Know your beatmakers

Our competing drum machines use a variety of sound engines. But what’s the difference?

The real answer here is sound engines – ie the approach each uses to create audio. Broadly these can be divided into a few categories – analogue, sample and FM. Drum machines often combine several of these approaches, using samples for some sounds and analogue synthesis for others or, as with the Analog Rytm, letting users layer them together. What’s the benefits to each? Let’s see...

Analogue

Analogue drum machines generally use a form of basic subtractive synthesis, treating simple oscillators or noise generators with filters and punchy pitch or amp envelopes to replicate the sound of real world drums. Analogue drum machines tend to be warm, punchy and full-bodied, but often lack the complexity or versatility of digital counterparts. Virtual analogue is simply a digital emulation of this.

Sample

Sample-based machines recreate sounds by playing back recorded samples, which can usually be shaped using some form of pitch control and/or envelopes. Naturally, sample drum machines are only as good as their source audio, but generally sampled drums can be more characterful and realistic than their synthesised counterparts.

FM

FM synthesis involves using two or more oscillators configured for audio-rate modulation, resulting in complex timbres. Traditionally it’s a less common approach to percussion synthesis, but it’s become increasingly popular in recent years, providing the core engine for Elektron’s Model: Cycles and cropping up in the TR-8S and DrumBrute Impact, among other instruments. FM is generally associated with metallic sounds and bell tones, but it’s great for bass-heavy kicks too.