Tom at Waveformless has put together a free sample library of percussion noises created with a Sequential Circuits Pro One.

Here’s what he has to say about the samples:

It’s hard to believe another weekend is upon us, but it is, so here are some more free samples to get your weekend off to a good start.

This time, it’s a set of 21 24-bit synthetic percussion sounds I made on my Sequential Pro One (that’s it to the left).

Get the download link at Tom’s site and let me know what you think of the samples.

This tutorial video shows the key features of the Impulse drum sampler in Ableton Live 8 and how some of these features operate.

This video is ideal for the novice to intermediate level Music Technologist wanting to learn Live 8.

This percussive synth jam is OrbVroomer’s drumKat take on Crystal Method’s High Roller.

The drumKat is percussion control surface that features 10 velocity sensitive MIDI triggers.

via OrbVroomer:

Only two little synth notes not triggered live here.

The L.I.S.A trigger plays those.

Everything else is live playing.

I start with a mono drone synth note, then fill in the rest of the notes in that driving pattern. That pattern is then layered under the drum line. All it needs now is for the real CM’s sounds on top to conquer my sonic lameness.

Devices used: DrumKat, MidiKiti, Pole pads, DIY Triggers-LISA (piezo) , DIY WEEL Trigger, Hat pedal, Yamaha pedal, 4 foot switches, Mapper, E-MU XL-1.E-MU Orbit V2, Korg MS2000BR, A & H Mix Wizard.

Orb Vroomer is an electronic performance musician. Synthesizers & MIDI interfaces programmed by Orb. Custom Vroomulator rig designed & built by Orb.

Chris Randall of Audio Damage has announced Tattoo, a percussion synthesizer for Mac & PC:

With the caveat that the UI isn’t 100% finalized, here you go. Have a gander at Tattoo, our first instrument. Some salient points:

1. No samples. This is a drum synthesizer. Each voice is purpose-built, as well, rather than just having a general percussion synthesis voice.
2. Every synthesis control has a sequencer attached to it.
3. If you own Replicant, you can immediately see how the randomization/likelihood works for each channel/voice.
4. The sequencer also outputs MIDI (in the VST only, of course) so you can use the randomization features in other drum synths or external hardware.

So, there you have it. We haven’t decided on a price, and I have no idea whatsoever as to when it will be done. We’ve got the synthesis all in place, but not “tuned,” and the sequencer is about 80% complete, but the hardest parts haven’t been done yet.

It’s just a teaser, at this point, but it looks like an interesting mix of old-school drum synthesis and modern features.

Sunday Synth Jam: This video captures a great cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, arranged for piano, vocal, theremin and MIDI theremin by Peter Pringle.

Details on the theremins & synths used below.

via copperleaves:

First of all, I’m sorry this video is so long but I wanted to sing all the verses of it that I could find. Leonard Cohen (who wrote the song) said that he wished people would stop singing it but you might as well ask people to stop looking at the Mona Lisa! In its genre, this song is a masterpiece.

I discovered Leonard Cohen back in the early 60’s when a family friend gave my parents a copy of LOVE WHERE THE NIGHTS ARE LONG, a collection of the works of Cohen and his friend and mentor, the late, brilliant Irving Layton. I had never really appreciated poetry until I read that book. Perhaps what has always impressed me most about Leonard Cohen’s work is his ability to be distant and objective about his subject while resting quietly in its heart.

There are two theremins in this video, Samuel Hoffman’s 1929 RCA and the Moog MIDI Ethervox. I have never been able to sing and accurately play the theremin at the same time, so verse three (where I play the Hoffman RCA) is the only verse where I did not sing live. The MIDI theremin (which you see on verse five) is fairly easy to play while singing. Simple gestures of the arm trigger sounds from a separate MIDI module (in this case a Roland JV 2080).

The keyboard on this video is a Korg Triton Extreme (doubled with a Roland Fantom XR). The advantage of an electronic keyboard over an acoustic piano is that there is no leakage into the vocal mike when a singer is playing and singing at the same time. Nothing will ever replace a good Steinway but the latest generations of electronic keyboards are awesome!

The mike I used is a cordless Sennheiser that I have had for years. It was given to me by Sennheiser when they sponsored a tour in the 1980’s and it works as well today as it did when I got it.

Here’s a little bit of trivia you may not know about the RCA theremin in this video. According to Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong’s biographer, Andrew Smith, Armstrong actually took a recording of this theremin with him into space for the moon landing in 1969. The previous owner of this instrument, Dr. Samuel Hoffman, used it on his 1947 recording, MUSIC OUT OF THE MOON. Neil Armstrong liked the sound of it so much that he made a cassette tape of it from his personal record collection and took it with him to the moon.

Andrew Smith ends his book, MOONDUST, with the following words, “…..when I’ve thought of Apollo, I’ve thought of him [Neil Armstrong] and his little band drifting out there toward the secret Moon…..spilling theremin music out at the stars.”

This is a video demo of the Simmons Digital ClapTrap, a digital sample playback percussion instrument.

via zibbybone:

Quick run though of a rare percussion synthezier.

An insane keyboard drum solo, via DavidMeShow.

Who needs custom controllers?

Sunday Synth Jam: Mickey Mouse Abuse – Some excerpts from Kamoni’s live set using Ableton Live and a DrumKat.

Includes jungle, dubstep and dnb improvised freestylin’.

via kamoni:

This video offers an audio demo of drum synthesis using Plan B modular synthesizer modules.

Patch details below.

via bigcitymusic:

Plan B offers some alternative modules to your everyday “East Coast” style modules. In this patch we’re using a multitude of different modules, including some Cwejman and Analogue Systems.

The heart of this patch is the incredible sounding Model 13 Dual Timbral Gate. The M13 is in fact a low pass gate which is basically a cross between a low pass filter and a VCA. This is what gives us the beautiful, drum-like decay to the random pulses. The actual envelope is super short but the vactrols in the circuit ring longer.

We’re also using some random voltages in here. The Model 24 Heisenberg Generator is basically a sample and hold module, well, two of them really. The bottom section of the M24 allows you to move to the next random voltage when it receives a trigger or gate pulse. The Plan B Model 15 oscillator and the Cwejman VCO-6 are our sounds sources, each having it’s frequency modulated at a high rate. This is what gives you the hand slapping sound that a typical hand drum would have.

The Plan B Model 17 is also being used to great effect. The Triple Event Timer senses how high the voltages coming in are. There are three pots to set the threshold, deciding when a pulse is allowed through.

Korg has announced official specs on the new Korg Wavedrum percussion synthesizer.

The original Korg Wavedrum was introduced to the music world back in 1994. Now Korg has announced its next-generation Wavedrum Digital Percussion Synthesizer.

Wavedrum can be used as a stand-alone percussion instrument, or integrated into an existing drum kit or percussion rig. Unlike digital trigger-based systems, WAVEDRUM uses a real drum head as the playing surface, providing an authentic and familiar feel. This allows the performer to employ sticks, brushes, mallets and/or traditional hand-drum techniques (mute, slap, bend, etc.) to play with comfort and confidence.

The Korg Wavedrum Digital Percussion Synthesizer will be available in January 2010. Pricing is TBA.

Details below.

Synthesis:

DSP + PCM Combination

DSP Algorithms:

36 Total

PCM Instruments:

200 Total; 100 Head, 100 Rim

Programs:

200 Total; 100 Preset, 100 User

Loop Phrases:

100 Total; Various genres and tempos

Effects:

Reverb, Delay

Panel Controls:

Volume, Bank/Mode/Page select,
Program/Parameter select, Value control, Write

Input/Output jacks:

Output: L, R ¼” unbalanced
Phones: Stereo mini phone jack
AUX IN: Stereo mini phone jack

Display:

3-character 7-segment LED

Sampling frequency:

48 kHz

A/D, D/A conversion:

24 bit

Power supply:

DC9V 1.7A

Dimensions:

W x D x H: 13.74″ x 13.54″ x 2.95″

Weight:

4.41 lbs.

Included items:

AC Adapter, Tuning key, Allen wrench

Options:

Replacement Head HD-WD
Percussion Stand ST-WD

* Specifications and appearance are subject to change without notice for improvement.

Description:

There are actually two playing surfaces on WAVEDRUM: the head and the rim. Under the head is an audio transducer, similar to a microphone. This transducer drives WAVEDRUM’s DSP and PCM sound engines, providing a far more expressive and natural playing experience than trigger-based systems that rely on PCM playback alone. The rim is outfitted with different-sized raised patterns on the left and right sides. In addition to using the rim as a traditional playing surface, rubbing a stick or mallet over these raised patterns can create interesting percussion effects, similar to an afro-cuban güiro, for example.

By combining 36 advanced DSP (Digital Signal Processing) synthesis algorithms with 200 PCM samples (100 for the head; 100 for the rim), WAVEDRUM provides a wide palette of sounds, ranging from traditional drum and percussion instruments to complex synthetic tones and sound effects. In addition to the ability to create new and unusual sounds, WAVEDRUM also re-creates a vast array of percussion instruments from around the planet, from familiar cajons, congas, and tablas to the rare and exotic. These include the udo, a clay pod percussion instrument; the jegog, a bamboo gamelan marimba from the island of Bali; a talking drum from Africa; gongs, and many others. WAVEDRUM can even reproduce stringed instruments such as the sitar, koto, and berimbau. This allows a single WAVEDRUM to replace what would have been a room full of instruments, sure to be a welcome addition to crowded stages, theatre/show pits, project studios and classrooms.

100 preset programs and 100 user programs are stored in memory, with 12 favorites available for instant access. Reverb and Delay effects add depth and character to the sound.

Soniccouture has introduced The Skiddaw Stones, a new virtual instrument that lets you make rock music from sampled ancient rocks:

The Skiddaw Stones are probably the most unusual and certainly the oldest instrument that Soniccouture has sampled.

A Lithophone ( litho = stone, phone= voice ) dating from 1840, The Skiddaw Stones are composed of 61 tuned and shaped rocks, made from the rare hornfels stone, found in Cumbria, England. Hornfels is said to have a superior tone and longer ring than the more commonly used slate.
The Worlds First Rock Band

Created by Joseph Richardson, a stonemason and musician, it took almost thirteen years to collect and shape enough individual notes of hornfels to make an eight-octave range. The massive task of assembling this instrument consumed Joseph so absolutely that he and his family were reduced to poverty. Once complete, Richardson and his sons toured Europe as The Rock, Bell and Steel Band, and even performed at Buckingham Palace, by command of Queen Victoria.

See the Soniccouture site for audio demos – the Skiddaw Stones do sound awesome and unique.

Features:

• 2.5 GB Library – Kontakt Live! EXS24
• 24 bit 44.1 Khz Stereo
• 12 Velocity layers
• Wood + Rubber mallets
• 5 Round Robin layers
• KSP Jammer Script

Price: $79

Sneak Preview: This is a demo of the Korg Wavedrum Percussion Synthesizer.

I haven’t seen an official announcement or specs on this from Korg, yet.

The original Korg Wavedrum is a rarity, but is sought after by many. Sound on Sound said this of the original:

The Wavedrum is a unique instrument which will probably sell mainly to percussionists, with some going to other musicians rich enough to indulge in non-essential gear. While it’s not without its faults, these appear to be outweighed by its undoubted appeal and playability, and by the prospect of exciting future spin-offs.

Leave a comment if you can translate and summarize the video!

via RockoNCompany, via Stretta

Specifications:

• 138 Waveforms
• 700 electronic drum and percussion sounds
• 40 Drum Racks
• 150 Drum Clips
• Compatible with Ableton Live 7 and Live 8 (including LE versions)
• Download size 135 mb

WDK is available now for €29.

Details below.

Description:

WDK was created from the ground up to work with Ableton Live. Transient, synthetic timbres were forged into the WDK sound set, creating a library suitable for a wide range of electronic music styles.

WDK takes advantage of the sound engine from Sampler – Ableton’s advanced sampling instrument. A carefully designed waveform is the foundation for each drum sound in the WDK sound library. As each waveform is played back as an oscillator within Sampler, further sculpting of the tone is achieved through Sampler’s sound design functions and Ableton’s powerful built-in effects.

The result? A staggering 700 drum and percussion sounds crafted into unique and expressive Instrument Racks. MESA+ sound designers gave special attention to developing Instrument Racks with the capability of producing new and different timbres that vary greatly from the original sound.

Macro knobs in each Instrument Rack allow WDK users to quickly customize the drum sound to their own tastes. The Instrument Racks in the WDK library have been constructed into 40 distinct Drum Racks, each rack loaded with 22 pads. The grouping arrangement of the Drum Rack pads is consistent, allowing for compatibility with the 150 MIDI clips included in the WDK library.

Remember those classic electronic drum sounds of the 80s?

There’s a good chance that what you remember is the sound of the the Simmons drum synthesizer.

The video above captures some manual tweaking of a Simmons SDS 8 Drum Synthesizer.

If you’ve used the Simmons drum synthesizer, leave a comment with your thoughts!

via DX5:

Just showing what does it can do.

All the channels have the same VCO, so they are basically the same. In preset mode, each channel have different settings for each drum sound. You can put it in manual mode, then you can edit all the parameters. It is what I did.

This is a demo of the Simmons SDSV analogue electronic drum set.

via MrRitchieDrums:

While searching for electronic drum videos here I noticed that there wasn’t any for the SDSV.

A couple have turned up, but this is the first one to actually explain the sounds……..

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sound Shoes (above) – Tina Jespersen from Cat In Orbit has one of her projects involving shoes fitted with pressure sensors and wired into Max PSP.

Walking around in the shoes creates audio effects like walking in gravel, leaning forward on your toes triggers a mouse-click that swaps out the sound effect and then you’re walking in puddles of water. Although these are wired, this could easily be updated with Flash 8, MakingThings/Teleo, mp3 audio recorder and a few force sensors or bend sensors.

Sketch is a live performance with a gesture interface based on tap dance control:

This is an Interactive Performance Event in Computer Graphics, Computer Music and Dance. It is based on a new gesture interface: a pair of tap shoes. This new musical instrument enables a new sensory experience, to strength interaction between images, sounds and rhythm, and to enhance the relationship between dance and music. Here, co-operative or combined behaviours between human and machine create a emergent system.

Details here.

MIDI Tap Dance Shoes

Click here to view the embedded video.

Above, Fabien Ruiz ( France ) dances with a wireless MIDI tap dance shoes system.

Perform-o-shoes offer wireless sensor-embedded kicks to let you perform your Avant-Garde theatre in style:

The shoes themselves are store bought and retrofitted in several different iterations. Stereo quarter-inch jacks adorn the back of the sole. Quarter-inch cable connects the sensors of the shoes to two respective wireless modules which, in-turn, send the sensor values on to the receiver who talks MIDI to a custom Max patch controlling video, sound, analog vertical television hold, and even a midi controlled lighting dimmer. The shoe is built as a modular instrument to be able to work with the custom Max patch. The Max patch itself is further modular to be able to control any number of retrofitted, customized theatrical equipment.

More details here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This proof-of-concept video showcases Tom Hobson’s DIY BeatSneaks MIDI shoes‘ basic functionality:

“I’ve put together a pair of shoes that, with a little help from an Arduino, will let me trigger MIDI signals. There are FSRs (Force Sensitive Resistors) in the heels and toes of the shoes, which serve as the tap sensors. Basically, an FSR, without any applied pressure, is like a break in a circuit (i.e. has infinite resistance), and as you apply more force, it becomes less and less resistive. So, if we hook up one end of an FSR to a voltage source and the other to the Arduino’s analog input, we can send a signal to the Arduino every time we apply pressure to the FSR. We can then take this signal, convert it into MIDI, and start making sounds. I used the Serial-MIDI Converter from Spikenzie Labs. The serial-MIDI conversion could likely be performed in MAX or otherwise manually, but this does the trick and saved me some time. For the actual sounds I used Garageband, but you could use MAX, Ableton Live, etc.”

Full details are available at Hobson’s site.

MIDI Tap Shoes

Click here to view the embedded video.

Film jest krótk? prezentacj? olbrzymich mo?liwo?ci butów, które mog? gra? dowolnymi d?wi?kami. Wi?cej o nowoczesnym brzmieniach stepu na www.peyotl.pl

Googlish: Movie is short presentation of capability of enormous shoe, which (who) can play optional sounds. About on more modern tones of steppes www.peyotl.pl

US Patent 5765300 (1998) is for a shoe activated sound synthesizer device:

The present invention is a shoe activated sound synthesizer device that enables movement of a shoe to be translated into audible sounds. The sound synthesizer device consists of a shoe in which there is disposed at least one trigger element capable of producing a trigger signal when the shoe is flexed to a predetermined degree. As the shoe is worn and is brought into contact with the floor, the shoe is flexed. By bringing different parts of the shoe into contact with the floor in a controlled manner, a person can selectively control the production of trigger signals from any trigger element contained within the shoe. A sound synthesizer circuit is provided that is coupled to each trigger element contained within the shoe. The sound synthesizer circuit produces an audible sound, via a speaker, when a trigger signal is received from the shoe.

In a preferred embodiment, multiple trigger elements are contained within the shoe, wherein each of the trigger elements causes the sound synthesizer circuit to produce a different sound or note. As a result, the present invention shoe becomes part of an electronic instrument, wherein the controlled movement of the shoe produces selected rhythms, notes or sounds. The ability of a person to artistically move their feet and thus their shoes is required in order to produce melodious sounds. Optional controls can be provided that enable a person to change the sounds or tones produced by the sound synthesizer circuit. Additionally, controls can be provided to selectively control the sensitivity of the trigger elements to different shoe movements.

In an optional embodiment, the multiple trigger elements embodied within a shoe are coupled to a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI). The MIDI converts the analog signal of the trigger elements into a digital signal that contains information about which of the trigger elements were flexed and how severely those trigger elements were flexed. The digital signal is then forwarded to a remote synthesizer of another instrument, such as an electronic keyboard, that is adapted to receive MIDI information.

If you know of other examples of MIDI shoes, or other related resources, please leave a comment below!

The ResoDrum is an electronic instrument played like a hand drum. It is both sensor and speaker.

The sounds you are hearing are coming from the ResoDrum itself, via a transducer bolted to the underside. Tap on it lightly and you get small percussion sounds; hit it hard and it goes berserk.

(Note that the audio and video are slightly out of sync. The ResoDrum reacts without noticeable latency.)

via AlloyElectric

More videos and all kinds of stuff found at TomCosm.com

This sample pack features 28 short percussive samples recorded from an Atari 260 Jr PAL console.

Download it here.

This video, via soundonsoundvideo, captures an overview of the Alesis DM10 electronic drum kit from the 2009 Summer NAMM Show.