Apparently, this year is the Year of The New Drum Machine. But enough teasing. Elektron now has some actual details for us of their entry.
Better still, they sound promising. You get an architecture worthy of the creators of the Machinedrum – with the requisite step sequencer and performance options – but in an instrument that combines both an 8-voice analog drum machine with sample playback. It’s not clear yet how those samples work, but that’s good news. And the 4×3 (cough) pads we saw earlier are both velocity- and pressure-sensitive.
Other than that, we’re still short of some other details, but this tells the main story. (Other than that, you just have to listen to dramatic music and watch some interpretive modern dance. Then again, if you watch closely, maybe they’re illustrating the pricing and availability with their gestures.)
Title cards from the video:
- 8-voice analog drum machine with sample support
- Analog filter & distortion per voice
- 12 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads
- Reverb & delay send effects
- “World-class” Elektron step sequencer
- Performance-oriented beat control
Or as Elektron says on their news feed, it’s “Distinguished by the power of analog drum sounds fused with samples. Perfected by the immediacy of drum pads coupled with Elektron sequencing.”
Seems that apart from price, the big question will be how sampling is integrated into this beast. But finally, a drum machine that does those two well? That could be big news – and might even steal some thunder from whatever-Roland-is-doing-and-we’re-totally-not-talking-about-that-any-more-until-they-stop-teasing.
Now, about that name… well, it sounds like the sound my teeth made when I was caught in a blizzard in Sweden a few years back, anyway.