my comments about Spark were just on the software side. As a drum synth, I found the sound lacking.

Sorry I didn't read your post closely enough as I took it that you didn't like built in sequencers in general regarding drum instruments and not just Drumazon.
A couple things to note
1.We agree that Tremor's seq. is fantastic, but lack of drag and drop or record midi on a track was 1 deal breaker, at least on my system. And not to mention the huge CPU hit. I really wanted to buy it but decided to pass because of the above.
2. We also agreed that the seq. on the D16 are not easy to get around. I found other aspects of the GUI was not very intuitive, so after a brief go with the demo, not really interested in going much farther, especially since I am demoing
several other ones.
I found the many of the stock presets in the Spark software not so great sound wise and wonder if there is a way to tweak them more to my satisfaction. The workflow is great but I could do without the bottom library's silly unnecessary GUI.

I might add that on the Arturia's Spark forum there is this dude that found a work around as far as the inability to import your own samples in VDM. What the guy said was that he converted .wav sample into .aff and renamed them exactly like what is in the respective folders and of course copied the originals to another location just in case he wanted to get things as they were.
Just thought I would mention that, especially if you don't like the 909 samples etc.

[whitecloud]

Please note: my comments about Spark were just on the software side. As a drum synth, I found the sound lacking.

to each his own eh? i have been playing with my collab's spark LE, and loving the sounds (altho a few too many 90's acid jazz/techno fx); he has all the soundsets for it, so...lots to sort thru. but some great fat kicks, snares...

i have battery 4, like that. it's sort-of a more polite version of spark.

room for both of them i think...

Well I did find what I thought were some pretty usable sounds in Spark, but when I tried uTonic, heard both D16 sounds plus the Drumatic audio demos that sound sound great it is the comparisons with those vs Spark that has me really thinking this over. I am glad I am trying the demos out so I can make the best informed decison

[electro]

D16 synths - These sound great, but built-in sequencers are awful. What's the point of having computers if we're going to be forced to sequence a la the D16 synths. For this reason, I don't use the built-in sequencer in these synths, and I'd otherwise really like to. No sequencer would be better IMO (at least then I wouldn't get frustrated with "how do I program a song on this" type questions).

They can all be played via MIDI instead of the internal sequencer.