Musician's Tech Central

Software Review:

Ever since FXpansion's DR-008 VSTi/DXi Drum Sampler/Synthesizer for Windows was introduced last year, it's been highly praised for, among other things, its long list of features and the flexibility of its open-ended modular design. And now there are more features. Recently, GMEDIA Music and FXpansion Audio UK Limited teamed up under the GForce brand name to present a boxed version of DR-008. It includes the major v1.11 update to DR008, with its many new or enhanced features, as well as the bundled GMEDIA Music's Groove Library of fifteen MIDI/WAV/DR8 kits, offering over 200 MIDI loops and grooves.

If you're not already familiar with DR-008, you should probably get acquainted, because it's one of the best and most impressive drum and rhythm machine applications around. Basically, it can either play samples or trigger its own drum synth modules. But, in addition, among its many features are: 96 sampling/synthesis drum pads, 21 sample and drum synth modules, pattern sequencing, multimode resonant filters, loop modulation, 128-way velocity switching, multiple outputs in compatible host applications, eight programmable group mutes, two aux sends per drum pad, full MIDI automation, loading of multiple file formats (WAV, AIFF, LM-4, DR-005, up to 32-bit depth), and more. It's also compatible with Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, NT4, 2000 and XP, as well as with VST2 and DXi host applications, such as Cubase VST 3.7x and 5.x, Cubasis VST, Nuendo 1.5+, Logic Audio 4.x, Sonar, Home Studio 2002, Fruity Loops 3.x and Orion Pro.

Plus, among DR-008's many new or enhanced v1.11 features are: hotter volume output by default (in line with other VSTi), volume that displays in dB and defaults to 0dB, the ability to drag-and-drop loop slices from Bitshift's pHATmatik Pro into the DR-008, the ability to create a new random patch or mutate an existing one, the ability to drag-and-drop between instances of DR-008, full support of the Logic Audio 5 automation system, MIDI Learn mode for quick MIDI-controller setup, improved sample preview options, and more. (The release we reviewed was actually v1.10, but it has all of the same features as v1.11, which was primarily a minor bug fix. We did not come across any bugs during our testing.)

With all of those features, the DR-008 could be highly complex and confusing to use. But, in fact, it's so well designed that, once you understand the basic modular structure, it's surprisingly easy to navigate its capabilities and harness some solid rhythm-making power.

Workspace and View Modes

The main screen is the Workspace where the drum pads, along with their settings, are displayed and from where other modules are called. It has four View Modes:

• In the Overview Mode, the 96 pads, along with the sample or module which has been loaded into each pad, are displayed on a single 12X8 grid. Among the settings on each pad are an Edit button to call a pop-up editor window, plus a mute, a solo, a volume and a pan setting.
• The Details Mode, as it suggests, gives a more detailed view of each pad, including several additional settings which, for example, allow a pad to ignore MIDI note-off messages when needed, or allow you to assign the pad to one of the multi-outs.
• The Mix Mode displays a mixer-like screen with larger controls, complete with graphical faders, to allow finer tuning.
• The Edit Mode provides a compressed version of the controls used in the Mix Mode, plus an editor for the settings of any module that is loaded into each pad.

The Modules

With a simple click on any drum pad, you can load into it any one of a large selection of modules, and each module can be loaded into as many pads as needed. There are three types of module: 1) Samplers play and manipulate audio data (WAV or AIFF files, for example), 2) Synthesizers generate the sounds of vintage equipment by means of mathematical algorithms and/or digital models, and 3) Drum Deploy modules process incoming MIDI note data in various ways.

The Samplers

The Sampler modules - Easy Sampler, Ultra Sampler, Quad Sampler and Velo Sampler - provide sample preview capability and sophisticated editing controls. Easy Sampler, so-called because it's the easiest to use, holds only one sample but offers six controls: Pitch, Velocity to Pitch, Filter Cutoff, Velocity to Filter Cutoff, Amplitude Decay and Pitch Decay. Ultra Sampler is similar but can also perform some very powerful sound manipulation, such as looping, reverse playback, pitch slope changes, waveshaping/distortion, and much more. Quad Sampler combines four Easy Sampler units in one module and allows you to create fades and crossfades by setting separate velocity response ranges for each unit. Velo Sampler, finally, allows for the creation of realistic sounding acoustic kits by providing up to 128-way velocity switching between samples, as well as polyphonic capability, which allows an ongoing sound to continue playing without being cut off when a new one begins.

The Synths

According to the DR-008 Manual (both the printed and the PDF versions, which are slightly different), there are only eleven Synthesizer Modules: The Eights Bass, HiHat, SnareDrum, 809 Kick, 809 Snare, 808 Hat, HX-Bass, HX-Drum, Tambourine, Stompin' Kick and DrumSynth008. However, we found two more unlisted ones: Disco Clap and Vinyl. In spite of their names, however, the sounds that these synth modules produce can be varied radically by means of a wide range of controls within each module - many more controls, in fact, than can be fully described here. But here's a hint of what each module does.

The Eights Bass is a rich, smooth, plump-sounding kick, which uses 2-stage decay envelopes for both pitch and amplitude. HiHat, which produces a rather sharp-edged metallic sound, is an analog-style tone generator based on a mix of tone and noise signals fed through a high-frequency bandpass filter. SnareDrum is an analog-modeled drum whose three-oscillator architecture and various parameters allow considerable tuning capability. The 809 Kick and 809 Snare are modeled after Roland's classic TR-808 and TR-909 drum sounds, while the 808 Hat is a TR-808 model. Although the sounds are familiar, the various controls allow extreme alteration.

HX-Bass, like The Eights Bass, is a bass drum sound. But, because of an added distortion unit and different tuning, it produces a harder, more aggressive sound. HX-Drum is similarly hard sounding and has similar controls, but it is tuned to create synth tom drums instead of bass. Stompin' Kick, on the other hand, generates a big, heavyweight kick drum sound. Tambourine, Disco Clap and Vinyl are among the simplest modules of all, but they still provide a range of tuning capabilities and/or special parameters. Tambourine, for example, includes tuning, amplitude decay and volume compressor parameters, while Vinyl re-creates the scratch, crackle and pop surface noise typical of vinyl recordings.

DrumSynth008, with its 29 tuning parameters, is, by far, the most complex and versatile of the synth modules. It can be used to produce a wide variety of sounds, such as drums, hi-hats, claps, rim shots, etc. Explained simply, the module's processing involves a mix of noise and sampled waveform being fed into two bandpass filters, each having its own envelope generator, and each used for producing a different set of percussion sounds. Multiple triggering is also available for clap and guiro sounds. The output from the two signal paths is mixed and fed through a clipping module that can be used to add bite, and then fed through a tone control filter module. The DR-008 Manual helpfully includes a signal flow diagram of the internal processing order in the DrumSynth008.

The flexibility of these synths will lure you irresistibly into creating your own unique sounds. However, if you want some that are ready-made, or just some additional ideas, more than 190 easy-to-load synth presets (emulating both classic and original sounds) are included, as well as three basic drum kits built entirely from Synth Module settings.

The Drum Deploys

Each of the five Drum Deploy modules processes incoming MIDI data in various ways and re-routes a single note to several different Sampler or Synthesizer Modules. Using DD Layer, you can layer up to four drum pads and trigger them with a single key. DD Autoflam is similar but includes a delay parameter which allows several sounds to be triggered one after the other over a short period of time, producing a flam drumbeat. DD Alternator can create a "left-stick, right-stick" alternation effect, while DD Autoroll can create drum roll effects. The last of the Drum Deploy modules, DD Sequencer, has the most capabilities. Basically, it's a 16-step pattern sequencer, which provides the ability to assign a sequencer track to each of up to eight drum pad channels, and which automatically syncs to your host's song tempo. Among its several other features, looped playback can be turned on or off, and - through the host - different DD Sequencer modules can be triggered in sequence.

More Modules to Come

Because of DR-008's open, modular design, it can be extended by adding more modules from FXpansion or third parties (see, for example, Synare, a freeware drum synth from delaydots.com). The software development kit (SDK), which is a free download from FXpansion, allows anyone with a knowledge of C++ to develop new sound generator modules, import filters, etc.

The Groove Library

GMEDIA Music's GForce Groove Library that comes bundled with the DR-008 is multi-format: each of its fifteen drum kits - 808, 909, Hip-Hop, Jungle, Trance, Soul, etc. - is a combination of MIDI files and WAV samples. The WAV files can be loaded individually, if desired. But all of the WAV files for an entire drum kit can be loaded at the same time into the DR-008 grid just by loading the accompanying DR8 file. The MIDI files, in turn, each of which represents a particular groove for the drum kit, can be selected individually for loading into the host sequencer. But, if you want to audition all of the grooves at once, you can load the MIDI file marked "all," and it will conveniently play each of the grooves for that kit in succession. The advantage of the MIDI/WAV combination in each drum kit is that you can quickly and easily select and remove a particular drum or drum event (each drum has its own track) from an audio loop by deleting MIDI notes. What finally counts in any such library, however, is sound quality. We found that the quality of both the grooves and the samples is first-rate, which makes this library an excellent complement to the DR-008.

Evaluation

It took no time at all to get the package installed, configured and running on such hosts as Cubase VST32, FruityLoops and Orion Pro. Although the sheer number of DR-008 features can be initially intimidating, that feeling quickly passes, especially after scanning the printed Manual. Without exception, we found that both the main screen (including each of its several modes) and each of the various modules were well-designed and very easy to sort out in function and use - a model of what the term "user friendly" is supposed to mean. Since the technical complexity is all in the programming, instead of in the screens and the controls, all that's left to the users is a vast array of creative rhythm and groove possibilities, possibly more than most will ever use. And, because of the application's open-ended, modular design, the possibilities can only increase as new modules become available.

The DR-008 also offers a couple of pleasant surprises. One is that its installation has little impact on Windows. Except for a few updates to the Registry, Windows remains untouched. Another is that there is hardly any load on the CPU most of the time, which is amazing in such a complex application.

As to the sounds in this package, both the synthesized and the sampled, as well as the capability of supporting multiple file formats (WAV, AIFF, and bank files in LM-4, DR-005 or Battery format), virtually any drum or percussion instrument you want or need can be found. And, if you can't find it, you may be able to create it by means of the controls in the Sample or Synth Modules.

Some planned additions to DR-008 did not make it into the recent upgrade. In fact, references to a couple of future capabilities are already present in the screens and in the Manual but are not yet functional (as we discovered when we tried to test a WAV editor support option in the Sampler Modules). However, any updates which become available between now and the release of v2.0, which will happen in about a year's time, will be free.

Once you try the DR-008, you might wonder how you got along without it. FXpansion calls it "the world's best virtual drum machine," and they just might be right.

The boxed version of FXpansion's DR-008, which is bundled with GMEDIA Music's GForce Multi-Format Groove Library, can be ordered at GMEDIA Music.

Price: $149.00 (�104.95)

System Requirements:

- Minimum CPU: 486-DX33, Pentium 90 for realtime.
- Recommended CPU: Pentium Pro 150 or Pentium MMX 200.
- Ram: min 8Mb, 32Mb recommended.
- Supported Operating Systems: Win95, 98, 98SE, ME, NT4, 2000 and XP.

Downloads:

FXpansion offers a DR-008 demo which will expire after four hours' total use.

Reviewed in October 2002.