My pleasure Alex, thanks! The ability to place the same sample on different pads and then use the accent is a very cool feature of this, especially since this early unit I have is pre-midi.
Wow! Your home is like an '80s Midi throwback zone! I used to own both the same Korg and the Drumulator you have here. Man, I miss having these pieces of equipment. I sold everything when I left LA, but I wish I hadn't. Great stuff! Big thumbs up!
The older drum machines do give you an interesting way of working with them, and that *can* be a good thing. :) But man, I just love the sounds coming out of this thing, and the subtle processing you added to the drums really brings out the best in each sound.
The world needs an album produced by Espen Kraft with talented musicians incl. Nick Rhodes, Thomas Dolby, Mark White, Astrid Plane, Anne Dudley, David Diamond, Stephen Donaldson, Gary Daly, Danz (Danielle baby girl), Robby Smith, Andy Fletcher, and so so many 80's talented artists like Espen. Espen is the umbilical cord keeping happy pop music alive today, some 35++ yrs later. God Bless Espen Kraft !!!
Emu's affordable answer to the Linn! I have one with the later MIDI revision and a second set of sound chips with Linn LM-1 sounds. As you show in this video, despite some cost cutting decisions by E-mu in order to get the machine out with a sub $1,000 price tag it is still an easy machine to use with some neat features. This machine was used by artists as diverse as Big Black, Front 242, Clan of Xymox,The Cocteau Twins and Tears For Fears (the latter three also using the alternative "Rock Drums" sound chips).
GREAT SOUND AND DEVICE...I TOOK SAMPLES FEW YEARS AGO...VERY PUNCHY AND PRECISE...I LOVE THE SOUND OF THAT PERIOD... GREAT VIDEO ESPEN...! ALWAYS A PLEASURE !!!...
Those an old-school drum machines and synths, aesthetic sounds fits for techno and electro pop much better than nowadays modern synthesizers too sophisticated sounds.
Instantly recognizable sounds, which typecast it today, but lots of fun. Mine is broken, and I'm happy to see yours doesn't have the usual problems with multiple-triggers and skippy slider. Also happy you're showing the workflow that would have been in place to use one of these contemporaneously. 1984 or so, I would have had a Yamaha RX15, a Korg drum machine I don't remember the name of, a brand-new Yamaha CX5m music computer, and a Kawai K3m. The new DX7 was out of my student price range, but I was able to borrow some Kurzweil expander boxes and a Korg DSS8 for awhile. What I really wanted was a Fairlight CMI... (Yeah, right!)
@@hubblebublumbubwub5215 fancy seeing you here, good to know you’re still kickin’. Tis I, Eric Lamar. Furthermore I am also surprised that it was more than just a Roland on those Big Black records
necro commenting, i know, but it was just the 606 until before Songs About. apparently the bassist smashed the 606 at the end of a show and that prompted getting the Drumulator.
Great vid, been studying early-mid 80s italo production the past few years I remember when I couldn't distinguish the emu from other machines but after a while I got it, I'd say it has probably the hardest/fattest snare of all the classic drum machines! Definetely an underrated machine and if I didn't have an irrational affinity for the dmx/dx I'd prob use the drumulator exclusively... Not to mention the low price!
@@Oan-yd7pi no sleep til Brooklyn is DMX. That Beastie Groove song does sound like Drumulator with the Rock Drum ROMs installed, but not stock. The Chris theme sounds like a whole bunch of different stuff, so probably a sampler
Hello! Thanks for making this video. It´s extremely inspiring (and makes me a bit feel like "those were the days..."). I remember thinking of buying one back in the days. Enjoy your day! Rolf
I still have mine, haven't used it since one of my first demo songs. I love drum machines I have several. I will use it again. I even have an old Yamaha RX11, love any good drum machine that has midi because I program the song in them and often upload the midi to a sequencer like Cubase and play it's samples.
I love my MIDI Drumulator which I bought when it came out. I had the Roland 606 Dramatix before that and just hated it. The Drumulator was such an improvement. Despite only four pads the interface is a breeze to use and I’ve never found any drum machine so simple and fast to use. I eventually traded up to an Oberheim DMX which I eventually sold, but I would never sell my beloved Drumulator. I eventually swapped out the sounds for a Linn set and the Rock drums and swap them via ZIF sockets. The factory toms, claps, clave and hats are great, but I always found the kick and snare to be very “puffy”. The trigger ins are great and I used the outs to trigger other sounds off my Alesia DM 5 Pro. Great, classic machine. Now if I could only afford an Emulator II.
Cool story. I feel the opposite, the kick and snare are cornerstones in many of my own made samples. With compression and EQ I find these among the very best sound I can use for early 80s synthpop. ;-)
It’s funny you should say that because ALL my tracks in the early 80s had Drumulator on them. I loved the sounds. I still do and I’d never sell my trusty Drumulator. But as the decade went on just like the JX-8P I started to feel like they sounded so...80s. Like it instantly sounded like a 1983 movie soundtrack. I want new sounds that people had’t heard before. And the Drumulator sounds are very distinctive. But now of course I’m loving those 80s sounds so much I bought two JX-8p and I love them to death. Thanks to watching your videos I’m going to fire up the Drumulator, make some tracks and fall in love all over again.
FYI, every one of those rips in Espen's jeans was caused by the sharp edge from the metal casing of one of his vintage synths. These days, with hard plastic, mass-produced synthesizers, a musician has no choice but to purchase jeans that already have holes in them! 😉😁😂😟
Nice! I'm curious with the older gear how you deal with maintenance issues? Changing old batteries, old caps, displays, etc. We want our classics to last forever, but I worry about the fragility of aging electronics.
Maintenance is always a factor with this stuff. All kinds of things can and WILL go wrong. I'm trained in electronics so I fix most of the more simple things myself. If one don't know how to solder and probe for voltage etc one shouldn't get into this stuff. ;-)
Good Video on thr Emu. Like that. Reminds me on the Front 242 and DM stuff. Like Constrution Time again and Take One (by Front)!👍👍👍 men vad är detta med dina brallor på början????
Yeah, DM used it quite a lot on Construction. Denim med hål var stort på 80-talet vet du och jag går ofta med det fortfarande. Jeg följer inga moten ;-)
Not sure if you did this already but could you show how you process the individual sounds. How to set gated reverb, compression on kick for 80's sound to sound punchy, claps, rim shots other tricks etc.
I have a couple of videos on my channel that basically show my whole process of mixing these things. My workflow is the same, regardless of it being samples, individual outs of a drum machine etc. Check out these two videos for full disclosure: th-cam.com/video/b6UsCNjbYck/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/yzgmo3t-tck/w-d-xo.html
Hi Espen, again a wonderful demonstration of vintage soundware working together ❤️ I've noticed that from 4:00 the tempo indicator of your SQD-1 is fluctuating between 120 and 124 BPM. Do you know if this "works as designed" or if rather this is some sort of defect? My SQD-1 shows the same behaviour so I am wondering.
Thanks! The tempo display on the SQD-1 fluctuating is probably just because the tempo switch a analog potentiometer and in this case I set it just between two settings and it just fluctuate between those two settings.
I wonder why they didn't put 8 drum pads on this drum machine, there was plenty of room for them. Some nice classic drum sounds in this machine, I recognise the snare, clap and hi-hats etc. from many a classic 80's hit.
We can only assume it was done to save cost, but I'm very glad they did it like this because being able to assign the same sound to more than one pad makes all the difference when it comes to programming patterns. Almost no other classic (no-sampling-yourself) drum machine has this ability.
As Espen suggests, it was a cost cutting reason. The legendary Linn LM-1 and LinnDrum LM-2 were very expensive and out of the reach of even many professional musicians, so E-mu wanted to produce a sampled drum machine for less than $1,000. If I recall correctly the Drumulator achieved this by retailing for $995. Other cost cutting was the inclusion of a short ride cymbal but no crash in order to save on expensive EPROMs, and some sounds crammed onto the same EPROM rather than the more expensive "one EPROM per sound" of other machines such as the Linns and Oberheims.
that machine sounds lovely. Not a fan of the piccolo snare, give me that boomy warm 80's snare. This is getting me excited about drum machines again. I've worked with samples, and you are correct, it's not the same.
The drumulator (and many other vintage drum machines) does use samples, heh. And there are hardware samplers in drum machine style, which is a flexible option. I assume you mean samples in software, though? If so, then yeah, not the same
Yeah, the Drumulator uses samples, but some drum machines still has certain features that sets them apart from using samples isolated in software OR other types of hardware sample players. The Drumulator's capability to assign the same sample to all the pads and then use the Accent function to program dynamic patterns. The internal "groove" you then accomplish has a feel to it that cannot be replicated any other way.
Great video. I have one of these. I'm just getting back into using it. The toms sound different here could it be the verb? You've given me some interesting ways back in thanks!
Thanks! Yes, as I point out early on, by the time I get to the Toms they're going through EQ, compression and gated reverbs so that alters the sound to a great degree. They are stock Drumulator Toms though ;-)
No,it's not that. You compress the sounds to make them stand out more in a mix, to cut through. You EQ them to sit better with other sounds and you put effects on them to create ambiance. All this is key techniques for any sound and is part of how you mix to sculpt the overall sound you want to achieve.
So good! You have successfully convinced me why this drum machine is something you wanted, it really is flexible and it sounds great) I was wondering about those sneaky effects though, at arounf 8:00 minute mark, are those delays or gated reverbs? They fit the sounds so nicely!
Hi Espen. Love your channel covering the best era for synth music. Have you ever put together a video on basic midi, sync, din and clock principles? I'm just getting into using vintage midi and my head is already spinning trying to understand these concepts and how to use them in real life when sequencing and recording and performing synth pop songs. Any help would be appreciated!
If you could use only one Drum machine and One synthesizer to sum up the 80s on the whole Espen which would you choose? maybe a vid for another time though ?! Another great vid thanks :)
Thanks! It's hard to neglect the Linndrum top position for THE 80s drum machine, but for synths I'd rather say that samplers are what makes up the 80s "synth" sound for me, more than any particular synth.
Hmmm, they've done it right. That's something I could work with. Absolutely featurepacked, but so transparent you can just "do it". One question though, which is a bit of a pet-peeve of mine... Can it do 5/4 measure easily? Most pattern devices seem to have trouble with that.
It's reasonably easy. Mixing time signatures with these old machines isn't something I use them for, but back in the day you had to program that so it's doable.
@@EspenKraft sure, love your channel!, I remember this stuff as it was being released, a lot of technological progress in a pretty short time, the kids today don't realize how exiting it was to hear things starting to get closer to real drums, and now all the want is the 808 sound, lol!
Though I do love me a good hardware sampler, over time, after having several of them.. I realized how tedious some of the workflow aspects can be. I feel like I work a lot quicker and can get a “radio” quality sound from just working in the box. Without a doubt though.. The immediacy and feel you get from hardware, is sometimes a little more rewarding. So there’s trade off’s for both. Great video though!
Thanks! No doubt working ITB can get you to a good sound quickly, but sometimes the long road is more rewarding (and fun) in the end, that's why I prefer that myself. ;-)
Please Espen, could you tell to my wife that normal guy could see some YT clips about fantastic 80's drum machines, , even in late night hours. Some things are important like Emulator or LinnDrum patterns more then (my wife's) her's smooth music exotique MTV videos for 80's.
I think some of the drum sounds of "Right by my Side" by Eurythmix at least sounds like they were from the drumulator. That clap...Just taken from my memory not even listening to it (it just triggered an "audio memory" that may be wrong).
It's the only way you can backup your patterns and songs or restore them back. there's no other way than doing it the old school, just like a Commodore 64 and the cassette player. You cannot attach a disk drive to stuff like this.
@@EspenKraft I wonder if like on the 80s home micro computers, you can attach a digital audio player / PC computer soundcard output and feed it the data at a faster rate? I think you have to use WAV files at the right volume as they are more reliable.
Exactly. I usually use my phone to transfer (restore) audio backup files back to a synth like this. No need to break out the cassette anymore. That said, I haven't done this in a while as the need to go through the cassette port is not there. I don't need to do that. I just program in a pattern in a heartbeat if I need it.
I don’t think drum machines have ‘a groove’ of themselves. They say that of certain Akai mpc’s aswell. I think that every machine invites you to play it a certain way. My beats made on the Digitakt sound different from those made in maschine or my Microsampler. Anyway, this channel is always a joy.
Thanks! I have and I've had plenty of drum machines that don't have any internal "magic" in terms of groove at all. No Roland drum machine has ever had that mojo. Their just excellent drum machines. So i definitely think some has it and some do not. The most important thing is what you make with what you have and what the end result is. For me anyways ;-)
What’s cool about the 80’s is that the manual looks like something William Shatner would have been reading on set and the Drumulator won’t be out of place strapped underneath a bridge before Inspector Gadget drives over it. Also, I’m contacting Dr.Pepper to sponsor new jeans for Espen. 😉 You’re the best Espen, keep up all your great work!
Ha-ha cool description of a setting not so far fetched really! :) the Drumulator could easily be used as a prop in such a scene and no one except us old school music tech heads would notice.. ;-) Thanks Jann
No, you can't do that. In this case I went from the sequencer through Midi out to a Sequential TOM and from that through the clock out to the clock in of the Drunulator. The SQD-1 doesn't have clock out.
The Drumulator isn't easy to sync up. Not any clock pulse will work. What I end up doing to get a ALMOST perfect sync is to run MIDI clock out of the DAW or a sequencer to my Sequential TOM drum machine. I set this to external sync, then I run the clock out of that to the Drumulator, but still it isn't perfect. The trouble is by doing so you get no clock dividing to set the tempo of the Drumulator/divided. Another option would be to use the Dopefer MSY2, but you might end up having the same trouble there. A third option would be to get a Drumulator with MIDI installed. I don't have that though. Best of luck!
Espen, when you turn the Drumulator on, what does the LED show? Mine shows 01 then"E"The "E" is above the Value/Seg. Other than that the machine works normally, but every now and then it freezes. What does yours show when switched on, and does it every freeze on you? Thanks, Espen!
Mine goes straight into the song number, as far as I can remember. Been a while since I used it last. It never freezes though. Can be chips that needs pulled out and pushed in again.
Haha.. no. I've deep-sampled it and I only use my own samples when I work on productions. I only pull it out for live work or when I make videos and I want to feature it. ;-) I never use my drum machines in productions, samples only.
Hello. May i ask one consultative question. For some goods exchange, i can get either Alesis SR16, or Yamaha RY20. What to choose? Does both have SDS-V-like sounds, etc considerations for cheesy 80ies? ;-) Thank you in advance!
Got to love that Emu aesthetic. It's like something from a bridge console on Space1999.
Except that the 'acting' in Espen's vids is far better than in Space 1999. ;) 😂🤣
I used to have one of these, I wish I'd held on to it
Me too
That snare is to die for!
I do love a good 80s drum machine. Never really heard this one in detail so thanks for the walkthrough!
My pleasure Alex, thanks! The ability to place the same sample on different pads and then use the accent is a very cool feature of this, especially since this early unit I have is pre-midi.
Great sounding machine. Howard Jones and Depeche Mode used it a lot in the early 80s. Yours is in a very good condition.
Yes, this early Drumulator is in extremely good condition.
@@EspenKraft - How much was it, and do you know it's history?
yes for Depeche Mode, especially for all the album Construction Time Again in 1983 ...
@@jojolecruchotdugeeklille2681 not only that, Front 242 also used this
Espen, this is the best introduction to a youtube video so far! You sitting under a tree and leaning on the rhythm drums! Epic!
Thanks!
More excellent 'Kraft work' from Espen! Thank you!
Thanks Derek :)
Very nice! Love the crunchy sound of those samples.
Your tracks always sound so cool, even if they are "so simple", love them!
Thanks man! :)
Superb Espen!
Thanks man! :)
what a lovely drum machine!
no synthwave without the 80 drummachines
Great video espen of this classic drum machine. Had a brilliant rock kit eprom set used on many hip hop tunes of the 80’s.
Wow! Your home is like an '80s Midi throwback zone! I used to own both the same Korg and the Drumulator you have here. Man, I miss having these pieces of equipment. I sold everything when I left LA, but I wish I hadn't. Great stuff! Big thumbs up!
Cheers!
The older drum machines do give you an interesting way of working with them, and that *can* be a good thing. :) But man, I just love the sounds coming out of this thing, and the subtle processing you added to the drums really brings out the best in each sound.
Sweet ;-)
What a wonderful machine!
The world needs an album produced by Espen Kraft with talented musicians incl. Nick Rhodes, Thomas Dolby, Mark White, Astrid Plane, Anne Dudley, David Diamond, Stephen Donaldson, Gary Daly, Danz (Danielle baby girl), Robby Smith, Andy Fletcher, and so so many 80's talented artists like Espen.
Espen is the umbilical cord keeping happy pop music alive today, some 35++ yrs later. God Bless Espen Kraft !!!
Many thanks! :D
Emu's affordable answer to the Linn! I have one with the later MIDI revision and a second set of sound chips with Linn LM-1 sounds. As you show in this video, despite some cost cutting decisions by E-mu in order to get the machine out with a sub $1,000 price tag it is still an easy machine to use with some neat features. This machine was used by artists as diverse as Big Black, Front 242, Clan of Xymox,The Cocteau Twins and Tears For Fears (the latter three also using the alternative "Rock Drums" sound chips).
GREAT SOUND AND DEVICE...I TOOK SAMPLES FEW YEARS AGO...VERY PUNCHY AND PRECISE...I LOVE THE SOUND OF THAT PERIOD...
GREAT VIDEO ESPEN...!
ALWAYS A PLEASURE !!!...
Thanks Marius! It has a special sound for sure. :)
@@EspenKraft Yup !
Those an old-school drum machines and synths, aesthetic sounds fits for techno and electro pop much better than nowadays modern synthesizers too sophisticated sounds.
The toms are awesome
Another excellent tutorial, Espen! Thankyou
Thanks Andy! :)
Instantly recognizable sounds, which typecast it today, but lots of fun. Mine is broken, and I'm happy to see yours doesn't have the usual problems with multiple-triggers and skippy slider. Also happy you're showing the workflow that would have been in place to use one of these contemporaneously. 1984 or so, I would have had a Yamaha RX15, a Korg drum machine I don't remember the name of, a brand-new Yamaha CX5m music computer, and a Kawai K3m. The new DX7 was out of my student price range, but I was able to borrow some Kurzweil expander boxes and a Korg DSS8 for awhile. What I really wanted was a Fairlight CMI... (Yeah, right!)
Nice and cheerful tune
Steve Albini’s Big Black Drum Machine 😎
Until 20 minutes ago I thought he performed magic on a Roland 606. Everything clicks into place now. Life finally makes sense.
@@hubblebublumbubwub5215 fancy seeing you here, good to know you’re still kickin’. Tis I, Eric Lamar. Furthermore I am also surprised that it was more than just a Roland on those Big Black records
necro commenting, i know, but it was just the 606 until before Songs About. apparently the bassist smashed the 606 at the end of a show and that prompted getting the Drumulator.
Cool little tutorial
Craft. Espen Craft. 😎
It's with a K ;-)
@@EspenKraft
Sorry, my bad. But you are a master of that 80's sound craft! (with a C) 😉
Sure man, I appreciate it anyways! :) Thanks
Oh wow that sounds great.
Back when music was simple enjoyable and fun
Great vid, been studying early-mid 80s italo production the past few years I remember when I couldn't distinguish the emu from other machines but after a while I got it, I'd say it has probably the hardest/fattest snare of all the classic drum machines! Definetely an underrated machine and if I didn't have an irrational affinity for the dmx/dx I'd prob use the drumulator exclusively... Not to mention the low price!
Thanks! They all have different treats so the best bet is to have them all! :)
I think the word underrated is underrated on youtube!
Thanks a lot, 1983 forever👌👍
add reverb and it reminds me of "eyes without a face" billy idol 1:13
Great song!
That was a LinnDrum
Alan Wilder Depeche Mode equipaments.
Drumulator can be heard on Howard Jones' debut album "Human's Lib", Depeche Mode's "Construction Time Again" and early Cocteau Twins.
early cocteau was TR-808, and very distinct on stuff like 'blind dumb deaf'
What about "songs from the big chair" and some of the Beastie boys stuff?
@@Oan-yd7pi examples of usage by Beastie Boys, please. They used a lot of DMX on License To Ill.
@@zibbybone Beastie Groove and no sleep till Brooklyn (I believe it is in no sleep til Brooklyn). Also on the theme song of "Everybody hates Chris"
@@Oan-yd7pi no sleep til Brooklyn is DMX. That Beastie Groove song does sound like Drumulator with the Rock Drum ROMs installed, but not stock. The Chris theme sounds like a whole bunch of different stuff, so probably a sampler
Wow... Thx 4 da Video Rock and Friday night videos audio aesthetic. GREAT era 👍🏾
Hello! Thanks for making this video. It´s extremely inspiring (and makes me a bit feel like "those were the days..."). I remember thinking of buying one back in the days. Enjoy your day! Rolf
Thanks Rolf, you too! :)
I still have mine, haven't used it since one of my first demo songs. I love drum machines I have several. I will use it again. I even have an old Yamaha RX11, love any good drum machine that has midi because I program the song in them and often upload the midi to a sequencer like Cubase and play it's samples.
Sounds like a 80's tv tune about science or something, nice :)
Still have my Yamaha RY-30 Espen, an incredibly advanced machine for its time, and still holds it own in terms of progammability.
The RY-30 has some cool sounds and features for sure. :)
Awesome video
Sweet, thanks! :)
E-mu is the best ever!
I love ❤️ the 80s music , my respect to you 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Thanks! :)
I love my MIDI Drumulator which I bought when it came out. I had the Roland 606 Dramatix before that and just hated it. The Drumulator was such an improvement. Despite only four pads the interface is a breeze to use and I’ve never found any drum machine so simple and fast to use. I eventually traded up to an Oberheim DMX which I eventually sold, but I would never sell my beloved Drumulator. I eventually swapped out the sounds for a Linn set and the Rock drums and swap them via ZIF sockets. The factory toms, claps, clave and hats are great, but I always found the kick and snare to be very “puffy”. The trigger ins are great and I used the outs to trigger other sounds off my Alesia DM 5 Pro. Great, classic machine. Now if I could only afford an Emulator II.
Cool story. I feel the opposite, the kick and snare are cornerstones in many of my own made samples. With compression and EQ I find these among the very best sound I can use for early 80s synthpop. ;-)
It’s funny you should say that because ALL my tracks in the early 80s had Drumulator on them. I loved the sounds. I still do and I’d never sell my trusty Drumulator. But as the decade went on just like the JX-8P I started to feel like they sounded so...80s. Like it instantly sounded like a 1983 movie soundtrack. I want new sounds that people had’t heard before. And the Drumulator sounds are very distinctive. But now of course I’m loving those 80s sounds so much I bought two JX-8p and I love them to death. Thanks to watching your videos I’m going to fire up the Drumulator, make some tracks and fall in love all over again.
Mmmm my kind of happy chords! 💖 Have you been listening too much on my music now Espen? 😎🤷🏼♂️ 😂
It would seem so Anders! ;-)
I'll be honest - that tear in your jeans did scare me a bit. lol
Good, the whole purpose ;-)
Me too - straight out of the 80's.
@@credenza1 And straight onto a "watchlist", if he ever had a "wardrobe malfunction" in that park. lol
Hi, my name is _Frankie goes to Hollywood_ - Kraft.
My god, I just hope he never does a 'Cameo' tutorial.
FYI, every one of those rips in Espen's jeans was caused by the sharp edge from the metal casing of one of his vintage synths.
These days, with hard plastic, mass-produced synthesizers, a musician has no choice but to purchase jeans that already have holes in them! 😉😁😂😟
One of the Linn Drum competitors. This is a Linn style drum sounds.
Nice! I'm curious with the older gear how you deal with maintenance issues? Changing old batteries, old caps, displays, etc. We want our classics to last forever, but I worry about the fragility of aging electronics.
Maintenance is always a factor with this stuff. All kinds of things can and WILL go wrong. I'm trained in electronics so I fix most of the more simple things myself. If one don't know how to solder and probe for voltage etc one shouldn't get into this stuff. ;-)
Good Video on thr Emu. Like that. Reminds me on the Front 242 and DM stuff. Like Constrution Time again and Take One (by Front)!👍👍👍 men vad är detta med dina brallor på början????
Yeah, DM used it quite a lot on Construction. Denim med hål var stort på 80-talet vet du och jag går ofta med det fortfarande. Jeg följer inga moten ;-)
Halo Espen nice to se/hear some old California gear again 😎👍
The best stuff! :)
nice!!!
Not sure if you did this already but could you show how you process the individual sounds. How to set gated reverb, compression on kick for 80's sound to sound punchy, claps, rim shots other tricks etc.
I have a couple of videos on my channel that basically show my whole process of mixing these things. My workflow is the same, regardless of it being samples, individual outs of a drum machine etc. Check out these two videos for full disclosure:
th-cam.com/video/b6UsCNjbYck/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/yzgmo3t-tck/w-d-xo.html
I still use it mostly Linn Drum
Great Gear!!
Sweet :)
hilarious intro, thanks for the lols. did you add that amusing frog sound effect in post?
ok, back to the video.
Every sound except for my voice in the intro is edited in. I think there's five layers of nature sounds there. It was fun. :)
Hi Espen, again a wonderful demonstration of vintage soundware working together ❤️ I've noticed that from 4:00 the tempo indicator of your SQD-1 is fluctuating between 120 and 124 BPM. Do you know if this "works as designed" or if rather this is some sort of defect? My SQD-1 shows the same behaviour so I am wondering.
Thanks! The tempo display on the SQD-1 fluctuating is probably just because the tempo switch a analog potentiometer and in this case I set it just between two settings and it just fluctuate between those two settings.
I wonder why they didn't put 8 drum pads on this drum machine, there was plenty of room for them. Some nice classic drum sounds in this machine, I recognise the snare, clap and hi-hats etc. from many a classic 80's hit.
We can only assume it was done to save cost, but I'm very glad they did it like this because being able to assign the same sound to more than one pad makes all the difference when it comes to programming patterns. Almost no other classic (no-sampling-yourself) drum machine has this ability.
As Espen suggests, it was a cost cutting reason. The legendary Linn LM-1 and LinnDrum LM-2 were very expensive and out of the reach of even many professional musicians, so E-mu wanted to produce a sampled drum machine for less than $1,000. If I recall correctly the Drumulator achieved this by retailing for $995. Other cost cutting was the inclusion of a short ride cymbal but no crash in order to save on expensive EPROMs, and some sounds crammed onto the same EPROM rather than the more expensive "one EPROM per sound" of other machines such as the Linns and Oberheims.
that machine sounds lovely. Not a fan of the piccolo snare, give me that boomy warm 80's snare. This is getting me excited about drum machines again. I've worked with samples, and you are correct, it's not the same.
The snare on this is actually pretty awesome layered with say a Linn snare. As I will show in the near future ;-)
The drumulator (and many other vintage drum machines) does use samples, heh. And there are hardware samplers in drum machine style, which is a flexible option. I assume you mean samples in software, though? If so, then yeah, not the same
Yeah, the Drumulator uses samples, but some drum machines still has certain features that sets them apart from using samples isolated in software OR other types of hardware sample players. The Drumulator's capability to assign the same sample to all the pads and then use the Accent function to program dynamic patterns. The internal "groove" you then accomplish has a feel to it that cannot be replicated any other way.
@@EspenKraft Yep, that's true! Plus the I/O on many '80s drum machines is very full featured. The Drumulator being one example
Good “Wide Boy” tribute there...
Great video. I have one of these. I'm just getting back into using it. The toms sound different here could it be the verb? You've given me some interesting ways back in thanks!
Thanks! Yes, as I point out early on, by the time I get to the Toms they're going through EQ, compression and gated reverbs so that alters the sound to a great degree. They are stock Drumulator Toms though ;-)
Great work!
So running drum machines through compressors and fx units make them sound cleaner? im still learning about mixing.
No,it's not that. You compress the sounds to make them stand out more in a mix, to cut through. You EQ them to sit better with other sounds and you put effects on them to create ambiance. All this is key techniques for any sound and is part of how you mix to sculpt the overall sound you want to achieve.
@@EspenKraft Im yet to get an analog mixer and fx units yet.
So good! You have successfully convinced me why this drum machine is something you wanted, it really is flexible and it sounds great)
I was wondering about those sneaky effects though, at arounf 8:00 minute mark, are those delays or gated reverbs? They fit the sounds so nicely!
Thanks! Yes, this is a classic gated reverb type of effects. On toms like this I find that mandatory for this 80s synth-pop sound.
Hi Espen. Love your channel covering the best era for synth music. Have you ever put together a video on basic midi, sync, din and clock principles? I'm just getting into using vintage midi and my head is already spinning trying to understand these concepts and how to use them in real life when sequencing and recording and performing synth pop songs. Any help would be appreciated!
I have plenty of videos showing these things. Check out my audio and video setup videos and my Roland MC50 videos.
Reminds me of Falco.
CentaurusRelax314 I love Falco! Nachtflug is one of my favs ever. Greetings!
So galactic
If you could use only one Drum machine and One synthesizer to sum up the 80s on the whole Espen which would you choose? maybe a vid for another time though ?! Another great vid thanks :)
Thanks! It's hard to neglect the Linndrum top position for THE 80s drum machine, but for synths I'd rather say that samplers are what makes up the 80s "synth" sound for me, more than any particular synth.
@@EspenKraft wow! yes interesting i never looked at things that way! Linn drum has to be up there for sure..
Hmmm, they've done it right. That's something I could work with. Absolutely featurepacked, but so transparent you can just "do it". One question though, which is a bit of a pet-peeve of mine... Can it do 5/4 measure easily? Most pattern devices seem to have trouble with that.
It's reasonably easy. Mixing time signatures with these old machines isn't something I use them for, but back in the day you had to program that so it's doable.
Craig Anderton = retro awesomeness. Who keeps looking at the Behringer Model D? ;-)
xnonsuchx
Craig Anderton is a legend!
@@Coastincolt Mandrake Memorial were an epic band too
I still have one of my basement somewhere
Not sure what to make of the intro, lol but fantastic information on the machine!
I could never do a video without some deadpan humor.... thanks! :)
@@EspenKraft sure, love your channel!, I remember this stuff as it was being released, a lot of technological progress in a pretty short time, the kids today don't realize how exiting it was to hear things starting to get closer to real drums, and now all the want is the 808 sound, lol!
Ha-ha, exactly! ;-)
Yes bluejays!😍🇨🇦
whoa that was cool :o
Though I do love me a good hardware sampler, over time, after having several of them.. I realized how tedious some of the workflow aspects can be. I feel like I work a lot quicker and can get a “radio” quality sound from just working in the box.
Without a doubt though.. The immediacy and feel you get from hardware, is sometimes a little more rewarding. So there’s trade off’s for both. Great video though!
Thanks!
No doubt working ITB can get you to a good sound quickly, but sometimes the long road is more rewarding (and fun) in the end, that's why I prefer that myself. ;-)
Espen Kraft You’re not wrong. Great effort and detail put into the video btw.
Craig Anderton is a cool writer, musician.
What's that Type font for the "Drumulator" logo ?
I have no idea what it was originally.
'Drumulator Impact' ;) 😁😂🤣
As used on the theme from Neighbours.
Nice Blue Jays hat!
Does the DSI Tempest qualify?
It's a nice machine.
The LinnDrum has FIVE trigger inputs. I demonstrate that feature in the video on my Channel.
Is it a contest? ;-)
Please Espen, could you tell to my wife that normal guy could see some YT clips about fantastic 80's drum machines, , even in late night hours. Some things are important like Emulator or LinnDrum patterns more then (my wife's) her's smooth music exotique MTV videos for 80's.
My wife doesn't understand why I keep making these anyways... ;-)
Thankfully I got mine before the prices started rising.
How much was yours, and how much are they now?
I think some of the drum sounds of "Right by my Side" by Eurythmix at least sounds like they were from the drumulator. That clap...Just taken from my memory not even listening to it (it just triggered an "audio memory" that may be wrong).
Se puede samplear vinilos???
I bought 3 broken drumulators years ago and only fixed one of them. I need to fix the other two and put them on eBay.
Carlos Medrano you should because people like myself would definitely buy it I hope you fix it
What function does the cassette interface serve?
It's the only way you can backup your patterns and songs or restore them back. there's no other way than doing it the old school, just like a Commodore 64 and the cassette player. You cannot attach a disk drive to stuff like this.
@@EspenKraft I wonder if like on the 80s home micro computers, you can attach a digital audio player / PC computer soundcard output and feed it the data at a faster rate? I think you have to use WAV files at the right volume as they are more reliable.
Exactly. I usually use my phone to transfer (restore) audio backup files back to a synth like this. No need to break out the cassette anymore. That said, I haven't done this in a while as the need to go through the cassette port is not there. I don't need to do that. I just program in a pattern in a heartbeat if I need it.
hi, how do i reset my drumulator, i can't get any sound out of it at all.
Check the manual. Section 7C.
Nice,)
I don’t think drum machines have ‘a groove’ of themselves. They say that of certain Akai mpc’s aswell. I think that every machine invites you to play it a certain way. My beats made on the Digitakt sound different from those made in maschine or my Microsampler.
Anyway, this channel is always a joy.
Thanks!
I have and I've had plenty of drum machines that don't have any internal "magic" in terms of groove at all. No Roland drum machine has ever had that mojo. Their just excellent drum machines. So i definitely think some has it and some do not. The most important thing is what you make with what you have and what the end result is. For me anyways ;-)
Really? I can losten to repeating tr808 pattern that does not sound like im listening to a robot. I think the 808 can do it too.
What’s cool about the 80’s is that the manual looks like something William Shatner would have been reading on set and the Drumulator won’t be out of place strapped underneath a bridge before Inspector Gadget drives over it. Also, I’m contacting Dr.Pepper to sponsor new jeans for Espen. 😉 You’re the best Espen, keep up all your great work!
Ha-ha cool description of a setting not so far fetched really! :) the Drumulator could easily be used as a prop in such a scene and no one except us old school music tech heads would notice.. ;-) Thanks Jann
Like this panel in Star Trek that has assimilated an Oberheim DMX? 😀
images.app.goo.gl/1iTPVJHWSBZkUMCp6
@@jbforce10 or Synthex? 🙂
What cable did you use to sync the sequencer with the drumulator? Did you use a Midi to RCA cable adapter?
No, you can't do that. In this case I went from the sequencer through Midi out to a Sequential TOM and from that through the clock out to the clock in of the Drunulator. The SQD-1 doesn't have clock out.
Nice Voice. U sounds like Otacon from Metal Gear Solid 2.... Btw. Nice Video
Thanks man! :) Maybe I should voice characters in games as a new sideline.. ;-)
Is the drum-sound from the song "Shout" from Tears for Fears in this computer?
The Drumulator ws used on Shout, but with another set of sound chips inside.
Can you pitch down the drums up and down like on an sp1200 with the slider on the left ?
You can't do anything like that on the Drumulator.
To me, "the" Drumulator sound is the replacement Rock Drums set, as per Tears For Fears and the Cocteau Twins
No! Just NO! I gave mine away more than 20 years ago and don’t miss it at all.
Yes, just yes!
Have fun!
This compared to new gear out now, we're so spoiled. Lol
I’m trying to sync my drumulator to my roland system 8 , is there any way? I’m new to this clock stuff. Your help is greatly appreciated.
The Drumulator isn't easy to sync up. Not any clock pulse will work. What I end up doing to get a ALMOST perfect sync is to run MIDI clock out of the DAW or a sequencer to my Sequential TOM drum machine. I set this to external sync, then I run the clock out of that to the Drumulator, but still it isn't perfect. The trouble is by doing so you get no clock dividing to set the tempo of the Drumulator/divided. Another option would be to use the Dopefer MSY2, but you might end up having the same trouble there. A third option would be to get a Drumulator with MIDI installed. I don't have that though. Best of luck!
Espen, when you turn the Drumulator on, what does the LED show? Mine shows 01 then"E"The "E" is above the Value/Seg. Other than that the machine works normally, but every now and then it freezes. What does yours show when switched on, and does it every freeze on you? Thanks, Espen!
Mine goes straight into the song number, as far as I can remember. Been a while since I used it last. It never freezes though. Can be chips that needs pulled out and pushed in again.
@@EspenKraft what? You don't use it daily?😁😁😁 I'll pull them out and reinsert. Thanks man!!!😻
Haha.. no. I've deep-sampled it and I only use my own samples when I work on productions. I only pull it out for live work or when I make videos and I want to feature it. ;-) I never use my drum machines in productions, samples only.
So are the korg sqd1 and that keyboard different?? I lookdd it up and realized the korg is that small part, but whats the keyboard?
That's the Emax!
@@EspenKraft thank you good person!!!
Hello. May i ask one consultative question. For some goods exchange, i can get either Alesis SR16, or Yamaha RY20. What to choose? Does both have SDS-V-like sounds, etc considerations for cheesy 80ies? ;-) Thank you in advance!
I would go for the RY20, much more me. ;-)
@@EspenKraft , thanks a lot for reassuring, i thought that direction as well :D I really do appreciate your answers to simple guys like me :)
What's that Sequential drum machine to the left of the Drumulator?
That's the TOM. I have a video about that on my channel.
Thanks! I'd never even heard of this box :)
Check it out, it's one of the best old ones and very underrated. My video explains it all.