Results for Rhythmic Robot

Rhythmic Robot has announced New Rhythm Box, a recreation of the vintage analogue drum machine of the same name, originally made by the Italian company EKO.

The New Rhythm Box was a transistor-based preset drum machine capable of producing ten preset rhythms, with no provision for anything beyond tempo and volume control. The Rhythmic Robot software version extends this usability considerably, breaking out the individual kit pieces so that the user can create their own rhythms, while still allowing the original presets to be played back, combined, and synced to host DAW tempo.

The tone of the New Rhythm Box is ideally suited to mellower musical styles which favour a more rounded, softer tone.

New Rhythm Box features

• Ten combinable onboard rhythms.
• Convolved Plate reverb for retro authenticity.
• Velocity Retrofit for humanising your beats.
• Multiple randomised round-robin samples to preserve a true analogue feel.
• Fully analogue sounds, all the way from Italy!

The sample library costs £5.25 GBP. Requires Kontakt version 4.2.3 or later, full version.

More information: Rhythmic Robot / New Rhythm Box

Rhythmic Robot has launched its Snaps ‘n’ Claps PRO sample library for Native Instruments Kontakt.

Since we started Rhythmic Robot, Snaps ‘n’ Claps has become one of our best-loved instruments. It seems that everyone needs some fingersnaps or handclaps every once in a while, and our original Hippie In A Tin™ is just perfect for dialling them up quickly and simply.

But what if you need more control – over the sound of your snaps ‘n’ claps, or their precise timing in your track? What if you want to tweak them more specifically to the groove you’ve got in your head? Snaps ‘n’ Claps PRO is the answer. We’ve taken the original hippies that fuelled Snaps ‘n’ Claps, and put them through a rigorous boot-camp workout to instil some discipline and work ethic into those flower-power slackers. Only the strongest have survived. The result is an entirely new instrument, created from the ground up with new samples and a far greater degree of user control.

Snaps ‘n’ Claps PRO features

• Precision control over cluster size, spread, timing and variation.
• Filter controls help seat the sounds in your mix.
• Specify exactly what components you want in each cluster using the Low, Mid and High sliders.
• Tiny memory footprint.

The sample library is available for the introductory price of £8.95 GBP (regular £9.95 GBP).

More information: Rhythmic Robot / Snaps ‘n’ Claps PRO

Rhythmic Robot has released Elektrik Kalimba, a sample library for Native Instruments Kontakt

This is, basically, a three-octave African thumb-piano sonically welded onto a traditional Rhodes EP. It sounds like the kind of keyboard a Zulu teenager might hotrod up in his spare time when he’d got tired of the tribal rain dances and wanted to get his groove on. It’s organic, funky, a bit dusty and clunky at times, and can run the gamut from almost-EP tones (though with a strange and unique originality to them) through bell-like, almost steel drum sounds, to African percussion clicks and clacks, depending on which settings you dial in.

We sampled multiple tine scratches, thunks, clicks, ticks and finger noises, and these can be introduced as additional attack noises beyond the kalimba’s own tone. We also sampled release thuds, thumps and mutes, and these can again be dialled in separately. This allows you to go from a kind of warmly rattly Roots Rhodes through to a full-on world music machine with a couple of mouse clicks.

Elektrik Kalimba features

• Character of a Kalimba, body of an EP.
• Separately adjustable thumb attack and tine release noises.
• Multiple round-robins and randomised samples for organic authenticity.
• Overdrive and Tremolo controls to add movement and drive to the sound.
• Equally capable in a traditional EP role, or in a more world-music setting, or as a unique sound-design instrument.

Elektrik Kalimba is available to purchase for the introductory price of £9.95 GBP until the end of March, 2013 (regular £14.95 GBP).

More information: Rhythmic Robot / Elektrik Kalimba

Rhythmic Robot has announced the release of Trixer, a Kontakt emulation of the Simmons Trixer, a drum-triggering module from the 80s (and early 90s) packed with authentic Simmons SDS sounds.

Drawing on the library of classic drum tones which had powered the hexagonal Simmons pads and “brains” from the preceding decade, the Trixer repackaged these into an audio-triggered mixer (hence “Trixer”…) In practical terms, it was an excellent way of getting THE Simmons Sound at a budget price.

Our recreation samples the original Trixer at 24-bit, with multiple round-robin samples to preserve its natural variation in sound. There are four kits to choose from: Rock1, Rock2, Jazz, and the mighty Electronic kit – instantly recalling 80s-era chart toppers from Phil Collins, Ultravox, Pink Floyd, Culture Club, Prince, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Talk Talk, Van Halen and more… basically, at some point everyone had some fun with a Simmons kit! Full control over kit-piece tuning, level and pan is presented nice and simply on the front panel, while a compliment of basic effects (saturation, distortion, bitcrushing and compression) allow you to sculpt the sound – a bit of compression gives you that instant “big 80s rock” sound. To round things off, we discovered a glitch in the hardware that allows a “rolled snare” sound to be triggered accidentally; of course, we sampled it and it’s now fully user-controllable.

Trixer is an ideal way to add the much-loved (?!) sound of the 80s to your tracks.

Trixer features

• All four kits of the Simmons Trixer.
• Simmons SDS sounds.
• Rock1, Rock2, Jazz and Electronic kits.
• Multiple round-robins capture all the nuance of the original.
• Additional “rolled snare” sound.

Trixer is availableto purchase for £5.95 GBP. It requires Kontakt to run, and is compatible with Kontakt 4.2.3 and later (including all versions of Kontakt 5). It’s not compatible with Kontakt Player.

More information: Rhythmic Robot / Trixer

Rhythmic Robot has announced the release of Grit Kit, an analogue drum synthesiser sound library for Native Instruments Kontakt.

At its most basic, Grit Kit allows the user to create entirely original drum sounds using sampled analogue waveforms, transients and noise, multimode resonant filters, attack and decay envelopes, and other typical drum synth controls.

The difference that Grit Kit brings to this process is that every wave within the instrument has been recorded through the circuitry of three different vintage hardware samplers: the 8-bit Ensoniq Mirage, the 12-bit Akai S950, and the 13-bit Ensoniq EPS. These waves have been recorded over and over again using different settings of the source samplers, and pushing the input circuitry of those samplers harder and harder, allowing the user to dial in exactly as much hardware character as they want for their sound.

Grit Kit features

• A uniquely inspiring source for analogue drum sounds with a hardware-sampler edge.
• Choose from Ensoniq Mirage, Akai S950, or Ensoniq EPS samples.
• Mix and match between samplers for absolute precision in creating your custom kit pieces.
• Adjust the amount of grit and character from your hardware sampler by simply turning a dial.
• Massive, pumping beats with an entirely individual sound: craft your very own signature drum tone.
• Grit Kit ships with a pack of 16 preset kits covering everything from tight studio kits to total sonic mayhem.

The Grit Kit library is available to purchase for £34.95 GBP.

More information: Rhythmic Robot / Grit Kit

Rhythmic Robot has announced the release of SuperDrums, a Kontakt recreation of Korg’s first digital drum machine.

The 8-bit sampled SuperDrum DDM-110 was a small but powerful, easily programmable machine with a surprisingly sophisticated editing system for its time, and its sounds – while not exactly naturalistic – were punchy and thick.

The 8-bit, limited bandwidth sampling lends its tones a crunchy warmth that sits very well in electro and house styles, though it can work well in any contemporary track. It had nine onboard kit pieces, with an Accent control for extra variation. Notable among its onboard sounds are the kick, snare and claps, all of which stand up well nearly thirty years after the machine’s release.

In creating SuperDrums, Rhythmic Robot have sampled the original DDM-110′s kit pieces in both Accented and unAccented variants, and the UI allows the user to select either a hard swap between these tones or a crossfaded, graded transition from one to the other. A gentle low-pass filter with a 6db/octave roll-off allows the upper frequencies to be toned down, while an output limiter, saturation control and drive distortion allow the sounds to be roughed up beyond their already gritty 8-bit origins.

SuperDrums features

• All 9 original kit pieces sampled at 24-bit quality.
• Accented and Unaccented versions, with switchable crossfade.
• Third “mid” Tom created for added versatility.
• Full complement of effects for further sound variation.

SuperDrums for Kontakt costs £5.95 GBP. Kontakt version 4.2.3 or higher required (full version).

More information: Rhythmic Robot / SuperDrums