A bit stuck for drum options

[b born droid]

I currently have a Vermona DRM mkIII.  I really like the hat/snare channels, love their colour and personality but I find the kicks leave a bit to be desired for the kind of kind of darker aggresive techno I like making (think Abdulla Rashim or Shifted for example), they require a fair amount of post work to get to where I want them.  The fact it doesn't have a sequencer is also casuing me problems.  I am now using my A4 as master clock and it's a right fucking cunt because of latency, because I have to run Ableton as slave which then sequences the Vermona, and Ableton does noooo like being slave to the A4.

 

One option would be to perhaps buy a Beat Step Pro, use that to sequence the Vermona (I have the trigger version) and also send clock to the A4 and Minilogue; I'm also likely to pick up a DFAM because that percussive sound I've heard will layer in perfectly.  All of which should sync up nicely unless I'm mistaken.  Maybe stick an additional kick only module to complement the Vermona but I wasn't sure which one, and then we're getting into a question of budget.... but for sake of argument, what's out there?

 

The alternative would be to sell my Vermona and replace it with something else (that actually has an inbuilt sequencer), because then I could keep my A4 as master which combines nicely with the Minilogue and DFAM.  But I've no idea what could replace it.  From what I've heard of the MFB Tanzbär, it has the power in the bottom end, but in every demo I've heard so far the hats/snares/perc sound like every other fucking boring tech-house tune that comes out of Berlin.  What else is there for around €800?

 

 

 

 

 

[TubularCorporation]

I've been REALLY happy with the Tanzmaus, especially the kick.  The clap isn't the greatest (but it's decent, much better than the Volca Beats) and the hat samples it ships with aren't my favorite, but it's really easy to upload new ones.  Those 909 hat samples that were ripped from a ROM years ago sound fantastic in it, pretty much killed any GAS I harbored for a DIY 909 clone. In fat, it pretty much the only analog drum machine/module I've got any real interest in anymore is the Tanzbar Lite to go with it, although there are better things to spend my tax return on this year.

 

Anyway, the difficulty of the interface is highly exaggerated (if you watch a tutorial video and have used a drum machine before you'll pretty much know all there is to know about it with an hour or two of practice, but there are a few quirks that could make it hard if it was your first drum machine and you tried to jump in without any instruction) and you could always use an external sequencer if you really didn't like the way it works, although you'd lose parameter locks in that case.

 

I agree the demos are pretty crap in general, and the clap isn't my favorite, but the four sample voices sound really good, are easy to upload new samples to, and go a long way toward breaking it out of the obvious tech-house box, as do parameter locks and dedicated LFOs (with dedicated sequencer tracks for creating patterns of speed and depth changes) for most of the voices.

 

The Tanzbar Lite seems cool too and I kind of want one (but not enough to spend my tax return on it) but it's definitely more of a generic 808-like sound, and from what I know about the Tanzbar it's more in that vein, too, but the Tanzmaus might be more up your alley if only because of the sample playback.  You should be able to take it pretty far from its 909-like starting point between loading in 32 custom samples, the modulation and parameter locking capabilities, and the direct outs for almost all of the voices (the rim shot and one of the sample channels are locked to the main outs, but I guess the idea is that you would use the direct outs for all the other voices and then hard-pan those two in the main out and use a Y cable, which isn't ideal but not really a big issue and probably came down to space on the board).

 

I'm still thrilled with mine, even the small form factor doesn't really bother me. Only thing I wish it had was a song mode, but that would also probably overcomplicate it.

[ignatius]

i'd keep the vermona and just get some processing for it.  something like an RML electron fuzz custom and a compressor or EQ.. just shape it how you like and go from there. 

 

or just get a different kick. perhaps the jomox kick drum. they're not very expensive used and are punchy as fuck for any kind of techno. really kinda devastating bass drum.  and it has trigger in so you could even just split the trigger out of your beat step pro and layer the vemona w/it when needed.. but i don't think you'd need to. the jomox is an ocean of kick drums. 

[TubularCorporation]

The other thing about the Tanzmaus is at your budget point you'd have enough left over to get some other stuff to go with it, maybe a Volca Sample or half a dozen cheap analog delay pedals.

 

But I also agree with "keep the Vermona."

 

 

I have no idea what the deal is with modern analog drum machines having weak clap sounds.  The clap in my old DR-110 sounds great (almost too realistic, if anything), I don't see why new machines couldn't at least equal that.

[b born droid]

You guys are right, and I would be really loath to sell my Vermona to be honest, it's been on my mind for a few months and everytime I really think about it, I just can't do it.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.... I had no idea the Tanzmaus actually had sample playback, that's interesting because I've made a few drum sounds that would be great to recall.  I also remember looking at a Jomox before getting my Vermona actually, had forgotten about those.

[d-a-m-o]

Ignatius is right , keep the vermona and get some good processing tools. There's also some pretty cool eurorack drum modules but they're expensive as f*ck

[TubularCorporation]

Maybe build a little Eurorack skiff with a few different filters, a couple simple analog delays, ring mods, modulations sources, and a mixer and output module, and pair that up with the Vermona.  You could have a really nice setup for less than you were budgeting for a new drum synth, especially if you can solder a little - there are a ton of good filters available as kits in the $50-$60 range and even prebuilt a lot of them are pretty affordable by Eurorack standards. I'm not in to Eurorack myself but my neighbor and I play music regularly and I've been aying a lot of attention to his Eurorack progress (he's up to probably 250HP at this point, although not 100% full) and there are plenty of good filters and other processing modules out there in the $90-$110 range new, much less used or DIY.

[ignatius]

really if you just want a more aggressive sounding kick the jomox Mbase11 is the way to go. it has the trigger inputs too so you don't need to alter your work flow.. just trigger it w/the beat step pro. 

 

if you have max for live (if you use ableton) i think there's a free Mbase control/editor as well. on the maxforlive.com library. 

[sweepstakes]

Probably not your flavor as it sounds like your setup is more analog, but for what it's worth, I got a Nord Drum 2 last year and I have no want for any more drum synths. They're pretty tough to find now though.