Audiothingies DoubleDrummer User manual

Audiothingies DoubleDrummer
User manual firmware version 1.0.3

Overview
Specifications
The DoubleDrummer is a 12-voice drum sound generator. It is divided into 4 main sections
The synthesis section
This section features 6 different instruments bass drum, snare drum, tom tom, clap, cowbell and hi
hat.
Each of these 6 instruments has been fine tuned to provide a wide range of sounds within a limited
set of 6 parameters per instrument for the best possible user experience.
The sample player engine
With 6 instruments and 56 internal drum sounds, these can be useful to provide more natural
sounding sounds that can be more difficult to synthesize within a limited parameter set, such as
cymbals for example.
But they’re also great for those “in ur face” 80’s kick and snare sounds.
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The mixer
Each of the 12 instruments has its own mixer settings, with drive, bitcrusher, pan, main volume and
fx send level.
The FX’s
2 “AUX SEND” effects are available delay and reverb. Each one of the 12 instruments can be setup
to use either one or the other.
A multi FX containing samplerate reduction, bitrate reduction and a 2-pole lowpass filter is available
on the master bus.
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Signal Flow
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12 Instruments
6 Synthesis BD, SD, TT, CP, CB, HH)
6 Sample players 56 user samples – S1 to S6)
INSTRUMENT GENERATOR
MASTER BUS
Stereo Audio Outputs
PLATE REVERBFILTERED DELAY
MASTER FX
Drive, Samplerate reducer, Bitcrusher & Lowpass Filter
INSTRUMENT MIXER & FX
Drive, Bitcrusher,
Pan, Level, FX Send Level
AUX FX SEND SELECT
Delay or Reverb)

Front panel
On the front panel you will find
•2 x 24 characters LCD screen – Black on white
•6 encoders with pushbuttons
•9 pushbuttons with their associated LEDs
•1 volume knob
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Rear panel
On the rear panel, from left to right on the above picture
•Audio outputs (use left output when using mono)
•MIDI connectors
•USB port – used for USB MIDI communication with a USB host and firmware updates (a
SYSEX file sent over USB MIDI)
•9V DC input socket (Center positive polarity, 2.1mm plug, 200mA minimum)
•Power switch
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Quick start
1. Connect audio outs to a mix table, turn the volume knob fully clockwise.
2. Connect a MIDI keyboard / sequencer into the DIN MIDI Input.
3. Power the DoubleDrummer with a 9V DC, center positive, 2.1mm plug PSU
1. Play C1 on MIDI channel 1, you should hear the bass drum playing
The other notes triggering the different instruments are listed in the MIDI Map section of this
manual
2. Press Load
3. Turn encoder 6 or press encoders 4/5 to navigate thru the patches. Press Load again to load
selected patch, press Home to cancel and return to previously loaded sound.
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Using the DoubleDrummer
Navigating pages
How to navigate throughout the DoubleDrummer architecture?
Parameters are mapped across different sections accessed by pressing a corresponding button on the
front panel.
When a section has several pages, you access them by successively pressing the same button several
times. When you are on the last page, it returns to the first one.
For example, pressing FX several times will make you travel the following pages DLY > REV >
MFX > DLY > REV > MFX etc.
Some sections (the ones labeled in red under the white round buttons) are accessible by
simultaneously pressing Home [shift] + another button. For example [shift] + FX will take you to the
System page.
The encoders can be pushed to access menus that are shortcuts to specific parameters (level/pan/fx
send/fx type and mute).
Editing parameters
The LCD provides up to 6 parameters to edit depending on the menu you are currently editing
Simply use encoders 1-6 to change their corresponding parameter value.
TIP: the encoder acceleration value can be changed in System menu, page 2
TIP2: you can temporarily disable the acceleration and lower the sensitivity of an encoder by
pressing [shift] while turning the encoder
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Main page | HOME
This is where you land when you power your DoubleDrummer
P001 drv smp bit cut
InUrFace 15 0 0 120
You get the program number and name as well as shortcuts to 4 different parameters.
HOME page parameter shortcuts
These 4 parameters can be set per preset, among the FX (delay, reverb and master fx) parameter set.
To change these parameters, press and hold FX button
encoder en3 en4 en5 en6
assign smp bit cut res
Use encoders 3 to 6 to change the displayed parameter
Trigger activity Viewer
You also have access to a second screen by pressing HOME a 2nd time, this screen replaces program
number and name with a trigger activity viewer
[][][][][][] drv smp bit cut
[][][][][][] 15 0 0 120
The 6 trigger viewers on the upper line are tied to the synthesis instruments activity whereas the 6
trigger viewers on the bottom line show the S1 to S6 instruments activity.
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Instrument parameters
Bass drum | BD
This instrument generates classic bass drum sounds.
B -P atk dcy hrm bnd tim
64 100 48 32 64 32
•BD-P pitch
•atk amount of clic transient
•dcy decay time
•hrm odd harmonics amount
•bnd pitch mod amount
•tim pitch mod decay time
Snare drum | SD
This instrument is capable of generating snare drum sounds, and is very versatile especially thanks to
its noise-related parameters.
S -P -decay- nze col emp
64 50 72 100 80 0
•SD-P tone pitch
•decay1 tone decay time
•decay2 noise decay time
•nze noise level
•col noise color
•emp noise emphasis (filter resonance)
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Tom tom | TT
This instrument is a bit special, as it can be triggered by 3 different MIDI notes generating 3 different
pitches, while remaining monophonic.
TT-P low hi dcy mod pan
64 -5 +5 100 80 +32
•TT-P main tone pitch
•low low tom pitch (relative to main tone pitch)
•hi hi tom pitch (relative to main tone pitch)
•dcy decay time
•mod pitch modulation amount
•pan tom tom pan spread (relative to pan parameter set in mixer page)
Tom tom in sample mode
In sample mode (see Instrument setup page), tom tom instrument is slightly different than a classic
sample instrument, as it provides 3 note triggers to play the same sample at 3 different pitches, each
with a different pan setting.
TT-P tun dcy low hi pan
tt1 -32 127 -5 +5 +24
•TT-P sample (tt1 to tt4)
•tun sample tuning
•dcy sample decay time
•low low tom pitch (relative)
•hi hi tom pitch (relative)
•pan tom tom pan spread (relative to pan parameter set in mixer page)
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Clap | CP
This instrument is capable of generating clap sounds
CP-P atk dcy col emp
50 24 80 32
•atk attack “burst” time
•dcy noise decay time
•rev “fake reverb” decay time
•col noise color
•emp noise emphasis (filter resonance)
Cowbell | CB
Generated with 2 detuned triangle waves with their harmonics being filtered with a bandpass filter.
Can also generate claves or beep sounds.
CB-P off bal dcy hrm emp
68 64 64 64 -5 32
•CB-P tune
•off tuning offset
•bal oscillator balance
•dcy decay time
•hrm harmonics frequency offset
•emp emphasis (filter resonance)
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Hi Hats | HH
The classic noise filtered hi hat trick
HH-P cls opn col emp
30 50 115 94
•cls closed hat decay
•opn opened hat decay
•col noise color
•emp noise emphasis (filter resonance)
Hi Hats in sample mode
When in sample mode (see Instrument setup page), the hi hats instruments is slightly different than a
classic sample instrument, as 2 hats samples are used together to provide closed and opened hat
sounds, each with its own decay time
HH-P tun cld opd cut res
hh1 0 100 127 0 0
•HH-P hat sample (hh1 to hh4)
•tun tuning offset (+- 1 octave)
•cld closed hat sample decay time
•opd opened hat sample decay time
•cut negative value lowpass filter cutoff frequency
positive value hipass filter cutoff frequency
•res filter resonance
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Sample 1 to sample 6 | S1 to S6
S1-P tun dcy cmp cut res
bd5 0 101 104 -35 0
•S1-P sample slot
•tun tuning offset (+- 1 octave)
•dcy sample decay (1 – 100%)
•cmp sample “compression” (source dependent - more effective on longer sounds)
•cut negative value lowpass filter cutoff frequency
positive value hipass filter cutoff frequency
•res filter resonance
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Instrument Mixer page
This is the 2nd page of an instrument, for example to access clap mixer page, press CP two times, and
to access sample 3 mixer page, press [shift] + S3 two times.
B -M drv bit pan lvl fx
on 10 0 0 100 0
•BD-M instrument status (on, means mute is off)
•drv drive level
•bit bit reduction level
•pan panoramic
•lvl level
•fx effect send level (see instrument setup page to choose the send fx)
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Instrument setup page
This is the 3rd page of an instrument, but it is kinda “hidden” to access a specific synthesis
instrument setup page, press and hold its button for 1s, for example, to access the cowbell
instrument setup page, press and hold CB, and to access a specific sample instrument setup page,
press and hold shift + its corresponding button, for example, to access the sample 6 instrument setup
page, press and hold [shift] + S6
B -H vel fx
syn 64 dly
•BD-H Instrument type (sample / synthesis) – Synthesis instruments only
synthesis instruments can be turned into sample instruments
•vel velocity sensivity
adjusts how velocity sensitive the instrument will be
•fx fx send type (delay/reverb)
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Mixer shortcuts
To balance sounds in a mix, it may be easier to have access to all the instrument levels in a single
screen, this is why there are some mixer shortcuts, and these can be accessed by pressing an encoder
button.
Level
Press encoder 1 to access the volume level of all 6 synthesis instruments.
Press encoder 4 to access the volume level of all 6 sample instruments.
L B S TT CP CB HH
100 127 75 127 70 100
Pan
Press encoder 1 twice to access the pan level of all 6 synthesis instruments.
Press encoder 4 twice to access the pan level of all 6 sample instruments.
P B S TT CP CB HH
0 0 0 0 -58 +25
FX Send level
Press encoder 2 to access the FX send level of all 6 synthesis instruments.
Press encoder 5 to access the FX send level of all 6 sample instruments.
F B S TT CP CB HH
0 0 53 63 99 0
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FX Send type
Press encoder 2 twice to access the FX send type for all 6 synthesis instruments.
Press encoder 5 twice to access the FX send type for all 6 sample instruments.
F B S TT CP CB HH
dly rev rev dly rev dly
Instrument status Mutes)
Press encoder 3 to access the on/off status of all 6 synthesis instruments.
Press encoder 6 to access the on/off status of all 6 sample instruments.
M B S TT CP CB HH
on on off off off on
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Effects | FX
Delay
Stereo delay with a 2-pole lowpass filtered in the feedback loop.
Be careful with feedback and resonance settings, these can make the delay auto-oscillate.
LY tim fbk cut res
64 95 79 70
•tim delay time
•fbk delay feedback
•cut filter cutoff frequency
•res filter resonance
Reverb
A classic mono-in / stereo out plate reverb
REV pre tim dif cut dmp
25 90 100 115 0
•pre pre-delay time (0-200ms)
•tim reverb decay time
•dif reverb diffusion
•cut input cutoff frequency
•dmp hi frequency damping
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Master FX unit
A multi effect unit on the master stereo bus with drive, samplerate reduction, bitrate reduction and a
2-pole lowpass filter
MFX drv smp bit cut res
10 15 0 100 80
•drv drive level
•smp samplerate reduction level
•bit bitrate reduction level
•cut filter cutoff frequency
•res filter resonance
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