Endorphin.es did it again. Does everyone remember two years ago their BLCK_NOIR drum module inspired by CR78/68 circuits – invented for use in minimal electronic music styles?
The new Queen of Pentacles covers the range of Dance/EDM/Techno music styles and is inspired by the famous TR-909.
Here’s how Endorphin.es describe their new Eurorack module: there are 7 sounds in the drum kit. 3 drums are analogue – bass drum, snare drum and clap.
These 3 are analogue-generated for the following reason: each sound has its binary noise generator, and each time they are triggered, their flavor is simply unique. At the same time, they don’t phase out each other as in the original 909, which is very helpful – for example in the situation when reinforcing the clap on 2nd and 4th with an additional beat of the snare.
The other 4 drums are sample-based. They are .wav files playback directly from a microSD card with additional volume envelope, decay and pitch control. Those are simple modifiers but help you to shape the sounds played as one-shots.
The main issue with all that TR-909 clones on the market is that they faced a huge copyright problem: the original Roland TR-909 cymbals (OH, CH, RD, CY) were samples played back from the ROMs with further analog VCA/VCF modifiers.
So what did Endorphin.es do? They collaborated with their good old friend – Berlin-based techno producer – Nicolas Bougaïeff, co-founder of Liine Lemur.
Nicolas did the factory sample bank for the new drum module with his own samples. In addition to that Endorhpin.es did record their own cymbals samples and Nicolas processed them from scratch to add proper grittiness and punch, so they became instant-techno-ready.
The cymbals used were the original handmade Paiste 602 15” HH and 18” cymbals – the same model of cymbals used by Roland sound engineers for their TR-707 and TR-909 models.
Do they sound like the original 909? Well, they sound similar but different, yet fresh considering they were done in a modern way from scratch. Of course, no one can stop you from loading your original TR-909 cymbal samples into Queen of Pentacles.
But check out the Endorphin.es originals first (plain 8 or 16-bit PCM WAV files, played at their original arbitrary sample rate). They infuse a modern style, a brand new feel into the sounds every club music lover heard millions of times.
The Features At A Glance.
- 30HP, 7 voice hybrid drum kit:
Analogue-based: bass drum, snare drum and clap - 4 sample-based drums (e.g. hi-hats, ride and crash cymbal – or simply use your own samples via SD card)
- Zero-latency sample playback directly from SD card
- Hybrid analog sound generation: 3x band-limited LSRF binary noise generators with spectrum animation, injected into discrete analog circuits
- On-board effect processor with 2 banks consisting of 16 effects in total (as found in Grand Terminal/Milky Way/Blck_Noir), including additional auxiliary input and firmware update over audio
- Master isolator-style LP/HP filter with VCA control and saturator booster
- Factory sample banks by Nicolas Bougaïeff (Mute, Novamute) including processed custom sampled Paiste 602 cymbals
Price
MSRP. incl VAT: $ 650
MSRP. incl VAT: € 549
For more info, please check the Endorphin.es website.
