Arturia DrumBrute

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The Arturia DrumBrute is a versatile analog drum machine that will prove to be an effective instrument for both beginners and professional music producers.

The DrumBrute gives you the potential to create a variety of drum samples and beats and it holds more than enough features and presets to keep you inspired.

The Steiner-Parker filter is proof enough that this drum machine has been built with high-end audio in mind.

Arturia products are renowned for their gritty, powerful sounds and the DrumBrute is no different.

Get this on stage or in your studio setup and you won’t be disappointed.

True Analog Drum Sounds

The Arturia DrumBrute comes with a total of 17 different drum sounds to play around with, meaning that your loops and grooves can be as basic or complicated as you like. Using the unique sounds on offer will give your drum patterns that professional edge.

It’s the slight nuances in your sound that help to create your unique style and these varied sounds will give you just that. You’ve got two kick sounds, two hi-hats, hi and low congas, hi and low toms, snare, clap, rimshot, cymbal, reverse cymbal, tambourine, clave, maracas, and zap.

The DrumBrute is designed to help you write professional and complex patterns with as little fuss as possible. The ability to save up to 64 patterns with 64 steps each means you can easily recall any previous patterns quickly for editing and further tweaks.

Song Mode is available for arranging multiple patterns. You can easily create individual verse, bridge, and chorus patterns to form a complete song structure. The DrumBrute has space to use up to 16 patterns in each song and there is enough space to save up to 16 songs in total.

If you do need more memory and space for bigger patterns and songs then the Midi Control Center will help. This free software from Arturia allows you to save as many patterns and songs as you like. Just use the on-board USB connection to sync your patterns with your computer.

The added flexibility when you sync up with your computer means that all of your patterns can be edited via a DAW-esque layout. It somewhat takes away the fun of the hands-on nature of a drum machine but the software does include many settings to further enhance your sounds.

Arturia added as many features and functions into the DrumBrute as possible. The main aim was to make the process of creating drum patterns as easy as possible. The Pattern Looper and Step Repeat functions help to bring a lot of fun and improvisation to the drum machine.

You can also set the individual length of your drum tracks to make advanced polyrhythms which is something that is often lacking in many of today’s drum machines. The Arturia DrumBrute is loaded with functions and features and you’ll find that it will easily handle most drum styles.

Intuitive Design & Dynamic Drums

The DrumBrute comes housed in a chassis not too dissimilar to the Arturia’s popular MiniBrute synth. The wooden end panel design sets off the look with a classic style and we like the dark interface with white markings. The knobs are easily identifiable and it looks and feels strong.

The 12 synth tracks run across the bottom of the interface and each of these is given a velocity-sensitive rubber pad. This makes playing the associated sound (kick, snare, clap etc) a breeze and gives you a nice feeling of control when you are laying your beats and loops down.

In the middle of the interface, you’ll find a row of 16 rubber buttons that give you simple control over the step-sequencer. Using these buttons you can either edit the sequence offline or as you go when the sequencer is running. It’s an intuitive section which is good news for beginners.

As we mentioned earlier, the DrumBrute is loaded with features and some of these are highly suited to studio work. None more so than the 12 individual outputs on the back panel. For example, you’ve created an awesome drum pattern and you want to use it inside your DAW.

Instead of recording each track separately for the kick drum, snare, hi-hat etc. These 12 outputs give you a quick and easy process of transferring your drum patterns into your DAW.  The end result is a multi-track audio recording on your computer with minimal stress on your part!

The art of creating dynamic drum patterns on a machine has always proved difficult. However, today’s technology allows us to add that human touch with a few button clicks. The DrumBrute has a few tricks up its sleeve in this area with the Randomness, Swing, and Accent options.

The Randomness option is a quick way to give your individual tracks or the whole drum pattern a human feel to it. Tracks will start to flow and merge together to create a more natural sound. The Swing and Accent options are also available to use globally or on a per track basis.

In terms of connectivity, the DrumBrute has most areas covered with 1 x 1/4″ (mix out), 11 x 1/8″ (instrument out), 1 x 1/8″ (metronome out). You’ve also got 1/4″ and 1/8″ headphone options, 1 x USB Type B, MIDI In/Out/USB, and Clock In/Out.

You’ll end up spending a lot of time with the DrumBrute because of all the deep modulation and editing features. The internet is full of tips and tricks and you’ll find lots of ways to quickly get the most of out the DrumBrute. It often helps to get a quick headstart with your music!

Conclusion

Arturia has done it again with the brilliant, well-rounded DrumBrute.

It has more than enough to keep musicians entertained at home as well as being an effective piece of studio equipment.

For the price alone, you are getting a wealth of features that put many other similar priced drum machines to shame.

The sequencer is where the true power lies and you’ll quickly find just how easy it is to evolve your drum patterns into something unique.

It’s designed for the creative mind and the intuitive layout makes for a great source of inspiration because everything is so easy to use.

Maybe a few more effects would have been nice to see and the lack of automation and parameter recording from external sources is a notable absence.

But all in all, you can’t help but be impressed with the DrumBrute from Arturia. It looks stylish and the sound has a character all of its own which is what brings Arturia so much success.

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