Simmons SDS 8 meets Beatstep Pro. And a Roland TR-8

Published on Mar 3, 2016 Earmonkey Music

"Simmons SDS 8 Drum Brain being controlled by an Arturia Beatstep Pro. This is just a fun little module. It has 5 analog VCOs with parameters for Pad Sensitivity, Filter, Pitch, Bend Up/Down, Decay, Noise/Tone (Osc) Balance, Click, Pan, and Volume. There is one factory preset, (that's what I play first) and one user preset (pretty much just whatever the controls are set to, and where all the fun begins) per voice. There is a stereo out, a mono mix out, and a separate out for each channel if you want. In this video, I try to demo first just one channel, showing some of the different tones that the machine is capable of. You can definitely make the Simmons Sound (Dffffffff) all day long. But it's also a very capable drum synth that you can do all kinds of stuff with. There are no FX. Everything in this video was recorded dry. The TR-8 comes in later, providing some additional hi-hat, clap, rim, cymbal and stuff. But all the kick and snare are from the SDS 8.

This is a really cool unit. Though I noticed that after a day or so, the Balance pot on channel 5 doesn't work well. It cuts out if you try to go full on the OSC and cut noise. A little frustrating, but not a total loss since I can use it for hi-hat type stuff anyway. Hopefully I can open it up and Deoxit the pot back to health."