Introducing EXC!TE SNARE DRUM a physical modeling snare synthesizer

[CinningBao]

As a fan of all things physically modelled, this is delicious! Another guaranteed funding member here!
Can't wait for your cymbal thing And, I'm guessing, kicks and toms, in the near future! hooray!

any chance of an AU? (Logic user here)

Thank you so much for your support!
We think with kicks and tom sounds a sample base approach is yielding sufficiently good results, as the modes of interaction are more limited. In the case of a kick, because of the mechanics of the beater, the only real variable is the velocity, even when adding damping by leaving the beater pressed against the drumhead. With snare and cymbals though, you can interact in so many ways, hitting, putting objects on it, using brushes, mallets, rods, etc. So what I'm saying is that the gain from a physical modelling approach compared to traditional sample based approaches is more significant the more ways of interaction you have with an instrument. There is not much point in investing a lot of time to develop physical model for say, a harpsichord. A tabla drum on the other hand would make a lot of sense.

For .AU - in theory this should be easy, but we haven't looked at the details. We are working directly with Steinbergs VST3SDK and it offers an .AU wrapper method, so it looks like we can make this happen, but no promises just yet before we dig deeper in it.

I understand why you might not see that a kick or tom module could yield particularly diverse and interesting sounds, but I'd add that it is still drum which can be hit with different things, have each skin tuned differently, or only one skin, and you can put things on them as well! I have found myself taping everything from socks to shakers to toms for additional fun

Part of my love of physically modelled instruments is how much you can tweak the model beyond 'reality'. I'd be overjoyed at being able to push the 'snare tension' dial way further down (for example), just to hear the strangeness of the model. Perhaps some 'knob extension options' could be added to the pro version? And, is there anyway to add a top/bottom skin mix control?

I've heard a couple of the very few cymbal models out there (u-he's drum model demo some years ago at an exhibition and xoxos' mad vsts) and while they all tickle me a little, I'm always ready for next dsp research engineers to come up with the next one

I hope the AU port doesn't cause too many issues!

[CHAIR]

I understand why you might not see that a kick or tom module could yield particularly diverse and interesting sounds, but I'd add that it is still drum which can be hit with different things, have each skin tuned differently, or only one skin, and you can put things on them as well! I have found myself taping everything from socks to shakers to toms for additional fun

Part of my love of physically modelled instruments is how much you can tweak the model beyond 'reality'. I'd be overjoyed at being able to push the 'snare tension' dial way further down (for example), just to hear the strangeness of the model. Perhaps some 'knob extension options' could be added to the pro version? And, is there anyway to add a top/bottom skin mix control?

OK, we'll discuss this with the team and our physical modeling wizard Philipp, maybe we can do a good kick
I totally agree on the strange effects of physical models. Actually our idea was to add a checkbox preference "extend to unreasonable parameter ranges" so that all parameters could be tweaked in crazy ways. We may still do that.
For the time being, we stumbled upon something very weird: You can make VST3 presets which have parameter values which exceed the range of the parameters of the instrument. Some hosts will clip them to the minimum and maximum (like Ableton Live) but other hosts like Bitwig or Reaper do not perform any sanity checks on the parameters and thus allow strange parameter settings through the backdoor by selecting a (manipulated) preset. We are not sure what the Steinberg recommended way to handle this is. Anyways, we ship one such a preset with our VST, it's called "Easter Egg", it should work in Bitwig and Reaper.
Enjoy!

[Jonathan Shepherd]

Hi! The free version is good but the pro looks awesome, especially with the sidechain input. This is perhaps a dumb question, but does the sidechain work with digital audio input(ie inside a daw)? Maybe one day I'll build a drum trigger-
Edit: Also, no PayPal? I don't mind giving out my card number but would prefer not to. Thanks-
Edit 2: Ah, so you do have PayPal! I didn't realize it until I got to checkout. Thanks and I look forward to future PM endeavors-

[Ah_Dziz]

Sounds neat. I like the little controller you guys have as well. It is only a controller correct? No onboard sound?

[fairlyclose]

I understand why you might not see that a kick or tom module could yield particularly diverse and interesting sounds, but I'd add that it is still drum which can be hit with different things, have each skin tuned differently, or only one skin, and you can put things on them as well! I have found myself taping everything from socks to shakers to toms for additional fun

Part of my love of physically modelled instruments is how much you can tweak the model beyond 'reality'. I'd be overjoyed at being able to push the 'snare tension' dial way further down (for example), just to hear the strangeness of the model. Perhaps some 'knob extension options' could be added to the pro version? And, is there anyway to add a top/bottom skin mix control?

OK, we'll discuss this with the team and our physical modeling wizard Philipp, maybe we can do a good kick
I totally agree on the strange effects of physical models. Actually our idea was to add a checkbox preference "extend to unreasonable parameter ranges" so that all parameters could be tweaked in crazy ways. We may still do that.
For the time being, we stumbled upon something very weird: You can make VST3 presets which have parameter values which exceed the range of the parameters of the instrument. Some hosts will clip them to the minimum and maximum (like Ableton Live) but other hosts like Bitwig or Reaper do not perform any sanity checks on the parameters and thus allow strange parameter settings through the backdoor by selecting a (manipulated) preset. We are not sure what the Steinberg recommended way to handle this is. Anyways, we ship one such a preset with our VST, it's called "Easter Egg", it should work in Bitwig and Reaper.
Enjoy!

funnily enough I was coming back to post about having a checkbox to allow extreme parameter ranges lol

[fairlyclose]

Sounds neat. I like the little controller you guys have as well. It is only a controller correct? No onboard sound?

that controller could be just the thing for me - I want one with a very very light touch as I have arthritis in my fingers and tap as lightly as possible. I have a little ROLI Lightpad Block but is is not as sensitive as I would like

[Ploki]

I hope AU gets made, i’m a sucker for physical

[Jonathan Shepherd]

I went ahead and got it. It works fine in Bitwig 4.0. The sidechain doesn't show in the regular spot, so all I did was to route audio from another track straight into the snare track. (But be sure to mute the audio track or a crackly distortion will come through.)
I'll probably just use the sidechain for input. Very fun indeed! Great job

[gaggle of hermits]

i decided to spring for the pro version and tried it with some beatboxing and tapping on a regular microphone's wind muff, finger drumming and a bunch of sample loops - all good fun. It responds really well to finger drumming. it feels so much easier to do rolls with the keyboard using this and the hit position is handy, though i suppose that's possible with something like Modo drum.

[tcbbbb]

Thank you!
Interesting VSTi

[gaggle of hermits]

is there any support for midi learn or attaching midi CCs to some of the controllers? it would be handy to be able to map a foot or breath controller to playing position and have it saved in a preset.

[JamminFool]

If you want to pretend ignorance then ask Ralf Hütter. There are so many douchebags in Germany that when asked about his nationality his response is - and I quote, "We are Europeans, with German passports."

I am out of this thread. You can PM me about this but all I'll do if "foe" you. Everyone please have fun, but stick with win-wins going forward.

how many douchebags are there where you are from? or are you the only one?

[CHAIR]

Sounds neat. I like the little controller you guys have as well. It is only a controller correct? No onboard sound?

Thanks! That's correct. We are working on something with embedded sound though.

[CHAIR]

is there any support for midi learn or attaching midi CCs to some of the controllers? it would be handy to be able to map a foot or breath controller to playing position and have it saved in a preset.

Wouldn't MIDI learn and CC be something the DAW should be dealing with? On Steinbergs Forum is a great deal of complaining that VST3 can't even receive any MIDI directly, just translated note events. Or am I misunderstanding?

[CHAIR]

Hi! The free version is good but the pro looks awesome, especially with the sidechain input. This is perhaps a dumb question, but does the sidechain work with digital audio input(ie inside a daw)? Maybe one day I'll build a drum trigger-
Edit: Also, no PayPal? I don't mind giving out my card number but would prefer not to. Thanks-
Edit 2: Ah, so you do have PayPal! I didn't realize it until I got to checkout. Thanks and I look forward to future PM endeavors-

I'm trying to add more payment gateways, but it's a struggle. For now it is limited to: Mastercard, Visa, AmEx, Apple Pay, Google Pay, SEPA (for EU customers), Paypal.
EDIT: We now additionally support Giropay, Bancontact, Przelewy24 (P24), Multibanco, Alipay, iDeal, EPS, SOFORT