Getting an Earful of the DrumBrute’s Sound Engine

The DrumBrute comes flush with a standard selection of electronic drum kit sounds, each programmed and tweaked in their own special ways.

Kick 1 has a recognisable resemblance to that of the TR-909. Although the real 909’s was somewhat smoother, the Drumbrute does trump it somewhat in terms of editing and tonal range. The Impact parameter increases transient bite by dialling in a second, short tom-like oscillator tone, while Sweep adjusts the range of the resonating filter sweep applied to the lower underlying oscillator. Just because the sound is labelled as a kick, this shouldn’t discount it being used for other things. Turning the Decay right down, and maxing both Impact and Sweep shifts the sound it into different percussive territory altogether.

Kick 2 is much closer in tone to a TR-606 or 808 kick – it’s simpler than Kick 1, offering only Pitch and Decay controls, and can go subsonic at its lowest setting. The maximum Decay time is shorter than a standard 808 though, so there’ll be no full-on Miami Bass-style action here.

The DB Snare is split into two components – pitch and noise – and can be nudged towards 808/606 territory. There’s more tweakability on hand, with the Drum Tone knob appearing to alter the balance between two short pitch generators, and the Snap parameters altering the characteristics of the noise source. Snap Tone applies a high-pass filter to the noise component.

The DrumBrute’s Clap is reminiscent of very early analogue drum machines – a simple noise source with a re-triggered attack envelope and adjustable decay. Sweeping the Tone parameter feels like moving a band-pass filter (somewhat counterintuitively) from high to low when moved in a clockwise direction.

The Clave and Maracas (neither with any parameter editing) are both very similar to those of the TR-808, as are the Hi and Low Congas (which can be pitched, though only at the same time as their respective Toms). The aforementioned Toms’ pitched element is again very similar to the 808, though without an additional noise element in the attack.

The Tambourine is reminiscent of the Roland CR-78’s, albeit with control over the sound’s Decay. The Rim Tone adjusts balance between two very short pitched elements.

The Hats are identical in sound, and feel quite similar to the TR-606 and DR-110, which employed multiple square-wave generators combined with a noise source and band-pass filter. The DrumBrute’s Pitch control alters the filter’s focus point. The Cymbal follows a broadly similar path, though with subtle component changes delivering a slightly different tone (that can be adjusted), alongside the Reverse Cymbal (that can’t).