DrumComputer: Synthetic beats and audacious kits from Sugar Bytes

06 Dec 2019 by Robin Vincent | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

Sugar Bytes DrumComputer · Source: Sugar Bytes DrumComputer

Sugar Bytes DrumComputer · Source: Sugar Bytes

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DrumComputer pulls together 8 sound engines, layered synthesis, sequencing, performance controls and effects into a deliciously vintage-looking beat making virtual drum machine.

DrumComputer

This thing looks fabulous! And the stunningly groovy promotional video is the best bit of marketing I’ve seen for ages. Check it out:

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How much fun is that?

DrumComputer combines a Resonator, Wavetable and Resynth layers to generate a wide range of synthetic drum sounds for each of the 8 channels. You can come up with classic analogue sounds, weird noises and liquidised percussion and mix them together to produce huge sounds to pump out your rhythms.

The sounds can be shaped with the two envelopes, which can also loop and route to all sorts of destinations, and have loads of different waveforms. Then you can process them through a multimode filter, compressor, add some distortion and direct it through two types of reverb. At the end of the chain is the Finalizer which is a well-balanced recipe of transient shaper, compressor, maximizer and saturation. Use it to bring out the Attacks of your drums and let the room breath.

Randomisation

But the key feature of DrumComputer is all the millions of possibilities that emerge once you start loading it with randomisation. It will generate new sounds and new kits at the click of a button but it can also infect the sequencer bringing in automatic fills, patterns and song ideas that carry you along. You can break it out into MIDI control for pattern firing, changes and re-arranging on-the-fly.

The sequencer gives you 16-steps of dedicated pattern creation with tempo, direction and step length controllable per track. And you can route that modulation and randomisation into here as well.

The look and feel offers up an enormous amount of fun and turns beat making into as bit of an adventure.