Arturia has announced its first ever analog drum machine.

So what is the goal with this unit? What are my thoughts?

Here is what I can say, In my opinion this is what the roland TR8 should have been. an all analog drum machine with both step and real time recording that provides the booming sounds of the 808 and 909 (Plus many all new circuits) at an affordable price point and with individual outputs per voice. This isn’t Rhythm wolf low stripped down rushed out low quality, instead its a group of high quality drum circuits (take a look at the engineers credited in the manual) paired with an updated version of the beat step pro sequencer. This sequencer really has some cool tricks up its sleeve like ratcheting and timing shift per step. Think of that like swing on steroids. Random from the beat step pro also appears and to top it all off you have a global steiner parker filter to get your sweep on. Everything syncs via modular clock or midi clock so you can pair it nicely with your modular… yep you can clock it from your modular or have it clock your modular!. 

Another point of note is this drum machine has proper voicing… what I mean by that is the Snare and clap actually punch through a mix unlike many of recent analog drum machine releases in the lower price range… these snares actually crack hard! couple that with some 808 and 909 inspired (and also improved) designs for the kick and you have a pretty powerful unit. 

The reverse cymbal is a new sound not yet heard in an all analog drum machine, and the tambourine and shaker sounds are really impressive (not just ho hum pass over sounds like on many other drum machines). Over all at this price point I am very excited to see an all analog drum machine. Hope to have a review unit soon!

Below is the official Press release:

Arturia are excited to announce the arrival of DrumBrute – a 100% analog drum machine & sequencer designed with performance and in-depth sound editing at its heart.

The newest member of Arturia’s Brute family, DrumBrute is a powerful beat-making instrument that carries the savage DNA of the MicroBrute, MiniBrute, and MatrixBrute.