distortion for analog drum machine?

[thefox]

i'm probably a intermediate solderer / circuit maker..

i'm looking to build a distortion unit for an analog 8 part drum machine (i.e. each drum is a mono synth, either noise or tone).  the sound i'm going for is industrial anger, and if possible, a few parameters of control.

i've heard the suggestion i should look into overdriving an LED... anyone have experience with that?

any and all suggestions welcome!


:mrgreen:

[NaBo]

The Parallel Universe from experimentalistsanonymous.com sounds great with a drum machine.  Plenty of controls and about as simple as it gets!  http://experimentalistsanonymous.com/diy/Schematics/Fuzz%20and%20Fuzzy%20Noisemakers/Parallel%20Universe%20Schematic.gif

I believe you'll find a vero layout in Dragonfly's layout gallery, too.

The LED thing?  You can use LEDs as clipping diodes.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Absolutely any distortion works well with a drum sample, because the samples are basically single frequency (plus noise).

The very best fx for tweaking drum samples, in my opinion, aren't distortions at all! I recommend resonant filters (like the MS20 based kind) and ring modulators. A ring modulator with the local oscillator controlled by foot pedal is TOO MUCH FUN!! on drums.

[Dan N]

If I want to destroy a drum sound, I run it through the PWM from Tim Escobedo's site:

http://www.geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/fuzz/snippets.html