Arturia DrumBrute Analog Drum Machine In-Depth Demo

Here are a couple of videos that take an in-depth look at the new Arturia DrumBrute analog drum machine.

The first video, is via Source Distribution. The second video, below, is via DivKid:

The Arturia DrumBrute is a 100% analog drum machine and sequencer that offers 17 distinct analog drum and percussion instruments, an intuitive sequencer, comprehensive connectivity, a two-mode Steiner-Parker filter, and dynamic performance controls.

Pricing and Availability

DrumBrute will be available November 17 for 449€ / $499. More information is available at the Arturia website.

27 thoughts on “Arturia DrumBrute Analog Drum Machine In-Depth Demo

  1. WOW . . . I actually think this sounds pretty incredible. Even on it’s own and dry, this thing was creating its own world of sounds.

    The video with the MF Drive shows it plays well with dirt boxes . . . I’m a little surprised they didn’t include a “brute factor” knob for the filter. Maybe they were afraid of comparisons to the much-derided Rhythm Wolf? Still, seems like a strange omission – being able to wildly overdrive the filter would be dope.

    Other than that, I’m crazy impressed with all the features they packed into this thing for $499. I especially love the repeater – it’s be great to get some MPC-esque fills out of an actual analog instrument. The probability and polyrhthym features are great as well! It’s as if Arturia combed synth message boards and made note of the things folks were asking for for years.

    I have to say, I’ve avoided new Arturia hardware products after having a nightmare customer service experience when the keys on my Minibrute broke. I love the sound but I dread the possible breakage down the line. I know these are made in China to keep prices down, but let’s hope they learned something about quality control from the Minibrute key bed fiasco!

    1. I have read a few stories about Arturia’s “nightmare customer service experience”, but my own experience with them was good. I bought a Minibrute with a faulty keybed and its was replaced for free 6 months after my warranty expired.

      1. Hopefully they’ve improved their customer service with my incident. It took 8 months of harassing them to get them to finally respond to my tech ticket (and it WAS still under warranty). The only thing that got them to respond was actually me griping in the comments of this website.

        Glad to hear your experience was better!

    2. My customer service experience with Arturia was prompt and surprisingly courteous. I will definitely support their company in the future…. looking forward to getting hands on the Drum Brute

  2. Damn! I was just about to throw down for a TR-8 and Tempest and figure out which one to keep. This pretty much kills that plan.

    Looks like it’s worth waiting a few months to see how this fares against those as more people get their hands on it.

    My main requirement is a solid drum engine that can be easily integrated into a live performance rig. The TR-8 seemed to meet that requirement and still may be the right choice, but this sure looks like a strong alternative.

    1. The Tr-8 is pretty sweet. After a while you realize analog drums are analog drums, not much of a steep curve there, usually the processing afterwards is what differentiates it from other analog drum machines. So if the box is packed with alternate features, that would be a good route to go. Like the tempest has samples as well, along with the Elektron Rytm. If you go for the tempest, just get the rytm, load your own samples and layer them with analog. The best! If your staying around the $500 range, then you got your work cut out for you, TR-8 or this box. This has multiple outs for tracking which is nice if you aernt a computer guy and rock a nice mixer. Send your sounds to external effects and get busy without a computer.

      1. Thanks for the input. I was wondering about the Rytm vs. Tempest, but didn’t want to get two high-priced items to demo.

        The ability to use my own samples isn’t too important for me. The “sample” based part of my playing all comes from using loopers where I can build up longer “samples” in-real time using my guitar and bass. I do the same with synths/drum machines except use a sequencer as the looper.

        For rhythm, in particular, I’ve been looking for something with a good solid set of sounds and a performance oriented sequencer that works well for building up drum loops in real time – something with a good step editor and a good real-time record mode. Currently, I use an E-mu Command Station as my sequencer (which has a great set of samples). It works fairly well, but still requires hitting “stop” to go between the grid editor and real-time entry. :/

        Analog vs. digital isn’t as important, but being able to sculpt the sounds in real time is. Back to the challenge of picking between the TR-8 and this…

        For computers, I’m a computer scientist. The last thing I want to use when I make music is a computer. Music is my break from real life. 🙂

        1. You might want to keep in mind that, AFAIK, it can be a real chore getting a decent drum sound out of the Tempest when compared to the TR-8 and Analog Rytm. AFAIK, the Tempest drum voice is really a DSI style synth voice that can do much more than make a drum sound, while the others have dedicated dum voices that are far less flexible but have limited parameters specific to the task. To be fair, I do not own a Tempest, but do own both the Analog Rytm and TR-8 (as well as multiple DSI synths). I think this Drumbrute is a winner and will definitely be picking one up.

    1. Check the Sonicstate demo, the Arturo’s rep gets a decent sound out of the snare in that. Otherwise, agreed that the snare sounds week in most demos so far. Hopefully it’ll be fine in the hands of buyers.

    1. The Tanzbar sounds much better than this. They’re not really the same price point either, though. This is a nice machine with a great sequencer. It’s no Tanzbar.

    1. Except the Rhythm Wolf is 40% the cost of this, features a baseline synth, and highlights what’s bad about analog, instead of what’s good.

  3. What would be great is if they implement Ableton Link with the drum machine though the USB. This way I can buy this instead of Rolands controller or link it with Traktor and lock tight with Ableton…… something to think about Arturia. (Same with your Beatstep Pro and Key Step)

  4. it could be alright, as long as the kick holds up on its own and the midi does what it says on the tin for the price it could augment any live set up.

  5. Samples?? This is analog voices, op-amps, capacitators etc. No room for including samples in this machine. And what does analog samples mean? Stored on tape like a Mellotron?

    1. I’m not making speeches sound ethical … I asked a simple question … just answer yes or no. thanks anyway the answer to what I read I was not the only one who asked this question

  6. Looks and sounds great, Bravo Arturia! Missing only one thing. Recording the knob movement (parameter locks) in the sequencer. Or is this possible? Can’t find it on the website..

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