Drum rack/pad sampler (idea photo in thread)

tagging @giku in case you’re interested in an elevator pitch. I know you’re a busy man


I think Drambo would really benefit from a drum focused sampler module for building kits contained in one track. It would be useful to be able to just save and load kits like this. The current samplers are great but other software tends to include drum specific samplers for a reason. Keyzone samplers are a cumbersome way to build drum kits in my experience. I mocked up an idea of what it could be like. It would basically just be a mash up of trigger pads, per pad flex sampler and an ADSR/filter. From there the possibilities are endless. It would be a bit like having an MPC built into Drambo. All the elements are there already they could just be packaged nicely. Can’t currently stack pads so it’s not actually possible to build yourself right now. Would love to hear if there’s any more interest in such a module and any input from others


Comments

  • I think that a Momentary Button module with a "+" field to add any number of buttons in a 4 by X grid would be universally helpful, not only for drum pads. They could be renamed like in the n switches.

    Type A with one gate and one pitch output that acts like a polyphonic keyboard and can be connected to the Sampler

    Type B with gate outputs for each button (very much like in the n switches) that can be connected to a number of Flexis or other tone generators for example

    By default, the pitch would increase by one semitone for each pad and in the module header menu, you could adjust the first note sent by button 1 and also the first MIDI note that will play pad #1.

    This would also fill the current gap of a momentary button.

  • Choke group example:


  • If pads respond to/act like gate (vs trig) chokes won’t even require any ‘hacks’.

  • Sure?

    Implicit polyphony in the gate signal (Type A) will still require "downgrading" to one note polyphony in order to manage choke groups.

  • @rs2000

    maybe I’m missing something, but in other drum machines without choke groups I often used gate length as substitute, where ‘note end’ would act like choke with env set accordingly, so e.g. OH would be a sustained note, rather than a short trig.

  • edited August 2021

    There was a similar discussion to this and while I would of course welcome some integrated built-in solution, I think currently a pretty decent substitute is using Drambo as na AU inside Drambo. Of course, not applicable if you already use Drambo as AU inside other host, but then, you can also use a single Drambo AU instance as an instrument rack itself.

    The point is, Drambo as a single instance already has it all: velocity sensitive pads which are assigned to individual tracks, that have their own volume, sequencer and of course each can contain any modules chain you can build, etc... So basically what you need is a Drambo inside Drambo, which is exactly what hosting Drambo-AU inside Drambo-host does 🙂

    I also love the idea of more flexible (and stackable!) buttons, similar to knobs module. This would really improve the use of screen real estate and readability (since the buttons can currently only have "Trig" or "Switch" labels).

    BTW seeing this, I would also welcome automatic naming of pads by e.g. instrument rack preset name or, when some sampler module is loaded, by a currently loaded sample filename. Of course, this should only apply if you haven't manually touched the track name yet, to not rewrite your own naming when e.g. switching a sample. Not sure if it's only me, but I am too lazy to always rename the tracks, so I often end up with default 1, 2, 3,... labels and then not knowing what's where 😅

  • edited August 2021

    not sure if its about a grid of samples or choke groups?

    the grid of samples is already there, its just arranged horizontally on different tracks ...

    personally I dont think a grid of trigger pads would be good, because pads would be tiny, we have a better solution already :)


    changing drum kits

    with the sampler module u can do exactly that

    if u drop samples on some virtual pads vs. some virtual keys makes no difference to me, push thing get a dynamic sound

    if u dont like the keys - map the keys to a pad midi controller of your choice (all they do is send a note and velocity anyway, no need for aftertouch on drums ;) )


    per track based choke groups I would like to see in the future

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  • this is what I mean by all the stuff is there, it’s not that complicated if you know what you’re doing but it’s mostly about accessibility to new users. The more of us there are the better. I wouldn’t have thought to set this up at all. This wouldn’t be a case of dumbing the app down to catch more one time users, just small additions that help ease people in while benefitting current users. I would be very happy with stackable pads but I thought I’d take it one further too. I’m not sure if this would require tons of work or just basically making this sort of thing on the backend and hiding it like a wrapper. I have no idea how Drambo works or anything about software development so forgive my ignorance.


    @skrat drambo in Drambo for this purpose is a great idea and I will be using it. I do think that again it’s something that wouldn’t spring to most users minds. I think it’s safe to say that the first thing many many users will do when opening the app is to load some drums. I think it’s simple and has potential. If you gave the module automatic outs for every loaded sample you could route all kinds of crazy stuff within one track. It could be like a modular single track drum machine, there’s a million things you could do. For now Drambo in Drambo will do it.


    @lala you’re not wrong in that you can do it with a sampler like I said in OP. Or you could do it across multiple tracks as discussed above. I’m certain lots of people, myself included do think dropping things in a keyzone style sampler is very different to just having a drum module. The other option requires using up all your tracks for a drum machine. These days lots of people don’t use keys at all so keyzone UI isn’t really ideal. I think this would be a common sentiment amongst the modular crowd lol

    @gravitas I am a huge fan of bm3s 16/64 grid with scales/chords. I truly wish someone would make that into an AU midi controller but it doesn’t exist. Bm3 is a bit of chore to use it that way. You can’t even send midi out without a sample loaded so you have to load a sample, turn it down to silent, go into app settings and turn on midi, go into bank settings and set up midi outs and even then chords don’t work via midi out. Shame really. Geoshred control gets me half way there I suppose in a different way. But anyway I’m getting off topic


    sorry for wall of text. Appreciate everyone’s input. choke groups and knobs style stackable pads would seem to be popular features.

  • Big +1.

    Not just for the application OP has in mind, but being able to + buttons/toggles (like we can add slots on N switches and knobs) would really, really help to tidy up some custom rack GUIs. Columns of 3 or 4 would be great.

  • edited August 2021
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  • edited September 2021

    I agree this would be a good add on in Drambo. Especially as, before I saw this post, I had needed something like this and built one with Xequence pads.

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