Dr. Tape Drums

Nothing in the Drums is a recording. Each voice is calculated when it is hit: a sine with a pitch sweep for the kick, noise bursts for the clap, a bank of metal partials for the hats. Several voices offer a choice of character, from the Classic electronic model to physical ones: a snare with a modeled head whose pitch drops as it stretches on a hard hit, and wires that leave the bottom head and slap back. Velocity changes the sound, not only the volume.

When to use it

Start with a kit preset: Studio uses the Crack snare, Classic box and Tight circuit stay electronic, Wood room puts a Skin snare with Buzz wires and Skin toms in front of Alloy hats. Each pad has its own Level and Pan, and the Preset browser can swap a whole kit or one drum at a time. Fit the hits to the pocket with Groove.

Controls

Kick

Tune, Tone (the attack click), Decay and Level. Sweep depth is how far above the base pitch the hit starts and Sweep time how quickly it falls: short is a tight attack, long is an audible drop. Envelope chooses the Classic exponential fade or Shaped, which adds Attack, Hold and a Curve for long, sustained kicks.

Snare

Body chooses the model. Classic is two electronic partials. Crack layers two distorted partials with a pitch drop, bright held noise, a click and compensated Drive; its Body, Snap and Punch set ring time, noise length and how far the hit starts above pitch. Skin is a modeled membrane: Diameter and Tension set pitch and overtone spacing, Damping shortens ringing, Strike position moves from centre to edge, Stick makes soft hits rounder and hard hits brighter, Pitch drop lets hard hits start sharp and settle, and Body weight adds a low thump. Wire character picks Classic or Resonant noise, Rattle, or Buzz, where Wire tension and Contact decide how easily the wires chatter and Snare head tunes the bottom head. Wires balances them against the body; Sizzle adds the coils’ shimmer.

Clap

Spread goes from a tight handclap to a wider group of hands, with Tune, Tone and Decay.

Closed hat and Open hat

Metal character is Classic or Alloy; the open hat adds Bell, a struck bank of decaying resonances. Metal sets how much of the metallic generator you hear against the noise, Tone moves it dark to bright, Decay sets the length. The two hats choke each other.

Low tom and High tom

Body is Classic or Skin. Skin shares the snare’s membrane with Diameter, Tension, Damping, Strike position and Stick; Punch is the Classic pitch sweep or, on Skin, how far a hard hit starts sharp.

Rim and Kit

The rim has Body, Tone, Tune and Decay. Output trims the kit before the track’s effects.

Tips

• Changes to a model’s geometry apply to the next hit, so a sounding tail is never cut while you turn a knob.
• On a Skin snare, start with Pitch drop around 0.4 and Buzz wires, then set Wire tension by how loud a ghost note has to be before the wires answer.
• A hit never shortens with the MIDI note; use Decay for length.