Anyone tried Drum Computer from Sugarbytes?

[JoeCat]

I've been using DrumComputer for a little while, and I really like some of what it can do, but it's very fiddly. A small turn of a dial can be the difference between something inaudible and something decent sounding. It's difficult (for me) to dial in a nice attack sound without cranking the shit out of the compressor. 99% of the time I put a saturation/distortion behind it to beef it up.

It would be cool if the sample loop start and end points were automatable. I don't know what SugarBytes have planned for the future, but (correct me if I'm wrong) it doesn't seem like they typically add much feature-wise to their plugins after release.

I think these two things are exactly the issue for a lot of people. I like it, but more for experimental. I've defended it against those who say you can't produce a decent kick with it, however, like you said - the sweet spot is very small for a lot of sounds (especially kicks and snares - anything really that uses the resonator), and while the compressor and distortion can do a lot, they're global so you can't just apply that to the kick, etc.

I can use an FM synth like Ableton Operator to make a decent kick / snare very quickly, and tweak around to get different flavors of the similar sound.

With DrumComputer, it can be difficult to tweak without losing the "core sound", and since the individual kit piece presets are independent of the effects, using those things to beef the sound up for a library of kicks or other kit pieces is not a great solution.

That said, for experimental sounds and especially percussive layers, it's definitely worth experimenting with. For a "do all" drum machine it's not a great fit. But SugarBytes always designs towards the edges.

Microtonic, on the other hand, can give you bread/butter sounds quickly, within certain boundaries of course. But it always sounds great.

[kraster]

Any Xils-Lab StiX users? I believe FXPansion Tremor is discontinued.

I have Stix, Drum computer, Microtonic, and UVI drum designer and a bunch of others.

As others have said, Drum Computer's biggest achille's heel is the kicks. You can get decent kicks but it's a lot of hard work.

I think in every other way it's among the best. It has the best sequencer of the lot, imho. I generally use the kick channel to trigger Kick 2 by Sonic Academy. (imho, The best kick drum plugin out there)

Outside of the kicks I never have much problem getting good sanres, hats, percussion etc. It really excels at weirder synthesised drum sounds.

Stix is really good but could really do with an update. It's a bit unstable for me but has a lot going for it. Quite flexible overall and a good mixture between samples and synthesised sounds.

UVI drum designer has the most "finished" sounds out of the box but still has good depth in tweakability.

Microtonic in a lot of ways is the simplest of the lot but it's pretty much the one I reach for the most.

I'll never not be impressed by the range of sounds it's capable of despite having probably the fewest controls.

[Erik_Lucas]

All the drums used in this track (minus the kick) were synthsized using drum computer. VERY happy with drum computer lately.

https://soundcloud.com/patchmodular/eri ... al_sharing

[kraster]

All the drums used in this track (minus the kick) were synthsized using drum computer. VERY happy with drum computer lately.

https://soundcloud.com/patchmodular/eri ... al_sharing

Sounds great, Erik.

If they could sort out the kick drums on Drumcomputer it would really be a one stop shop.

[MJACau]

Sounds great, Erik.

If they could sort out the kick drums on Drumcomputer it would really be a one stop shop.

Everybody whines about the kick, you know you can tweak it and not just use the factory pre-sets.
The biggest issue is with DC's non-standard weird drum mapping.

[Septic Underground]

Sounds great, Erik.

If they could sort out the kick drums on Drumcomputer it would really be a one stop shop.

Everybody whines about kick, you know you can tweak it and not just use the factory pre-sets.
The biggest issue with DCs non-standard weird drum mapping.

You can even load in samples if you cant make a kickdrum
I agree the awkward midi keymapping is the reason I stopped using it, the sounds themselves were interesting and good enough.

[anttimaatteri]

as far as i used it now since purchase a few weeks ago, they used a compressor on every sound. sometimes for the good soemtimes for the worse, next to each settings for the drumsounds.
afar from some gui details i really dont like, i am spoiled by tremor, thats a really great addition to other drummachines, like stix or microtonic.

BUT

can someone PLEASE rerelease tremor ^^

[Ploki]

on sale for 49
https://audioplugin.deals/product/drumc ... L1mNo0WD-8

[kraster]

Sounds great, Erik.

If they could sort out the kick drums on Drumcomputer it would really be a one stop shop.

Everybody whines about the kick, you know you can tweak it and not just use the factory pre-sets.
The biggest issue is with DC's non-standard weird drum mapping.

I have tweaked it extensively and it still always sounds lack lustre.

Even using samples on their own sound relatively weak.

Compared to something like Kick 2 from Sonic Academy it just doesn't have that punch and immediacy.

Everything else in Drum computer is amazing. I can great snares, hats, toms, percussion and weird sounds.I even don't mind the mapping. I have a preset saved so it's a non issue for me.

In use I generally just use the midi out of the kick channel into Kick 2. A little bit cumbersome but the combo is fantastic.

[twal]

Which are the best ones for just bread and butter sequences with ease, like throwing some congas, toms, triangles or whatever into a mix (not so much electronic sounds)?

[Halma]

Which are the best ones for just bread and butter sequences with ease, like throwing some congas, toms, triangles or whatever into a mix (not so much electronic sounds)?

Klevgrands Skaka if you need some quick shaker, tambourine or egg percussion. Great presets.

No congas or toms though and no sample import.

[zerocrossing]

Sounds great, Erik.

If they could sort out the kick drums on Drumcomputer it would really be a one stop shop.

Everybody whines about the kick, you know you can tweak it and not just use the factory pre-sets.
The biggest issue is with DC's non-standard weird drum mapping.

I have tweaked it extensively and it still always sounds lack lustre.

Even using samples on their own sound relatively weak.

Compared to something like Kick 2 from Sonic Academy it just doesn't have that punch and immediacy.

Everything else in Drum computer is amazing. I can great snares, hats, toms, percussion and weird sounds.I even don't mind the mapping. I have a preset saved so it's a non issue for me.

In use I generally just use the midi out of the kick channel into Kick 2. A little bit cumbersome but the combo is fantastic.

That’s basically how I use it. I’ll use something else for my main kit (the last time that was Softube’s Heartbeat) and then use Drumcomputer for a lot of cool odd stuff on top. It would be awesome if they gave it a going over and improved the kick engine, but I’m not expecting anything.

[kraster]

Sounds great, Erik.

If they could sort out the kick drums on Drumcomputer it would really be a one stop shop.

Everybody whines about the kick, you know you can tweak it and not just use the factory pre-sets.
The biggest issue is with DC's non-standard weird drum mapping.

I have tweaked it extensively and it still always sounds lack lustre.

Even using samples on their own sound relatively weak.

Compared to something like Kick 2 from Sonic Academy it just doesn't have that punch and immediacy.

Everything else in Drum computer is amazing. I can great snares, hats, toms, percussion and weird sounds.I even don't mind the mapping. I have a preset saved so it's a non issue for me.

In use I generally just use the midi out of the kick channel into Kick 2. A little bit cumbersome but the combo is fantastic.

That’s basically how I use it. I’ll use something else for my main kit (the last time that was Softube’s Heartbeat) and then use Drumcomputer for a lot of cool odd stuff on top. It would be awesome if they gave it a going over and improved the kick engine, but I’m not expecting anything.

Drumcomputer is so close to be being one of the very best but Sugarbytes don't tend to iterate on their plugins in the long term.

They did add a few features like adding a sampler shortly after release (as opposed to the resynthesis) but they moved onto Nest (which is great) and graindad.

If they did do a "Drumcomputer 2" with something like Kick 2's implementation it's probably all I'd used for drum machine sounds.

[zerocrossing]

Sounds great, Erik.

If they could sort out the kick drums on Drumcomputer it would really be a one stop shop.

Everybody whines about the kick, you know you can tweak it and not just use the factory pre-sets.
The biggest issue is with DC's non-standard weird drum mapping.

I have tweaked it extensively and it still always sounds lack lustre.

Even using samples on their own sound relatively weak.

Compared to something like Kick 2 from Sonic Academy it just doesn't have that punch and immediacy.

Everything else in Drum computer is amazing. I can great snares, hats, toms, percussion and weird sounds.I even don't mind the mapping. I have a preset saved so it's a non issue for me.

In use I generally just use the midi out of the kick channel into Kick 2. A little bit cumbersome but the combo is fantastic.

That’s basically how I use it. I’ll use something else for my main kit (the last time that was Softube’s Heartbeat) and then use Drumcomputer for a lot of cool odd stuff on top. It would be awesome if they gave it a going over and improved the kick engine, but I’m not expecting anything.

Drumcomputer is so close to be being one of the very best but Sugarbytes don't tend to iterate on their plugins in the long term.

They did add a few features like adding a sampler shortly after release (as opposed to the resynthesis) but they moved onto Nest (which is great) and graindad.

If they did do a "Drumcomputer 2" with something like Kick 2's implementation it's probably all I'd used for drum machine sounds.

Yeah, it’s their right to make the plugin that they want and move on, but I can’t help but wonder how many sales they have lost because of their universally disliked kick synthesis.

[JoeCat]

...
Yeah, it’s their right to make the plugin that they want and move on, but I can’t help but wonder how many sales they have lost because of their universally disliked kick synthesis.

The relationship between the resonator and decay are really tricky - the sweet spot is small for each, and if you tweak one you have to tweak the other. A way to adjust the slope of that decay curve might help. I usually make sure any other modulation is zeroed and there's absolutely no FM to start.

What's interesting to me is that I can usually come up with kicks somewhat better than the presets (I do a lot of weird ambient and electronic stuff this is more geared to anyway), and some of the presets are top notch except for the kicks, so it wasn't laziness. Just gotta spend an inordinate amount of time on the piece.

And those kit compression and saturation makes a big difference, but again - applies to the whole mix, so it can difficult to dial that in for just the kick.