Rave Generation: MOD-9
Modded drum synth
MOD-9 is a drum machine modeled on the Roland TR-909: all eleven instruments, from the bass drum to the ride cymbal, each with its original controls. Its sound was matched to a real machine in the studio, instrument by instrument, velocity by velocity and knob by knob.
Next to the standard controls sits a row of mods, the ones owners of the hardware have been building into their machines for decades: a longer bass drum, pitched kicks, drive, sweep depth and sweep time, longer snare wires, longer toms, rim shot and hi-hat tuning, clap reverb and density, a hi-hat filter, and attack and decay for the crash and ride. At their stock positions the mods do nothing.
Read how MOD-9 was made.
Next to the standard controls sits a row of mods, the ones owners of the hardware have been building into their machines for decades: a longer bass drum, pitched kicks, drive, sweep depth and sweep time, longer snare wires, longer toms, rim shot and hi-hat tuning, clap reverb and density, a hi-hat filter, and attack and decay for the crash and ride. At their stock positions the mods do nothing.
Read how MOD-9 was made.
Features
- The Original ControlsTUNE, LEVEL, ATTACK, DECAY, TONE and SNAPPY where the hardware has them, on stepless knobs.
- Mods On Every InstrumentBass drum drive, pitch, sweep depth, sweep time and long decay; longer snare wires, snare sweep time and sweep depth; long toms with their own sweep and attack noise; rim shot tune and decay; clap reverb and density; hi-hat tune, filter and filter envelope; crash and ride attack and decay.
- Pitched KicksSwitch on BD MIDI and the keys above the kit play the bass drum at their own pitch.
- Velocity In StepsThe hardware does not play velocity smoothly: it holds one level over a run of velocities and changes it at fixed points, with a jump here and a dip there. VELO STEPS plays those steps, measured on every instrument; switch it off for a smooth curve.
- Accent Key And Total AccentVelocity plays the accent; an accent key and the TOTAL ACCENT knob work as on the hardware's own sequencer.
- Crash And Ride TogetherOn the hardware the crash and the ride share one level, so a soft ride hit pulls a ringing crash down with it. CYM LINK keeps that, or turns it off; HH LINK does the same for the hi-hats, which cut each other.
- Old RevisionsSwitch the bass drum, the rim shot and the hi-hats to the earlier circuit boards. The earliest bass drum has a shorter pitch drop and no click on soft hits.
- Played By Your TimingTIMING lets each hit land up to 13 ms late, as the hardware's own MIDI does on a loose day; WIDTH opens or narrows the built-in panning.
- Noise FloorThe hardware's hiss and hum underneath, if you want them.
- Pitch BendThe whole kit bends up to 12 semitones up or down, including what is still ringing.
- Ten Individual OutputsTen aux outputs, one for each of the hardware's jacks. The OUTPUTS page gives every sound a GAIN, a PAN and a SUB OUT switch that takes it out of the main mix.
- Drum Bus CompressorOne bus compressor for the kit, 4:1 with a 3 ms attack and a 0.1 s release: it grabs each hit and pumps with the kick. A COMP switch on each sound sends it through; THRESHOLD and MAKEUP set how hard it squeezes and how loud it comes back. It works on the individual outputs too, and the kick and snare on their own outputs get a compressor of their own. Off by default.
