.476 Yamaha Digital Drums DD-5

I haven't been very shy about my love for 1980s era Yamaha drum machines. They're not the greatest machines available from the era, but they have an uncommon sound to them, different from the Roland sounds that have become the de facto electronic music standard, and fortunately for me, they're available for next to nothing on eBay. I've been able to pick up several of them, all for under $50, and have found quite a bit of inspiration in them despite their programming quirks.

I've been on the hunt for a Yamaha RX21 to compliment my RX11, RX15 and RX17 machines, so I occasionally check out eBay auctions to see if I can find one for a reasonable price. While looking, I'll sometimes stumble across other machines that pique my interest, which is how I ended up with the exceedingly strange RX120. Recently, while once again looking for a cheap RX21 or RX21L, I found an inexpensive Yamaha Digital Drums DD-5, in its original box no less, and decided to make it mine.

The reviews I've found usually describe the DD-5 as little more than a toy, so while its actually a pretty common drum machine on eBay, I've been hesitant to invest much money in one. I'm glad I finally gave in.

The sounds? Well, like the RX machines I already own, the DD-5 has a pleasant lo-fi quality, but lacking in any low-end punch. Even the Bass Drum sample sounds a bit bright, but the Snare Drum and Hand Claps sounds are kind of fun. The RX machines seemed like they were designed to try to emulate a real drum kit, often being their most charming when they failed that goal, but the DD-5 is so prone to distortion and uses samples with such a short length that it lacks any of the analog warmth the RX machines seemed focused on achieving. Even its output jack is loud and filled with noise. Pile on even more distortion and you might have a halfway decent industrial kit.

What makes the DD-5 truly interesting, however, is not its sounds, but its capabilities. Unlike the RX120 which only had a puzzling MIDI-In, and the RX11, RX15 and RX17 machines that had both MIDI-In and MIDI-Out jacks, the DD-5 has a single MIDI-Out jack controlled by its four, velocity sensitive drum pads. You can probably see where I'm going with this. The velocity sensitivity is fairly weak, only 15 levels according to its users manual, but there is something surprisingly addictive about playing it within Reason and Record, bashing on its rubber pads with sticks and triggering whatever sounds you load into Redrum. I'll admit, I bought the DD-5 because it was a toy, something I planned to give to my son after I sampled its meager 12 sounds, but the more I played with it, the more its charms have started winning me over. With a little patience, you should be able to pick up a DD-5 for less than even a Korg NanoPad, half as much if you're careful, so if you're looking for an unconventional way to build rhythms in Reason, this Yamaha is an interesting option (assuming you already have a way to accept MIDI data into your computer setup).

Like all of the other Yamaha machines I own, thought I would share samples from it with all of you.

• Yamaha DD-5 Sample Pack ( Zip File )
  

In the past, I've provided Combinator backdrops for my Yamaha machines, little jpegs built from photos I've taken, but I haven't had time to build a Yamaha DD-5 Combinator yet. When I get a little free time, I'm sure I'll whip something up, maybe with an instrument combinator to go with it.

The PAD Challenge: Remix Reminder!

How are your PAD Challenge remixes coming? I just wanted to remind everyone that your Pad Challenge remixes are due to me by Saturday, May 8th, at noon.

I spent a huge chunk of today working on my remix of 1.44MB's song BurnArea and I should be done on time, but I'll admit, the task hasn't been an easy one. There are as many theories out there about remixes as there are remixers, but I've always felt that the best remixes highlight the artistic qualities of the original song, while providing just a different enough twist on it that the remix becomes its own, unique thing. I'm not sure if I've achieved that with what I've done to 1.44MB's song. At this point, it sounds more like something I might have done on my own, than what 1.44MB gave me to start with, but I have a few more days to tweak and fine tune.

A couple of points:

• If everyone could send me their RNS file of their remix, once they're done, that would be great. This could be a very powerful learning experience for all of us, but we'll need to see how others have tweaked or manipulated our songs, if we can truly learn anything.
  
• My basic Soundcloud account might be maxed out with the second part of the PAD Challenge, so if you have your own Soundcloud account, and don't mind hosting your remix, that would be a big help to me. Obviously, I'll host what I can, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to start removing songs so soon.
  

Spectrum Analyzer At Wendy Dunham's Site

This has already made the rounds on all of the usual sites, but if you haven't seen it yet, I urge you to check out the new Spectrum Analyzer posted on Wendy Dunham's site.

I did something a little similar in Patch A Day's early days with the Visual EQ patches, but my goal with those patches was to provide EQ and visual feedback in the same Combinator. Wendy's patch, put together with help from fellow Reason users Rogerraa and Selig, is simply concerned with frequency analysis. And, although its scope is a bit limited, the extremely clever way its put together makes it an essential tool for any Reason user.

What makes it so clever? It seems pretty obvious now, but Wendy put the frequency bands into the Combinator backdrop, giving a quick, visual reference to the bands displayed in the BV512 beneath it. Being able to see that a troublesome peak is hitting between 76 Hz and 104 Hz makes EQing it much easier than the usual trial and error that I find myself performing to tame something that's gotten out of control. With the Spectrum Analyzer Combinator, I can quickly zoom in on a problem frequency range and spend more time fine tuning it, than trying to find it.

Really well done, Wendy, Rogerraa and Selig!

The Pad Challenge: Remix Update, Part II

My apologies for the continued delays. I think I have already contacted everyone regarding the files needed for the remixes, but going through everyone stated interests and the comments on the previous challenge post, it looks like most of you had that worked out before I even got on it. Great work!

If you still need files for your remix, please be sure to let me know. I don't think I missed anything or anyone, but if I did, please post a comment so I can get you what you need.

The deadline for the remixes is May 8th. Like the last challenge, let's try to get those in by noon.

The big event at work that has been consuming my time this last week (and more) is tonight, so things should be back to normal here on the blog by tomorrow.

The Pad Challenge: Remix Update

I've been a little slammed at work this week and have fallen behind with getting RNS files and samples out to everyone participating in the remix piece of the PAD Challenge. I apologize for the delay. Things should be back to normal for me starting Monday, but I'll make getting those files out to everyone a priority today and tomorrow. Expect an email from me soon.

And, for those of you concerned about the deadline, please don't be. I'll start the clock after the last files have been collected and distributed to the appropriate people.

Again, sorry about the delay.

The Pad Challenge: Phase Two Is On!

Okay, a few days ago I put up a post asking everyone what they thought of offering up their PAD Challenge songs for remix purposes, and even after I moaned and complained about the possible technical issues with doing so, the response was decidedly positive. So, here's how it's going to work:

I heard back from almost everyone, except V2057, saying that they were fine with their songs being remixed. If you need a refresher, here are all of the available tracks (posted in reverse order):

15728, By Lewis.72 by Reason Patch A Day

2048, By Jeremy by Reason Patch A Day

Ostbahnoff "That's a Great Color Combination," By DJ Mad Wax by Reason Patch A Day

Sunrise, By Chris Stallone by Reason Patch A Day

Space Clouds, By Chris Stallone by Reason Patch A Day

BurnArea, By 1.44MB by Reason Patch A Day

Vathi, By 1.44MB by Reason Patch A Day

Drones2 by Hydlide

Breaching The Heliopause by Reason Patch A Day

There are just a couple of technical hiccups with these tracks:

• DJ Mad Wax's track Ostbahnoff "That's a Great Color Combination" uses the Goldbaby Tape 808 and 909 refills, as well as the Filter Research Refill
  
• Jeremy used a homebrew refill he got from a friend, but also used the Propellerhead Strings refill
  
• My entry, Breaching the Heliopause, uses Propellerhead Record
  

As Jeremy pointed out, we can get around some of this by exporting sub-mixes to WAV, which might result in some pretty big files sizes, making sharing our source files a little more difficult, but certainly not impossible. So, at this point, everyone just needs to lay claim to the track or tracks they want to remix. Lewis.72 mentioned he'd like to take a crack at Jeremy's track 2048. I'm thinking I'd like to see if I can do anything with either 1.44MB's BurnArea or Vathi.

Keep in mind, this isn't musical chairs, so you're not stuck with working on leftover tracks if someone else lays claim to them. If everyone decided they wanted to remix the same track, that would be fine. So, in the comments, please post which track or tracks you would like to work on. I have everyone's email addresses, so I'll try to organize things behind to scenes and make sure that files get to who needs them.

I'm a little hesitant to set a deadline, because I'm not sure how much time it will take for us to get everyone's files passed around. Let's shoot for two weeks and see how things are coming along at the beginning of May.

One last thing. I'm not a lawyer and I certainly don't pretend to have a good understanding of the legal issues surrounding copyright and such, but I'd like us all to adhere to a little "gentleman's agreement" regarding these tracks and their use. Any remixes completed via this second phase of the Challenge belong to their original authors. The name of the track cannot be changed and ownership of the song cannot be disputed. Remixers are, however, allowed a byline with their remixed track, so for example, if Chris Stallone were to remix Hydlide's track it would be "Drones2 (Stallone's Funky House Mix), by Hydlide."

Does that seem fair?

PAD Challenge: 15728, By Lewis.72

Lewis.72 just sent me his entry for the PAD Challenge. It took a little longer than a week, but I think it was worth the wait. He writes:

It uses 5 patches from Reason Patch a Day:

Sleepless+HerschelGap - I love this pad and it's the backbone for the track.
Homemade4 - this Subtractor patch is doubling up an upright jazz bass patch from the FSB for depth.
Solar Bells Callisto and Solar Bells Umbriel - these two patches are the arp sounds. work great together - like chocolate and peanut butter.
Stereo Delay - a great effect being used on the arp sounds above.

The sample in the song, of a woman repeating "15728" was taken from The Conet Project, a web resource of so-called "Numbers Stations" on shortwave radios.

The rhythm and percussion patches come from the Reason Factory Sound Bank. I recently rediscovered the "Machines" folder and have been digging the set-up patches. "Needle Groovah" and "Synthi Drum Machine" are two of my favorites and lay down the beat. I changed up the patterns a bit, but they're similar to stock. "Jenkinson Drum Machine" is there to give it a bit of glitchy goodness. Didn't do anything to the pattern, but set it up to run randomly and played with the "loop edits" button to drop the pattern in and out.

I have one of my own patches in the song as well. "Copy Machine". This is one of my favorite effects patches, great for stutters or in this case, transitions. It's available on my blog.

15728, By Lewis.72 by Reason Patch A Day

I've used samples from The Conet Project in some of my own songs. Its well worth checking out if you're looking for something a little different to add to your tracks.

I thought I had all of Lewis.72's Combinators, but this one slipped past me, so I was glad to have it pointed out. Thanks, Lewis!

Check out Lewis.72's blog at Resonant Filter