About TheDrumSource
Features
Manual
Contact
New features
Known problems
Program Corrections
Miscellaneous
Download

TheDrumSource

(A Virtual Studio Instrument (a.k.a VST instrument) that is a sample based drum machine with x0x type of step sequencer)

Click picture for a full scale view.

About TheDrumSource

TheDrumSource is VST instrument that is a sample based drum machine. You can load it in any Digital audio workstation (DAW) like Cubase and Minihost.

It has a sequencer and a built in sample browser. It looks and "feels" like a classic (x0x) hardware drum machine. TheDrumSource is designed with the purpose to be very simple and easy to work with even if you are used to work with hardware drum machines or not. The built in sample browser in TheDrumsource makes it very easy to navigate through your samples. The sequencer can be running when looking for new samples. You will hear the sample the moment you selects it. There is also a quick button to select the previous and next sample in the same directory as the current selected sample. TheDrumsource has a very short time to get started on making your beats.

TheDrumSource exists because a friend Peter Heerdt told me me about how he missed the feeling to program drums like he does on the hardware drum machines such as Roland TR-808. He had found what he wanted Propellerheads ReDrum drum machine but found it irritating to have two hosts in parallel running, because ReDrum isn't a VSTi.

The guys behind TheDrumSource are me Ola Wistedt and Mats Lindfors. Mats Lindfors has given TheDrumSource the beautiful look and is the one with knowledge how to use a hardware drum machines. I am the guy that program the software to be as close to the old feeling as possible and off course tries to add usable features that is possible thanks to the computer.

Features

  • Built in sample browser suited for a easy workflow when working with samples. And almost all of TheDrumSource's functions is still available while browsing.
  • Built in sequencer that has 24 sequences for your patterns. The patterns are of the 16-step bar type
  • Support for many sample formats (including 24 bit samples): WAV, AIFF, AIFC, AU, SND, RAW, PAF, IFF, SVX, SF, VOC, W64, MAT4, MAT5, PVF, XI, HTK, CAF, SD2, FLAC, OGG.
  • A GUI that can be resized to suit you screen.
  • A quick button to change the next and previous sample in current directory of the selected sample.
  • A stereo output channel for each drum. And a mode to mix down all channels temporary into one stereo channel for quick tests to get you up and running a little bit faster on some hosts.
  • The SYNC mode. The sequencer is synced by the host (DAW) and you control which of the 24 track to be played with MIDI (octave 2 and 3).
  • The MIDI mode. The samples can be played through midi keyboard (octave 1) with the sequencer turned off.
  • The RUN mode. Lets you play around with the TheDrumsource sequencer when your host (DAW) is not running.
  • Clean interface so you don't get distracted in your creative work. TheDrumsource uses context menus to make this possible.

    • Manual

    Hopfully the interface is self explained and looking at the feature list above should give you a good hint of how TheDrumSource is working. But I think there are a few things worth mentioning.

    By default the sample file name is showed as the name of the channel. You can type in your own name in this field (for example "kick" if you want to have your bass drum there). You can change back to the default mode by make the field empty and select the sample again.

    You can use the arrow keys to select a sample that is in the same directory as the sample. Just select the channel and the press the arrow up or down key.

    You have context menus almost everywhere on the GUI. Right clicking the background brings up the main meny. Right click the pattern brings up a menu that allows you to erase the pattern. Right click any of the tracks lets you copy the track to another track.

    When using the MIDI mode you can can play the samples with velocity.

    TheDrumSource's data is saved as plain text in .fxb files so you can edit this file manually so it is possible to restore samples when you have moved your sample directory. This is not working on all hosts and be very carful if you do this and be sure to make backup of the .fxb file before you modifies it. Also read the instructions in the section for the TheDrumSource very carfully.

    Contact

    I am off course very curios to hear what you think about TheDrumSource.

    Contact me by ola.wistedt@bredband.net.

    On www.kvraudio.com forum there is a thread about TheDrumSource.

    New features in version 1.0
  • Resizeable GUI.
  • Handles much more sample formats:
    - Microsoft (WAV)
    - SGI/Apple (AIFF/AIFC)
    - Sun/DEC/NeXT (AU/SND)
    - Headerless (RAW)
    - Paris Audio File (PAF)
    - Commodore Amiga (IFF/SVX)
    - Sphere Nist (WAV)
    - IRCAM (SF)
    - Creative (VOC)
    - Sound forge (W64)
    - GNU Octave 2.0 (MAT4)
    - GNU Octave 2.1 (MAT5)
    - Portable Voice Format (PVF)
    - Fasttracker 2 (XI)
    - HMM Tool Kit (HTK)
    - Apple (CAF)
    - Sound Designer II (SD2
    - Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
    - Ogg/Vorbis
  • A global context menu is added which can be reached by pressing the right mouse button almost anywhere.
  • Added a master volume control knob.
  • Added volume knobs for every channel.
  • Added play buttons on each channel to play the drum manually.
  • You can put the sound from all drums on the first stereo channel (downmix to stereo). This option is found In the global menu (see above). Note that this is a shortcut to do quick tests and is not for permanent use because each samples volume and balance must be controlled in the host mixer.
  • The sample browser now has a scrollbar and the browser shows files sorting from left to right then down (the old way was left, down then right).
  • The sequencer now has leds that shows current 16th playing.

    • Known problems

  • IMPORTANT:If you change settings (and your host doesn't automatically saves your project file on exit) you loose them when you exit the host (this because I haven't found a way to tell the host that the project is modified when changes are made in TheDrumSource). Workaround is to manually save your project before you exit your host).
  • If a browser is opened during resize it's content is not updated.
  • The browser scrollbar isn't follow the selected file very well.
  • In the Orion platinum host the 'Host synced' mode don't work.
  • If the DMA buffer size on your soundcard is bigger than the time for a 16th the sound output the sequencer will not play the drums correctly. The sample rate is also an issue. The tempo played in is also an issue. Example:
    If the tempo is 120bpm means that the time between two 16th takes 120/4*16=480 number of 16th's per minute. If the sample rate is 96000 samples per sek it means that the max DMA buffer size must be. This problem can not be solved because there is no way The DrumSource can be aware what pattern to play without looking in to the future.
  • On some hosts the GUI isn't redrawn when you resize the Gui into a bigger size. Workaround is to force a redraw by switch to another window [Alt+Tab] and then switch back again.

    • Report a bug: If you find a bug not mentioned above please let me know (see contact information above). You can help me by make me a log file. Contact me for a version of TheDrumSource that outputs a log file.

    Program Corrections

    Program corrections in version 1.0
  • Sometimes when you was entring or leaving browser mode (more often when you where browsing in large directories) the DAW hanged and the VST Performace meter went to max.
  • SYNC mode is much less CPU heavy.
  • TheDrumsource stole key-pressings from the host.
  • Load of project file, Effect program (.fxp) and effect bank (.fxb) forced the DrumSource into a state that 'Sync' couldn't be selected.

    • Miscellaneous

    TheDrumSource can support any format supported by libsndfile library. However maybe som file extensions are not recognized by TheDrumSource. If you discover this please contact me (see contact information above) so I can add support for the extension in coming releases.

    I have found a program shntool to be very useful when dealing with kinds of files that not supported by TheDrumSource.

    Download

    The .zip file below contains a directory with two files: TheDrumSource.dll and libsndfile-1.dll You unzip the files in a directory that is included when your host searches for VST's, for example in the directory C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Vstplugins

    Download TheDrumSource version 1.0

    Please like TheDrumSource on Facebook if you like it, that will inspire me very much.

    Read the section Known problems if you encounter any problem with TheDrumSource.

    I hope you will enjoy and have a lot of fun!