Arturia DrumBrute Impact - Drum Computer

Product Information

My most praised features are the "Color" function which transforms each sound, and the FM drum, that acts like a wildcard! Meaning you can transform it to many other sounds. Finally the distortion at the master bus makes the sound gritty and harsh, adding that special "brute" sauce! Arturia’s team clearly took some time thinking about usability, and it shows in small details like the fact that pushing shift with either mute or solo clears the previously-selected groups. In this way, building up and taking out parts in groups is much easier to control, as hitting mute will automatically mute the instruments that were previously selected.

Each drum sound also offers Tone, Decay, Pitch or Level controls (depending on the sound type) so you can craft the perfect sonic palette on the fly. Arturia’s Drumbrute has found a home in many a professinal setup. Composer Tom Salta is a fan and DJ/Producer Carl Craig is a fan, to name just two. Who Uses the Drumbrute Impact? Metronome: removed from the main output when headphones are connected, so you hear it and not your audience. Patterns can be captured as live recordings from the pads simply by engaging the record button in the transport area at the top. Live recordings align to the grid, based on the current pattern’s resolution (16ths by default), unless you toggle the Record button into Unquantised mode. The pads are velocity sensitive as far as MIDI output is concerned but the sounds themselves play at just two levels: Accented and non-Accented. Live Recording is clever enough to capture the sequence with Accents based on a velocity threshold.Output distortion: rich, specially voiced distortion on the output to add some filth when you need it, and bypass when you don’t. French developer Arturia create not only emulations of vintage synths but original hardware products too. In recent years Arturia have released not one but two analog drum machines in the shape of the Drumbrute and the newer Drumbrute Impact.

The other significant change from the original DrumBrute is the master effects. The Impact loses the Steiner-Parker filter of the original, but gains an output distortion with level control and on/off switch. While this isn’t the most extreme analogue distortion in the world it adds a nice bit of saturation and compression-like gel to the overall sound. Yea I tend to agree - I LOVED the interface and the feel of the device as well as the knobiness but the sounds just weren’t that good with exception of what you mentioned. The hi hats were particularly unusable for my taste. The Toms are fixed as short and punchy, with Hi and Low simply two different variations of the pitch, which is the only user-controllable parameter. Color lengthens the decay a touch and gives a little drive push. Cymbal is characterful, ringy and grungy with a rattly decay with an almost low-res digital character. It’s rather wonderful. You can control the decay manually, and lower the pitch with the Color effect. The Cymbal channel shares its trigger pad and level control with the Cowbell, which has no user-adjustable parameters. It’s a straightforward 808 cowbell, although it doesn’t quite capture the original’s exciting zing. It is a cheap little machine so don't expect this to cover all your needs, Behringer drum machines cost about the same and offer much more both in terms of sound and versatility. Both snares have wide ranging decay controls, which can go from long washes of sound to tight rim-like hits. The low and high toms are fairly vanilla, Roland-style sounds, but both have enough punch and body to cut through a groove. Although they can be sequenced independently, the two sounds share a pitch control, so it’s impossible to tune one without affecting the other. Both lean towards the low-mid end of the spectrum, making them good for techno-style bass.

The snare and claps are ok as well, but the biggest letdown are the toms which are almost inaudible, really a missed opportunity which Arturia doesn't seem to care to fix or even aknowledge (I suppose it could be fixed through firmware update) those looking for a drum machine that can do toms should look elsewhere. Arturia's Drumbrute Impact boasts the unique tonal signature punch and sizzle of it's distant cousins - the Minibrute 2Sand Microbrute, as well as the seamless sequencing architectureof the original Drumbrute. 10 high-energy, refined drum tones provide the foundation of an electronic drum kit for any style of music. One of the most fun things about using the DrumBrute Impact is inevitably going be the touch-strip just underneath the volume control. There are rhythmic divisions from 1/4 to 1/32 notes, and this can either add a beat repeat effect to the entire pattern, or create rolls when a pad is held down simultaneously. Rolls can also be recorded into the pattern itself.

Finally, you turn on the Remote features on the Drumbrute, and you can gain access with the sync from the Drumbrute in Ableton. Can I Use Drumbute With An Amp?

Drumbrute Impact contains no sub-menus, touchscreens or anything else that takes you away from physically “feeling” the control you have over your music. The essence of hands-on, old-school beatmaking.