[linux-audio-dev] Re: Software controller for homemade edrums

Ben Loftis ben at glw.com
Wed Jun 8 19:58:55 UTC 2005


> And, as I said above, it did work better with some samples than with
> others, but: it works :-)
>
> Here are three example of what it sounds like, using a modified guitar
> chord sample as response file :
>
> 1 - For this one I softly hit the edge of the pad continuously, and the
> middle of the edge harder once at the beginning of the measure :
> http://samalyse.com/labs/edrum/audio/beat.ogg
>
> 2 - Playing faster ("rolling") with this one :
> http://samalyse.com/labs/edrum/audio/roll.ogg
>
> 3 - Using a pen to hit and scratch the surface. The rubber surface, made of
> several layers of bike tube makes it possible to obtain an interesting
> sound (the input level was not high enough for this one, so I normalized it
> afterward, it could sounds much better I think) :
> http://samalyse.com/labs/edrum/audio/scratch.ogg
>
> As you may see, scratching seems to work fine in here :-)
>

This is so incredibly cool!  Is this technique already in wide use somewhere 
that I missed?  Because if not, it should be.  This means that all you need 
for an electronic drum set is a multichannel sound card and some homemade 
piezo-triggered pads!  And I think with some further experimentation with pad 
materials and response files, you can probably come up with all kinds of 
permutations on the sound.  I'd like to hear what this sounds like using some 
traditional drum samples ( like a snare or an 808-style kick ).  I'm assuming 
that the current samples lack "punch" only because they are from a piano 
chord response file.


> By the way, Ben, what do you think of my idea of coupling triggering with
> convolution, as stated in my previous mail (above, third paragraph) ?
> Here's a diagram to further describe this idea :
>
> pad signal ----> trigger detection ----> sample playback -----
>     |                                                         |
>     |                                                         |
>     ------------------------------------->   convolution  <----
>                                                  |
>                                                  |
>                                                  +--> output
>
> Would this be possible ?

You essentially _have_ the drawing, above.  You just can't change the sample 
on every hit.  I don't know what you expect to achieve.  Trust me, what 
you've got now is much cooler than a triggered playback (although it does not 
sound the same)

It is possible that using a triggered sample or some sort of envelope follower 
will be required to get the attack of a traditional drum sound.  I'm sure 
there are lots of ways to improve this simple system beyond jack_convolve.  I 
think you've stumbled across a really cool synthesis technique!

-Ben





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