Gaz Williams takes a very in depth look at the classic Vermona DRM MKIII. Over the next quarter of an hour you will hear each voice explained and demoed in high quality.
Have to say this thing is right up my street. It's so refreshing to hear something that sounds nothing like an 808 or 909. It's incredible that people would actually complain about that. Also it's got a really sweet tasteful sound and not just straight up trash step- gut wobble. Nothing wrong with trash step gut wobble...but it's nice to hear something different
that intro tho hahaha.. great, Gaz - Ive been looking at a multitude of samplers and very basic percussion synths to combine to create a good, original drum style of my own, but I feel like this covers all the bases I needed in a wonderful box ! This is next goodie for sure!
Actually, you can add the trigger inputs later, I did it myself. No need to solder, only thing is that you plug some ribbon cables inside the unit. Voids your warranty though. You can also send it to Vermona, then they will do it, doesn't void the warranty.
Great overview. Gotta love the Vermona DRM1: a classy machine and it sounds excellent! I agree the drums have a lot of range so there are a lot of sonic possibilities to be had with it.
Just from the intro I can see you've really got the knack for this kind of thing..... ;-D Excellent demo by the way. Always like the Vermona stuff, but never yet taken the plunge on any of it for some reason.
Gaz I sorted it! Thanks for helping me think..ha. I love my Vermona, what a powerhouse and so many sound possibilities..my neighbours hate me...and up goes the resonance! Cheers.
Very helpful even now because mk4 launched and there are barely any vids out there on it but this vid is totally relevant as while mk4 has changed, it hasnt changed thaaaaat much.
+MegaCrasherMusic True, but it'll probably be years before i can afford another indulgence for my studio. Disability checks ain't exactly making me rich. Agreed, it also makes for some good conversations and/or debates ;-)
You said CH has fixed decay, but if I recall correctly from my (sold) MkII that's not the case. You have the ability to edit the CH and OH separately by holding down the trig button to alternate between the settings for OH and CH. Just FYI.
Looked at these a while ago but ended up with the Nord2 with the pads. Now I realise I have not enough arms to play everything in a live set. Will try to BSP it but it may be more complicated than this. Thanks for review.
I have been an admirer of this Gaz, and coupled with the beat step it looks a fantastic combo! But, I also like the look of the mfb Tanzbar, have you had an hands on of the mfb Tanzbar? If so what do you think is the stronger of the two taking into consideration that you have some sort of p-lock on the voices when sequencing. Talking of p-lock, can I throw the Analog RYTM into the ring, If you take the samples of of the equation would the RYTM's analogue side hold up to the Vermona and Tanzbar? Loving the videos, keep them coming!
thanks for your reviews! i own one of this and you pointed out the right things about it. You really can sculpt every drum with this nice drum synthesizer. But you must not expect the classic roland sounds. This is way different.
Cheers Gaz; that sounds pretty cool. My budget means I will be sticking with Kong (in Reason) which is similar...but that Vermona Kik sub is beautiful. Great presentation; please do more vids : -)
You can get the Kick and Clap modules as single units. Kick is "Mini Syncussion ACM1", clap is "Mini Syncussion ACM2" and also "TouchedBySound Clapcussion"
You could also get the Kick Lancet as a stand-alone unit for kicks. It combines the fm parameters of drum 1/2 with the kick channel. And it has a single knob eq called balls which fattens the sound.
I've had this for a few years now, and it's my favorite drum synth. Great core sounds, with lots of possible variety. I think it should be mentioned that velocity only affects level, which is a bit disappointing. There is also no CC control, which again limits it's use in some situations. But I would buy the unit again, even if only to have the kick and the clap.
Hi, it looks to me a great analog drum. But I have questions about midi sequencing. I understand how to trigger, but (i think) its impossible to trigger this (by midi) by a beatstep pro. Yes you can midi-trigger with seq 1 or seq 2 at the same time two different analog instruments (kick and snaredrum) but not a third one... am i right ? because you need midi notes. Therefor you need the DRM with triggers, and you can use the gate outputs.
Gaz you've cost me a holiday! How on earth can I not buy a Vermona DRM1 when (or after) I buy a Beatstep Pro, they seem designed for each other but to have the trig inputs or not is the big question, why didn't they make it a user upgrade option it just makes the decision so much harder than it need be. Well done on another superb review in your wonderfully inspiring way. Please keep them coming and to EVERYONE OUT THERE - subscribe and give each video a thumbs up as it all helps promote Gaz and he deserves it :-)
Great video! if i connect de vermona to my DAW via MIDI to secuence. Can i change the parameters knobs position in the vermona and record that movement as MIDI automation inside my DAW ? thankss
Just what I wanted to see, thanks Gaz. I'm currently selling crap on eBay to pay for one :-) Although I was kind of hoping to see the the trigger version, I plan to use it with redundant triggers from my Beatstep Pro.
great demo mate. I've got one of these and I love it! I make acid house type stuff and bought it as a poor man's 808. highly recommended and it was about £450 when I got it. it also varies the sounds quite a lot with different velocity values adding even more usefulness!
you mentioned you need to hold down the buttons on the vermona while turning it on to map it? does that mean you need to press them all at once and map it or did I just get that wrong?
Does anyone have any tips as to how to restore the DRM to factory settings regarding midi?. Turning the DRM of whilst in learn mode as the manual suggest isn't working. Has anyone else had the same issues?. I'm unable to create new drum maps.
NICE VID GAZ. Every time I trigger my snare cymbal 1 plays with it..Is this normal? I understand the relationship between both cymbals but snare and cymbalÉ Thanks!
Gabriel Choquette You probably have cymbal 1 and snare set to receive the same midi note. Re assign your midi notes as per the manual and it should work.
hey gaz, in order to sequence the MKIII with the beatstep pro do i need the more expensive "trigger" version of the MKIII or will the regular one do as well?
Hi Gaz. I have a slight Problem hooking Up my Beatstep pro with the Vermona drm1 mk3 via Midi properly. I bring the Vermona in learn Mode. Then pushing 8 different Buttons on the Beatstep to trigger the drums. But when i want to Launch a sequence with for example only the KICK Sound triggered by the Beatstep, the snare is also triggerd. So you will only hear the kick Solo, when muting the snare. I Know that there are different midi Parameters locked to each of the drumsounds which you have to Type into the midi Control Center from the Beatstep pro. But on this Point i get lost. Can you help me?
@@tashamarita1000 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SAx5eH4pc_E.html it was back when the Digitakt didn't have the input update. Must be different now. I couldn't say, I sold my unit.
This'd be my dream drum machine. Ive been thinking if I should get Machinedrum or this Vermona pure analog beast. This one seems pretty easy to use. I just know how fat the kicks are.
Hey Gaz, thanks for the review. Been waiting for this. But i got a question: Do you know if there is any possibility to automate the parameters via midi cc?
i just got a second hand Vermona and i'm falling in love with...her but i'm struggling with recording audio in Ableton. I've set up a drum rack with external instruments on each pad assigned to a channel/sound (Kick, Snare etc) and i can sequence it with my Push. When it comes to record audio though...i;m kind of lost, all the audio clips sampled are distorted, with lots of noise. Any HELP would be highly appreciated! Thanks!
Exactly - 808 and 909's are over used! The fully editable and dynamic content of this machine is exactly why I want it, originality and some small element of unpredictability should be admired in any synth
7 months later....and i just returned to say that 1.i can't get "M-m-m-m-m-y Vermona" out of my head and 2. i'm still bursting into insane laughing at the most impossible places because of this song...thank you for that! :D
Love such a classy machine, I just wish they made a smaller 4 channel one since it's giiiiant (Kick, Snare, Hat, Clap or) Like how there's the perfourmer/mono lancet. Spose there's the division department 01/IV but it doesn't have the same click/snap/unf
Vermona seem to have set out to create the ultimate analogue drum synth - and I think they succeeded. I've owned pretty much every "classic" analogue drum synth - Simmons ClapTrap, Simmons SDS-V, Synare, Pearl Syncussion, and various Tamas., as well as the more unusual Pearl DRX (and the hybrid DRM), Ultimate Percussions and DrumFire. The Vemona has pretty much every feature from those classics in one package (apart from the digital waveforms of the Pearl DRM). I bought all those old units looking for some kind of "holy grail", but the Vermona was actually what I was looking for ... something that could get the sounds Daniel Miller, Depeche Mode and Vince Clarke could get from things like the ARP 2600 synth.
In my little demo of the DRM Mk3 I called it "a sonic chameleon with the fattest claps and a droney soul." I really think this thing shines in live performance; you can take it from tonal and droney to fat and punchy to clicky and glitchy with a few knob turns. I love it. I highly recommend color-coding the knobs by function, as you'll see in my demo: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Bg2KlC76tuM.html
The Alphabase is a whole different animal.. it has a built-in sequencer, sample playback, storeable patterns and presets, built-in effects... and it's 2-3 times the money! For an true analog drumsynth, that sounds great and has a full set of sounds, the DRM1 is hard to beat, still. It doesn't do anything else though :)
The clap on this thing is fantastic. I've never seen or heard so much control given to that sound. Is there any chance you could pretend that your DRM1 MKIII had some sort of malady, and send it to Markus Fuller, so he'll take it apart on camera?
Need help. I cant map the vermona drm1 to the beatstep pro. It used to work fine but for some reason after doing an update it wont at all. Much help needed please ! anyone have a template i could up load to my midi control centre that will allow it to work. thanks
mu eta I have the last beatstep pro os and the DRM is still working, in the DRM manual you can find the midi notes of each drum, maybe you could try to map them again?
Dear Gaz, please use manual focus setting on your camera in your future videos it will be great not to see jumping focus all the time. Thanks for great demo!
Sorry about that. It's a new camera and I'm just getting to grips with it. I shot the whole piece and then noticed that focus thing afterwards and I had to decide whether to just put it out or re shoot.
+Gaz Williams I think if you shoot the whole thing live, with a fixed focus camera, it will allow you to enthuse the way you do. If you try to record video and overdub the vocals you'll lose the spontanaity. You could always use a video editor and record the whole thing in one go with the live vocal and then record the close-ups later or with another camera (at the same time & with close up fixed focus) and drop those shots in as and where needed, I hope you get what I am saying. I think you're doing a great job especially when considering how young this endeavour is :-) I must also congratulate you on how concise and to the point you have managed to keep this review, you covered all the things I wanted to know (except, maybe, there could have been a bit more on the dynamics that using midi brings to it over the trigger inputs as I am sure others will be struggling over whether or not to get one with the trigger inputs to use with their Beatstep Pro or whatever).
Ah I did record a five minute jam on it at the end but I thought it might be a bit long. This was an intro and I am going to make a beat making vid with it next!
Awesome! Looking forward to it. I've got the Beatstep Pro and have been sequencing a Nord Drum with a Minilogue and Alpha Juno 1. It's working great, but the hands-on direct knob twisting and "fuller" sounds on the Vermona won me over.
