New Gear Review: DrumBrute Impact by Arturia

With a keen ear on user feedback, Arturia delivers the DrumBrute Impact, a slimmed-down, improved version of its predecessor.

The world of drum machines, just like the world of analog synths, is considerably more fun now than it was a few short years ago. Then, your choices were slim—hard-to-find vintage gear, high-end offerings from Elektron or Dave Smith, or a slew of 90s drum machines that always left you wanting a bit more, sonically and otherwise.

The entrance of the Korg volca series in 2013 was not just monumental for the synthesizer world but for the drum machine world as well, marking the first time an analog drum machine (with PCM components as well) would enter the market at under $200. While many complained about the Korg volca Beats’ snare drum, there was no denying the power of its kick drum, which found its way into many new beatmakers’ first tracks and YouTube beatmaking sessions. It wasn’t just the first drum machine for many; it was their first piece of musical gear, period. The fact that the volca Beats was portable and made for good visual material was icing on the cake.

Arturia’s own attempt at tapping into that burgeoning market came back in 2016 with the first version of the DrumBrute, an all-analog machine with impressive specs and sequencing that built and improved upon the XOX style that producers have grown accustomed to. Strangely, the original DrumBrute didn’t quite take off. Perhaps its analog sound circuit, which admittedly can come off as a bit dull without the right sonic processing, left many users cold.

Thankfully, Arturia listened to much of the user feedback, and has improved on many of the complaints of the original DrumBrute with a new machine that followed in the summer of 2018. That machine is the DrumBrute Impact, a slightly trimmed-down version of the DrumBrute but with enough sonic weight of its own to warrant deeper investigation.

Features

At its core, the DrumBrute Impact is an analog drum machine with a 64-step sequencer, ten instruments that are triggered via eight velocity-sensitive pads, and enough hands-on control to keep things interesting, both in the studio and on stage. There are the usual suspects of kick, snare, clap, toms (both low and high), closed and open cymbals, and a joint cymbal/cowbell track, but interestingly there’s also the addition of an FM Drum sound, which offers a bit more control than the other instruments. More on that later.

The rear of the machine boasts a 1/4” mix output, an 1/8” headphone output, individual outputs for the kick, snare, hi-hats, the aforementioned FM Drum, as well as MIDI in/out ports, clock in/out, and a USB connection for syncing and MIDI. Even though the original DrumBrute boasted much more connectivity—every single one of its sounds had an individual output for full processing—these four individual outputs serve to greatly expand the tonal palette of what’s possible with the Impact.

In addition, the main output also features a handy distortion control, which can be turned off with the adjacent button. I found that keeping it on around 60-70% added a nice glue to the proceedings. It’s worth noting that using the individual outs does remove that instrument from the main output and thus the distortion circuit.

Each of the eight instruments has a row of knobs to control the parameters of the sound, and given that this is an-all analog machine, there are no presets or sound settings to be stored—essentially, what you see is what you get.

The kick drum is more 808 than 909—it lacks the prominent attack component of the 909 kick, but given the fact that the decay can definitely “boom”, the kick works well for hip hop, trap, and rougher house and techno. The snare is smartly broken into two instruments, one of which handles the body of the sound and the other, labeled “Clap”, handles more of the noise transients. If sequencing the two instruments as one, the snare sound has four parameters to play around with live, which can provide a plethora of knob-tweaking fun.

The high tom and low tom share pitch and volume values, as well as a single pad. This means the two can be sequenced independently, but any knob changes affect both toms at once. The cymbal and cowbell have an identical relationship and share the next pad. The closed and open hi-hats lack pitch knobs but each has a nice grungy character that cuts through the mix, with short or long decay values on offer. The analog cymbal circuits aren’t going to be a substitute for those famous, washy 909 ride sounds, but they do give the DrumBrute Impact a flavor all its own. Finally, that FM Drum instrument has controls for modulation pitch, FM amount, decay, carrier pitch, and level. Essentially this pad produces a variety of FM synth sweeps and swoops. While there is a knob to control the pitch, this can’t be sequenced, thus relegating it a more transitional role as opposed to a melodic one.

Arturia have added a feature called “Color” that changes the timbre slightly for each instrument. Color can be added per instrument or per step, and paired with the accent function, meaning there are four different levels for each sound (Normal, Accent, Color, and Color with Accent).

Unlike some of its competitors, the DrumBrute Impact does come with a “Song Mode”. There are a total of sixteen slots for storing songs, and each one can be 16 patterns long. Patterns are linked together by hitting the record button when Song Mode is selected and simply pressing the pattern buttons in the order you’d like them to repeat in the song.

In Use

Even if you’ve never hit play on a sequencer before, it’s incredibly easy to get familiar with the scope of the Impact quickly. The interface is almost entirely knob-per-function; there is a shift button but its functionality is thankfully limited. Along the top of the instrument are the row of sixteen pads, with shift buttons to move between four measures, for a total of 64 available steps per pattern. This is all standard material for a drum machine, though as you’ll discover later, the Impact excels at slipping into its own rhythmic ideas quickly.

A closer look at the streamlined controls offered on the DrumBrute Impact.

The Impact’s sequencer will be familiar to anyone who has used a drum machine. Steps can be input in real time or while the sequencer is stopped. Handily, there’s the ability to record without quantization, which immediately gives the DrumBrute Impact a leg up over much of its competition that is tied to a 16th note grid. Copying, saving, and erasing patterns are all simple affairs. Thankfully, there is a metronome with its own separate volume control, as well as individual buttons for mute and solo.

Arturia’s team clearly took some time thinking about usability, and it shows in small details like the fact that pushing shift with either mute or solo clears the previously-selected groups. In this way, building up and taking out parts in groups is much easier to control, as hitting mute will automatically mute the instruments that were previously selected.

The sequencer has the ability to change the level of swing per pattern or per track. Similarly, there is a Randomize function that adds or subtracts steps to your pattern globally, or to each individual track! There is an additional layer to add accents, which again can be applied on a per-track basis. Finally, it’s also possible to take your programming a step further (pardon the pun) because the DrumBrute Impact allows for individual step lengths per instrument. This means that getting into some polyrhythmic (or polymetric, to be exact) rhythms are possible in a few quick programming steps.

One of the most fun things about using the DrumBrute Impact is inevitably going be the touch-strip just underneath the volume control. There are rhythmic divisions from 1/4 to 1/32 notes, and this can either add a beat repeat effect to the entire pattern, or create rolls when a pad is held down simultaneously. Rolls can also be recorded into the pattern itself.

Another nice touch that shows the amount of thought that went into the design of this instrument is the ability to revert back to a saved pattern after making any adjustments, which is a nice way to have an “undo” function while jamming.

To Be Critical

If I had any complaints about the DrumBrute Impact, it was that at times I wished I had just a bit more control over each sound. Several of the drum sounds lack a pitch control, and it would have been nice to have a bit more control over the timbre of the hi-hats, as they tend to get a bit metallic and shrill quickly.

Similarly, the kick drum would have benefited greatly from an added attack knob to be able to give a bit of bite to the front end. Though many have had a similar complaint about the infamous TR-808 kick as well, and that didn’t seem to stop it from going down in the annals of history.

Summing it Up

There’s so much to love about an all-analog drum machine that isn’t afraid to push its user interface forward. Given the DrumBrute Impact’s intuitive yet flexible sequencer, tweak-ready interface, and punchy and deep sound palette, Arturia has managed to create a drum machine that will likely satisfy novices and veterans alike. Taken its price of $299 into account, the DrumBrute Impact is an easy decision if you’re ready to take a hands-on approach to creating your beats.

Leo Maymind is a producer, DJ, and writer living in Los Angeles, CA. He is obsessed with sound, and you can reach him at lmaymind@gmail.com.

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