DRUMMING ON THE DESKTOP
May 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jim Aikin
HOOKED ON SONICS
Like Strike, Addictive Drums aims to put you in the producer’s chair. On the other side of the virtual glass is a trap kit with 12 elements: kick, snare, hi-hat, cowbell, four toms and four cymbals (three crash/splash cymbals and a ride). The first eight have individual mics. In fact, the kick and snare have two mics each, and you can adjust the blend. The cymbals are heard only in the overhead and room channels. The amount of bleed of the other drums into the latter channels is totally controllable, which is not a feature you’ll find in too many physical studios.
The program comes with more than 1.8 GB of samples, including 14 cymbals, three hats, four kicks, six snares and 13 toms. You can mix and match to create your own kits, but loading your own samples is not an option. The brand names and sizes of the drums are shown—no mysteries here. Each instrument has a number of velocity-layered samples, and the hi-hats have a number of lengths from closed to open, which cut one another off. A Single Sample button can be used to override the velocity switching for that old-school drum-machine vibe, but you don’t get to pick which single sample will be used.
The same underlying samples are used in a good variety of factory kits, some of which extend the sound palette from tight to trashy with heavy processing. Sound-editing parameters include pitch and volume envelopes and a nonenveloped and nonresonant low/highpass filter. (There’s no velocity control over the envelopes or filter.) Each mixer channel can take advantage of compression, distortion, EQ and tape saturation. Addictive Drums lacks effects like phaser, chorus and delay, but there are two reverbs on send buses. If you need more effects, you can send any channel to a separate mixer channel in your DAW.
The beats in Addictive Drums are less comprehensive stylistically than those in GA3, but it is strong in jazz, rock, funk and reggae. Hundreds of patterns are provided, including some in 3/4 and some that are organized into song groups (verse, chorus, etc.). You can easily drag-and-drop any pattern into a sequencer track for further editing.
The user interface is easy to navigate and has some nice amenities. Addictive Drums allows automation of parameters in its mixer but not of voicing parameters. Nor can MIDI controllers be assigned to parameters. Copy protection is via online challenge/response.
BEAT LAUNCHING PADS
Strictly speaking, you don’t need a pad controller to run any of the software featured in this article. All of the programs allow you to trigger single drum sounds via MIDI if you want to, but they’re set up to play complete grooves using their own MIDI data. If you’re a do-it-yourself percussionist, you might prefer a program like Native Instruments Battery 3 ($299; Audio Units/DXi/RTAS/VST; www.native-instruments.com), which has no included grooves or styles but gives you extra levels of control over the sounds in individual kits.
All three pad controllers I looked at have similar features. Each connects to the computer via USB and can be powered via USB or using an optional power supply. If you purchase a power supply (none of them ships with one), you can use the unit without a computer, playing external sound modules via the MIDI-out jack. Each comes with editor/librarian software, but all or most of the functions can be programmed directly from the front panel.
Each of them has 16 programmable pads and some auxiliary controllers, as well as a number of user memories in which pad/controller setups can be stored. Each also has a few unique features that may be crucial to some musicians and some limitations. Of the three, the MPD24 has the deepest feature set. You might expect that, given its list price. But surprisingly, two online retailers that I checked were offering the MPD at a steep discount, which put it in exactly the same price range as the other two units. Admittedly, I’m not a skilled percussionist, but I found the PadKontrol to be the most playable of the three. However, its ability to send controller data is limited. The Trigger Finger may offer a good compromise between features and playability, thanks to its strong ability to send MIDI controllers.
THE NEW MP
The first thing I noticed about the MPD24 was the big, bright LCD. The PadKontrol and Trigger Finger get by with three-digit LEDs, which are perhaps easier to read onstage but turn programming your setups into an exercise in manual diving.
The MPD has six sliders, which have a 1-7/8-inch throw. Its knobs rotate through 360 degrees, which means they always start at their minimum value when you call up a new preset. Minimum and maximum values can be programmed, so you can limit a knob or slider’s range or even invert it. I had a bit of trouble getting the sliders to remember the settings I had programmed, but pressing Enter a few times seemed to fix it.
Thirty user presets each store four sets of pad definitions, which are accessed by buttons labeled A through D. Having 64 pads per preset, rather than 16 on the competing units, is a definite plus. Each pad can send a program change instead of a note if desired. (Bank Select messages are supported.) If the pad is sending a note, you can also switch on either channel aftertouch or polyphonic aftertouch. The pads can send notes in the normal manner or in Toggle mode, in which one tap sends a Note On message and the next tap sends the Note Off.
Aftertouch transmission is separate for each pad, but the velocity sensing is a global setting: You can choose any of four curves and also adjust the sensitivity. The pads feel good but tend not to respond at all to soft taps. Drummers may not mind always needing to play firmly, but I’m primarily a keyboard player, so playing lightly is part of my normal technique.
After playing a pad once, you can tap the 16 Levels button, which assigns that pad’s note message to all 16 pads with 16 preset velocity levels from low to high. If you’re recording a drum track one instrument at a time, that mode provides a nice way to play sounds with controlled accent levels.
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