adamsettle's Reviews
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260
I Guess People Are Deaf?
I spent a few hours in GC playing with the Volca Beats, the Arturia Drumbrute, and the Akai Rhythm Wolf. I planned on getting the Volca Beats before I got there, because it has good reviews and it's so cheap. I played it, and it was so underwhelming. Maybe after a lot of compression and other effects it's usable, but the snare was terrible as we all know. I've read "layer some PCM with it and it's better!" If I wanted PCM sounds, I'd just use my Electribe Sampler. I wanted an analog drum machine for analog frickin' drums. I digress. The Drumbrute had some great sounds on it. I loved the 2nd kick and the toms. The snare was WEAK. Better than the Beats, but still will not cut through the rest of the sounds, even mixed higher. I was apprehensive about the Rhythm wolf, because it has such terrible reviews. I played it anyway. Immediately it sounded better than the Beats by a long shot, and the snare was (to my ears) far more usable than either of the other drum machines, and has the ability to have a nice long decay, which is desirable to me. GC had it on sale, brand new for $129. I couldn't resist. I brought it home and expected to hook it up and program a beat and play through one of my songs with it, and promptly return it. NOPE. It sounds dope. You people are deaf. What were you expecting from a $200 drum machine anyway? What are you using that sounds sooo much better that makes the Rhythm Wolf trash? If you're looking for an analog drum machine, that sounds like an analog drum machine this is it. No it doesn't have the most tweak-ability, but if you can't make a beat sound good with the Rhythm Wolf, you can't make a beat sound good. (Or you're relying way too heavily on gear to make you sound good.)
41016
there's a mod for the volca beats to improve the snare sound (if that's your bad, it hardly seems that important), but it still doesn't have individual outs so using it without at least the dedicated volca kick sister amchine as a standalone drum solution is kinda limiting, but not in a cool way, in a bad way.... frankly the thing reminds me of my ancient dr55 with a more comprehensive internal sequencer, but given the lack of individual outs you really don't need a ton of sequencing capabilities from the volca anyway since complex patterns are a mess unless your track is damned sparse. The volca beats lives up to Korg's usual MO of making bad drum machines in any style... I'm sure you made the right call with the Akai, especially considering you wanted to go cheap and have a cracking standalone snare. Thing is, for analog snare (or any snare, even in some rock band situations) I will always sculpt and layer my own sound on a dedicated synthesizer with great noise and envelope generators as well as an external audio input and the truth is a lot of people far more skilled than I am do the same thing possibly layered with an analog drum machine snare. I actually used a fairly straight roland dr55 pattern in mono on a section of a song for the first time in decades this week just for the humor value in the mix.... but seriously, I think you might find the punchiest best 808/909 type fo snares are nor from an actual drum machine and may have been made on an Arp or Moog or something or they are layered.... at the very least there's some crazy parallel stuff going on in the mix to really shape the attack to be exciting and the tonality of the decay to give real body and character.... I can't even remember the last time I didn't have the snare multed and blended across at least 3 tracks in at least 1 section of a song. Its one of those sounds that needs a lot to it to be magic....
I'm like way off in left field here replying to some strangers review of a device I've never laid hands on, but some of the things you said in your review struck me in a really broad and gneral way and I was like "I am going to run my mouth about snares and music in general now in case someone can take something from it."
260
Dude, agreed! I'll be using my Mother 32 and Superior Drummer and a lot of things for recording, but I got the Rhythm Wolf for live purposes. I just wanted real analog drums to fill the room. I put a bunch of analog drum samples on my Electribe Sampler, but playing along to it just feels like playing to a backing track and sounds so "digital", which to me in a lot of cases sounds like the sound is further away and a little muffled, where the Rhythm Wolf feels like someone is in the room playing drums with me. And I'm doing sci-fi electronica type of stuff that's mostly sparse kick and snare, with a long nasty decay of noise on the snare, so the Rhythm Wolf is perfect for that. It just got under my skin a little that so many people are bashing the Rhythm Wolf and yet the Volca Beats from what I've seen gets such good reviews (minus the snare), when to me the Rhythm Wolf sounds so much stronger. If you're going for analog drums and you don't have modular/Eurorack set-up, I think the Rhythm Wolf is a great contender, especially for the price. I think a lot of people got it expecting a "good drum machine" not considering the limitations (or sonic character) of analog when everyone's in the box these days. But now that I've ranted about general nonsense, your comment is very welcomed! I came here to talk to people about music and gear.
41016
all good points.... join us on the forum here.... the electronic forum has been too quiet lately!
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260
Muy Bueno!
While it's a mono-synth, you're given two oscillators and a sub oscillator that you can de-tune against each other and get some fat sounds. I'll typically have the sub an octave below the main oscillator, and the 2nd oscillator a 5th above the first, and it really kicks out some epic lead or bass lines. 32-step sequencer that you can save four of, and a totally usable arpeggiator? Done. Full-size keys and an all analog signal-path for $400? GTFOutta here, this thing slays. Run it through a delay/reverb and you're in business. Oh, and you can shape some wicked kick drums and snares with it.