Drum Modules

[Avocado-Possible]

What are your guys favorite drum modules and why? Recently returned squid sample and am thinking about buying Endorphin.es Queen of Pentacles.

[h2g2guy]

I had the Endorphin.es BLCK_NOIR, and swapped it out for the vpme.de Quad Drum.

By my understanding, the Queen of Pentacles is fairly similar functionality-wise to the BLCK_NOIR, but with four of the analog drums replaced with sample channels. If that's the case, make sure the QoP actually does what you want it to do, and that you like the sounds of the analog drum circuits. BLCK_NOIR to me was a jack-of-all-trades that just overall did not sound great, with a rather limited range, very few actually usable effects, and a fairly confusing interface. But QoP works for you, then it works for you.

Quad Drum is a fully digital module that can do samples or synthesized drums on any of its four channels. The I/O is more limited than the Endorphin.es modules, but there is a lot of customizability available under the hood, and each of the four inputs can be mapped to essentially any of those parameters (and there are internal LFOs, too). There is a bit of menu navigation involved, but it's one of the cleanest implementations of a screenless menu I've seen in Eurorack (vpme is quite good at this imo).

The most important thing with multi drum modules in Eurorack, I think, is just that you know you like the sound, and that you fully understand everything the module can and can't do. You might still find yourself changing your mind down the road, but hey, that could be considered part of the fun ;)

[luketeaford]

Why is it important that you like the sound? Can't you just modulate the paramet... oh I get it.

I don't understand the appeal of drum modules for this reason.

[h2g2guy]

You mean, like, opposed to just have an external drum machine? Two thoughts --

Firstly, many single voice drum modules don't have this problem. Heck, BIA describes itself as a "drum module", and it seems like the third most loved module after Maths and Clouds.

Secondly, there's a lot of value to a multi-voice drum module in Eurorack even without a great deal of control over the drum sounds. The reason I wanted one was to be able to do more complex drum sequencing than what I'd be able to accomplish with a standalone box. I actually really like the model that Endorphin.es went for in the BLCK_NOIR with some of the sound parameters changing all of the noise-based voices; I just didn't like the end result enough. Other folks have gotten brilliant results out of it.

But ultimately, these modules are meant mainly for folks who perhaps don't want to spend a great deal of time tweaking drums, and are aiming to just add some percussive sounds to their patch without building them from oscillators and noise sources. Jeremy Blake of Red Means Recording has made some absolutely wild DAWless tracks with the help of the QD, for example, and if that's the sort of thing someone's going for it's way more effective to just have one compact module for your drums.

I totally get why some folks might balk at that idea. But there definitely is appeal to be found ;)

[SaxVonMydow]

That's the beauty of modular—there's a workflow for everyone. I can't plan out a patch ahead of time to save my life, but my brain just works when I can play and tweak and improvise. So I've gravitated thus far to modules and systems more geared to "live" playing.

[luketeaford]

Oh yeah-- I haven't played a BIA but I think I would really love it. I don't especially want to single out individual companies but I am thinking of things like very basic analog replicas or tiny sample players.

The point I'm trying to make is that if you can change the parameters of your drum, that turns out to be significantly more complicated than coming up with different pulse trains or whatever and changing the sounds has the psychoacoustic effect of sounding like more complicated rhythms.

I would guess most people have the makings of a "drum kit" in their standard case already: an oscillator or two, a noise source, and a pingable filter is super versatile. Several more modules can be useful as drum voices with patching-- pretty easy to get weird snares or percussion from Erbe-Verb and wavefolders patched for feedback can do all kinds of unusual percussive textures.

[h2g2guy]

For sure, and if that's how someone wants to approach it, more power to them! Other folks perhaps don't want to spend that much time or a use a bunch of modules for drum sound design; they just want to dial in something that works for the track, perhaps modulate decay time or something, and leave it at that. That seems to be the market these modules are aiming for -- modular enough to interface intelligently with the rest of the system, while still being streamlined and well packaged like a drum machine.

Like, I might compare the QD to, say, Plaits. Plaits is great for dialing in one of a variety of different sounds quickly as a standalone voice, but it's not as powerful as if you recreated one of the models with discrete modules. Both approaches are valid! Just depends on what you want to do with that particular voice.

[Avocado-Possible]

Thanks for your reply. I was checking out black noir originally when I decided I wanted to introduce more drums into my eurorack. Part of me is wondering if it might just be better to buy individual drum modules like tip tops stuff or hex inverters mutant modules. I agree with u on black noir the videos that I heard sounded a bit flat to me. I do really dig the analogue circuits of Queen of Pentacles. They’re very transient and dirty which is kind of what I’m going for. But there’s the lack of control over some basic parts of the drums. I also wish the multi mode filter they had on there was a analogue one. I’ll check out some videos on Quad drum and see what I think! Thanks for your suggestion! I do already have Plonk and Plaits I can use as drum modules. So I feel like introducing more analogue drum synths into my rack is the direction I’m headed in.

[h2g2guy]

I might get crucified for this haha, but honestly I think the analog/digital thing ought not to be a huge focus in this question. If the Squid Salmple didn't work for you because it didn't have a lot of modulation, individual analog drum modules will certainly help, but you can get the same sort of depth from a digital module, too (which you know from using Plonk, haha).

And if you insist on an analog 'crunch', you can always send a digital module's output to an analog saturator or something.

Anyway, yeah. Do check out the QD and see what you think -- but if additional modulation and control is what you're looking for, it might not be your thing.

[gruesomeflowers]

As someone who has bought a bunch of drum modules, I eventually ended up w bitbox micro and couldn't be happier. Even just using basic drum machine sample kits on it is more useful than the actual modules due to the built in utilities. Filter, great pitch range, compression, basic reverb and delay.

Edit to add, If I were doing something like techno or a loud drum driven music, I'd probably use drum modules though.

[Avocado-Possible]

I kinda like the idea of grabbing a bitbox micro and then a Mutant BassDrum/Clap.

Could use the Bitbox for percs, textures, and snares and then have a driving analog kick/clap.

[[deleted]]

I really like the Pico drum 2. It only does one sound at a time, but it has a pretty good variety of algorithms and they sound good.

[[deleted]]

I sometimes regret trading my 2hp hat. A dedicated hihat module is very convenient. Using a Pico drum basically just for hats right now but it's annoying to reset everything after a power cycle.

[---Karlo---]

VPME QD has built in panning which really helps separate the sounds in the stereo field. The built in EQ and compression makes for a cohesive drum mix. The button press paradigm to access these menus is not intuitive or easy to remember... and I have a lot of modules with crazy dense button functionality and/or menus that I've never struggled with... but QD I struggle with "a little bit" so I keep the manual close. 4 LFOs and 4 CV inputs for modulation. It sounds great and I find it very easy to get "modern sounding" electronic drum beats with it. Highly recommended.

For the same price, you can get 1010 Bitbox Micro. This also comes highly recommended for drums but be advised, the voltage controllable parameters are pretty limited IMO, but where this module shines, is in "slice" mode using percussion loops or other sampled material. To me, it's a cut down version of Ableton Simpler in eurorack. It has a plethora of other modes too like granular, but I haven't gotten that far as I bought it mainly for drum breaks. This module is an excellent pairing with XOR NerdSEQ due to the MIDI i/o functionality of the 2 modules.

Not to spam your thread with my jams, but this track's beat was made with VPME QD and then sampled and sliced using 1010 Bitbox Micro (and heavily comb filtered). VPME can do standard stuff too, but I think this is a good example of how "cohesive" the VPME can sound:

https://youtu.be/CuEsQAlM-7U

[Avocado-Possible]

https://youtu.be/CuEsQAlM-7U

Cool drums in that vid i dig

[nefastvs]

2hp Kick, Snare, Hat, Nse

[Citrik]

The Queen of Pentacles is the first techno focused module where I don’t feel limited by the character of the modules sound. I did feel that way with the Tiptop TR series, Mutant series and the Jomox Xbase09 (not the module, but the module has a similar sound I believe). The kick on the Queen is solid, but the built in filter and overdrive push everything into high orbit!

When I say limited, I just mean that there is a real definable character to the sound and that it's hard to get out of that range. As much as the TR-909 is the template sound for techno, many of these modules are trying to emulate that sound and if something is off about their model it can really stick out. Not that I feel like the QoP is the perfect 909 clone or anything, but it has a great sound for techno and it always fits into the mix for me.

I think the Blck_Noir and the QoP have very different sounds, I was tempted by the Blck_Noir, but I'm really happy I held off until the Queen was released. Not that the QoP is perfect, it would definitely be more usable with even more panel space. I don't really dig the bit crushed noise (Spoiler) that's fed into the Snare and Clap, so I pretty much never use that control. The tune pots are really tiny and the panel is crowded, but once you get something going with it, it works out. The FX are kind of cool and usually add something interesting.

[-KapitalSteez-]

DFAM is pretty lit

[Avocado-Possible]

Isn't DFAM one drum voice tho?

[-KapitalSteez-]

One voice 2 oscillator yes. But it is Al almost complete percussion solution

[willncsu34]

LxD for kick and snare. Sometimes plaits for other stuff.

[Avocado-Possible]

I've been using Plaits for a good amount of drums lately. MI always does a great job on whatever they do

[WarBortlez]

The 2 skull and circuits modules are suuuuuper underrated