SeekBeats question

jameslondon74

Quick question for any Seekbeats users. Does every drum patch use the same synth engine? Or does it use slightly different ones like Elastic Drums?

senhorlampada

As far as I know... All the same.

jameslondon74

That's awesome.
I really love Ruismaker FM for the same reason.

aplourde

It's one engine, but the parameters allow a wide range of sounds (and the envelopes are amazing).

If you're looking to pick this up, be aware that it hasn't been updated in almost 2 years. There's an annoying bug with the Audiobus panel (that would be incredibly easy to fix, just recompiling with a newer AB SDK) and some frustrating limitations in the overall design of the app (some of which can be worked around with third party apps, some can't). It still sounds great though....

Turok

@aplourde said:
It's one engine, but the parameters allow a wide range of sounds (and the envelopes are amazing).

If you're looking to pick this up, be aware that it hasn't been updated in almost 2 years. There's an annoying bug with the Audiobus panel (that would be incredibly easy to fix, just recompiling with a newer AB SDK) and some frustrating limitations in the overall design of the app (some of which can be worked around with third party apps, some can't). It still sounds great though....

this is what stopped me from buying. I wrote to the developer about the plans for the update but didn’t answer anything to me.

MonkeyDrummer

@Turok said:

@aplourde said:
It's one engine, but the parameters allow a wide range of sounds (and the envelopes are amazing).

If you're looking to pick this up, be aware that it hasn't been updated in almost 2 years. There's an annoying bug with the Audiobus panel (that would be incredibly easy to fix, just recompiling with a newer AB SDK) and some frustrating limitations in the overall design of the app (some of which can be worked around with third party apps, some can't). It still sounds great though....

this is what stopped me from buying. I wrote to the developer about the plans for the update but didn’t answer anything to me.

Yea, it’s by faaaaaaaarrrr the best pure percussion oriented synth out there, but I fear it’s been orphaned... as previously mentioned, the envelope scheme is brilliant. The velocity mod idea is also pretty darn awesome. The only thing I’ve used that rivals it for velocity-based expresivity is the Nord drum.

I wish there was an intelligent randomizer for the Nord that worked like SeekBeats...

Also, because so much of SeekBeats’ magic lies in the velocity, you either need to play it via pads, or use a sequencer that deals with velocity well... Try routing Poly2 to it. While each voice is not “melodic” in that it’s only one note per voice, with velocity mods you can get it into crazy atonal world.

Enjoy it while it’s with us... 😁

jameslondon74

Oh that sucks. Thanks for the heads up. I might stick with Ruismaker fm for now. What’s DM2 like for synth drum creation? Same synth engine per patch?

cian

It’s not bad but it doesn’t support velocity.

jameslondon74

@cian said:
It’s not bad but it doesn’t support velocity.

You mean you can't change the levels from one beat to another, in any given patch? All beats have to be the same volume?

anickt

@jameslondon74 said:

@cian said:
It’s not bad but it doesn’t support velocity.

You mean you can't change the levels from one beat to another, in any given patch? All beats have to be the same volume?

That’s wrong. You can set level per step for each instrument. SB is awesome!

jameslondon74

@anickt said:

@jameslondon74 said:

@cian said:
It’s not bad but it doesn’t support velocity.

You mean you can't change the levels from one beat to another, in any given patch? All beats have to be the same volume?

That’s wrong. You can set level per step for each instrument. SB is awesome!

I was talking about DM2. What were you talking about?

anickt

@jameslondon74 said:

@anickt said:

@jameslondon74 said:

@cian said:
It’s not bad but it doesn’t support velocity.

You mean you can't change the levels from one beat to another, in any given patch? All beats have to be the same volume?

That’s wrong. You can set level per step for each instrument. SB is awesome!

I was talking about DM2. What were you talking about?

Sorry - I thought Seekbeats. DM2 just has an accent.

cian

Yeah seekbeats is super flexible. If only it wasn't abandoned.

That said, you can get Nanostudio to give you very similar results. I have a script (that I need to finish/publish/fix) that I use to turn Nanostudio into a 16 channel drum machine (each pad in the sequencer corresponds to an individual drum hit). While Obsidian doesn't quite have the same flexibility with envelopes, in practice it's more than sufficient (DADSR, with full control over curves). And in Obsidian you get more synthesis possibilities (Phase Distortion, 3op FM synthesis better, filters, more oscillators, etc - as well as samples), and a really nice sequencer. Plus you have all the routing possibilities that Nanostudio gives you, AU3 effects, etc.

I'll see if I can find time this weekend to fix the script and I'll publish it. Somebody might find it useful.

cian

DM2 just annoys me - I like the sound synthesis, but if a drum machine can't do ghost hits, or varied velocity for hi hats and toms - it's really not very useful. I guess I could sample it or something. I guess.

jameslondon74

@cian said:
Yeah seekbeats is super flexible. If only it wasn't abandoned.

That said, you can get Nanostudio to give you very similar results. I have a script (that I need to finish/publish/fix) that I use to turn Nanostudio into a 16 channel drum machine (each pad in the sequencer corresponds to an individual drum hit). While Obsidian doesn't quite have the same flexibility with envelopes, in practice it's more than sufficient (DADSR, with full control over curves). And in Obsidian you get more synthesis possibilities (Phase Distortion, 3op FM synthesis better, filters, more oscillators, etc - as well as samples), and a really nice sequencer. Plus you have all the routing possibilities that Nanostudio gives you, AU3 effects, etc.

I'll see if I can find time this weekend to fix the script and I'll publish it. Somebody might find it useful.

Thanks, I'll check them out.

jameslondon74

To be honest - Drambo (from Beepstreet) looks insanely good (not yet released), and will probably do what I want.

aplourde

@MonkeyDrummer said:

I wish there was an intelligent randomizer for the Nord that worked like SeekBeats...

The randomizer is great for coming up with new sounds, but what I wish, Wish, WISH SeekBeats had was a way to load two sets of sounds and crossfade between them (under MIDI control)... that would be amazing.

< sigh>

aplourde

@jameslondon74 said:
To be honest - Drambo (from Beepstreet) looks insanely good (not yet released), and will probably do what I want.

Drambo will do what you want, including cooking you breakfast, washing your car, having your babies and making you a nice cup of tea.

That said, it's kind of the antithesis of what you were initially asking; i.e. "does it have a single synth engine?" It's a modular drum playground that can be configured in myriad ways.

jameslondon74

@aplourde said:

@jameslondon74 said:
To be honest - Drambo (from Beepstreet) looks insanely good (not yet released), and will probably do what I want.

Drambo will do what you want, including cooking you breakfast, washing your car, having your babies and making you a nice cup of tea.

That said, it's kind of the antithesis of what you were initially asking; i.e. "does it have a single synth engine?" It's a modular drum playground that can be configured in myriad ways.

You're right. But in Drambo I'll be able to build my own drum machine using bare bones modular apparatus. Perfect.

MonkeyDrummer

@jameslondon74 said:

@cian said:
Yeah seekbeats is super flexible. If only it wasn't abandoned.

That said, you can get Nanostudio to give you very similar results. I have a script (that I need to finish/publish/fix) that I use to turn Nanostudio into a 16 channel drum machine (each pad in the sequencer corresponds to an individual drum hit). While Obsidian doesn't quite have the same flexibility with envelopes, in practice it's more than sufficient (DADSR, with full control over curves). And in Obsidian you get more synthesis possibilities (Phase Distortion, 3op FM synthesis better, filters, more oscillators, etc - as well as samples), and a really nice sequencer. Plus you have all the routing possibilities that Nanostudio gives you, AU3 effects, etc.

I'll see if I can find time this weekend to fix the script and I'll publish it. Somebody might find it useful.

Thanks, I'll check them out.

Another drum synth that is just beautiful sounding, but is really built as an app that doesn’t seem to want to play well with others in MoDrum. Just beautiful sounds. Decent sequencer, etc. but it seems mostly made to create and export drum loops.

jameslondon74

@MonkeyDrummer said:

@jameslondon74 said:

@cian said:
Yeah seekbeats is super flexible. If only it wasn't abandoned.

That said, you can get Nanostudio to give you very similar results. I have a script (that I need to finish/publish/fix) that I use to turn Nanostudio into a 16 channel drum machine (each pad in the sequencer corresponds to an individual drum hit). While Obsidian doesn't quite have the same flexibility with envelopes, in practice it's more than sufficient (DADSR, with full control over curves). And in Obsidian you get more synthesis possibilities (Phase Distortion, 3op FM synthesis better, filters, more oscillators, etc - as well as samples), and a really nice sequencer. Plus you have all the routing possibilities that Nanostudio gives you, AU3 effects, etc.

I'll see if I can find time this weekend to fix the script and I'll publish it. Somebody might find it useful.

Thanks, I'll check them out.

Another drum synth that is just beautiful sounding, but is really built as an app that doesn’t seem to want to play well with others in MoDrum. Just beautiful sounds. Decent sequencer, etc. but it seems mostly made to create and export drum loops.

Nice suggestion, but I don't like the idea of specific parameters for specific instruments. I'm after a single synth that creates all the patches. Not actually sure why, I'm a bit of a purist.

ahallam

@cian said:
Yeah seekbeats is super flexible. If only it wasn't abandoned.

That said, you can get Nanostudio to give you very similar results. I have a script (that I need to finish/publish/fix) that I use to turn Nanostudio into a 16 channel drum machine (each pad in the sequencer corresponds to an individual drum hit). While Obsidian doesn't quite have the same flexibility with envelopes, in practice it's more than sufficient (DADSR, with full control over curves). And in Obsidian you get more synthesis possibilities (Phase Distortion, 3op FM synthesis better, filters, more oscillators, etc - as well as samples), and a really nice sequencer. Plus you have all the routing possibilities that Nanostudio gives you, AU3 effects, etc.

I'll see if I can find time this weekend to fix the script and I'll publish it. Somebody might find it useful.

I would be super interested in this if you find the time to post it!