MFB Schlagzwerg Demo

YouTube via FatSynthDude

"There's still only two demos of the Schlagzwerg out there, so I thought I'd throw out one of my own. Recorded this one directly into the computer so it should be a little more clear than my other demos. My primary goal with this piece was to demonstrate the range of sounds possible with each drum part and then dive into some noodling including a bit of intermodulation between the Schlagzwerg and a Kraftzwerg.

Some thoughts on the Schlagzwerg: Quite simply, it sounds nice. The kicks have a nice thump to them making them very 909-ish. I'm particularly a fan of the snares on this thing. The toms have some nice range on them and when tuned low, can even function as a second kick drum. One of my primary concerns when purchasing the Schlagzwerg was that I was worried about the overlap between it and the MFB 522 (MFB's website is kinda vague on this issue.) The only module that's really shared between the two is for the hihats/cymbals, but the Schlagzwerg gives you a tuning control which works on the hats as well, so it's a little more variety than what the 522 can give in that department. In fact, after I did this video, I took the 522's hats and played them against the Schlagzwerg's with some detuning and it sounded pretty nifty as a contrast. The sequencer isn't as user-friendly as one would hope. Setting up the CV lines is easy enough considering that you only get one knob (press and hold the step you want to alter, and then twist the data knob) but with the drum triggers, while entering in a drum hit as easy as one would expect, in order to delete a step, you have to hold down the step key and then press in the data knob. Even the manual admits that this is a bit 'cumbersome' but apparently necessary. It's kind of a small price to pay for the amount of versatility that this sequencer affords, though. One of the things that is easily overlooked is the fact that aside from all the gate/trigger sequencers, the Schlagzwerg also has six separate CV sequencers that can be used to sequence things outside of the Schlagzwerg itself. As I've actually been in the market to get three sequencers for my modular activities, this was a nice little unexpected bonus. My only real complaint with this unit is in the MIDI implementation. Again, MFB's website was a bit vague on this subject. In order to have MIDI control over the drum parts, you have to disable the sequencer, first off. So there is no sequencing with the internal sequencer and an external sequencer simultaneously allowed. Also, the way that the drum triggering via MIDI is handled is that each part is paired with it's own CV channel and they both get their own MIDI channel, plus there's a dedicated CV/Gate channel for sequencing external hardware. While this actually makes a lot of sense and gives you a lot of range to work with as far as MIDI sequencing, this means that you have to give up six MIDI channels just for this one instrument. For guys sequencing with hardware where MIDI channels are limited or people trying to keep their MIDI ports manageable, this can be a problem. Plus, having to jump between channels to sequence different drum parts isn't exactly appealing. So for my situation, what I'm having to do is let the internal sequencer run the machine and then clock it to MIDI, but the MIDI tracking seems to be a little off for some reason. What I'm going to try within the next couple of days is to have my Kenton box shoot clock signals at this thing and see if that helps at all. Really though, I'm not much of a fan of using more than one sequencer to handle my synths anyway, especially as the Schlagzwerg's sequencer doesn't leave much room to alter the actual sequences on the fly, so I'm not happy with the MIDI situation at all. So all in all, this machine is a mixed bag. The sounds are great and the modularity is a blessing, and the sequencer is pretty cool in some respects. But, I'm still seriously considering selling this thing mainly because of that MIDI and maybe getting a 503 or DRM1 in it's place. It sounds fabulous, but the MIDI just really doesn't work for my rig!"