v1.0.0
We have just programmed a drum that has very musical dynamics over four parameters - all from just
one CV signal - the macro DynaControl input. Send an external ‘force’ signal here and tweak your
programmings. For the most direct understanding of your programming, just send in a knob DC
offset to this input and play the ‘force knob’ as the drum fires.
But wait, there’s more to this system! The DynaControl system actually utilises 2 input jacks for a
percussion module: HIT and DynaControl. The HIT jack is normalled to the DynaControl jack and
DynaControl is normalled to each of the CV inputs. The reasons we’ve done this is as follows: If you
use a variable amplitude gate signal, you can run the entire module with just one cable and still get
very powerful, macroised dynamics control along with the rhythm. Just remember that you may
want to enable the S&H for the parameters to ignore the gate lengths/falling edges of the incoming
HIT signal! We would recommend leaving the S&H circuits on until you have a need for them to be
off.
To remove parameters from the DynaControl bus, you can plug in a dummy cable to the DynaControl
jack or zero out all attenuverters corresponding to unused/unplugged CV inputs.
Also note that the DynaControl input is the only way to access CV control over PITCH DECAY
AMOUNT and TRANSIENT AMOUNT.
Tips
Context, Context, Context
It’s important to understand the role of your drum in context. When creating Portal Drum, we always
placed the kick sounds in a particular song. Be very careful with any ‘heft bias’ where the cool super
powerful sounding kick ‘gets in your head’ to the point it kills your song. We have found that even
heavy kicks are quite a bit different when you mix them to fit a song. Be careful with power, low end,
etc. It adds considerable heft to your song and you may not want that weight for your listeners.
Devilish Details
Portal Drum has tremendous range and while we have spent years ranging things so they work well
together, please note that this instrument can do very subtle changes to tone that can have a big
impact on the feel and mix of your drums. Heavy-handed use is of course your prerogative and surely
encouraged for some things, but do also spend some time figuring out how things interact together.
Dynamics
We have given Portal Drum a decent amount of dynamic range. Always normalise your drum volume
by having your mixer fader handy along with make-up range. This allows exposure of the very nice
sounds available with low drive settings. In fact, most kicks you probably hear are with lower drive
settings. Audible clipping starts around 10 o’clock on the DRIVE control. Watch your hearing and
watch clipping at the mixing board/interface front end!
Portal Drum did not result in an entirely pristine, clean drum voice. In fact, it did indeed start with
‘hifi’ origins but the drums were missing life. If you need very low noise, try using the Saturation
setting and setting Drive to lower levels.
