Dave Smith Instruments originally planned only to tease their upcoming drum machine exclusively in a banner at the NAMM show: no word outside the insider trade show. Not in the Internet age: word of a new product from synth legend Dave Smith and drum machine/MPC legend quickly had blogs and forums abuzz.
Dave Smith himself has decided to post official word on the topic. The company notes the comments are “deliberately sketchy”, but that makes sense — this product is in very early development. Here’s Dave on the upcoming BoomChik:
We’re about a year away from production, so it’s currently in the vaporware, uh, I mean, computer simulation stage. Below is the current vision, though it will likely go through a number of changes over the year. We will update the website every few months with the latest status, so in the meanwhile please don’t ask about features or specifics on the design – it’s all subject to change anyway! As far as price, best guess is $1000 – $1500 range. We’re shooting for the lower, but we all know how that can go.
Basically, it is meant to be a drum machine, not an MPC. It will have both real analog percussion and normal sample playback, plus a bunch of novel processing. The idea is to produce sounds with some real, unique personality, different from everything else out there. Those of you with Evolvers can likely imagine what sounds will be possible, but it should go beyond that also.
Personally, I’m delighted this is a drum machine and a new concept, rather than an MPC. And imagining sounds that start with the rich, analog timbres of the Evolver and grow from there sounds terrific. I’m just going to clear my schedule for a year from now … it’s been too long since we saw great new drum machines.