Arturia

I
f you were to spend a lot of time
reading the internet’s various
comment sections – not
advisable – you might come
away with the impression that
Arturia’s original DrumBrute is a
generally bad drum machine.
Opinion on the subject has been – to
me, surprisingly – divided. While
there are plenty of fans, some
commenters will tell you that the
sounds from Arturia’s analogue drum
machine are borderline unusable.
On its first release, I gave the
DrumBrute a glowing review within
follow-up, the DrumBrute Impact.
Like its bigger sibling, the Impact
couples its sequencer with an
all-analogue drum synthesis engine
and very flexible pattern saving/song
mode capabilities.
Visually, the Impact looks pretty
similar to its predecessor, housed in a
solid, navy blue chassis familiar from
the rest of Arturia’s ‘Brute range. The
Impact is narrower than the original,
but it’s also slightly taller and deeper,
and the wood panelled ends of the
original have been replaced by an
almost fin-like shape with orange
trim. The front panel layout is very
similar, so anybody familiar with the
original can drive straight in.
So what has changed? The most
obvious difference is that the Impact
has fewer drum channels than its
predecessor. The 17 drum sounds of
the original DrumBrute are here
trimmed back to 10, which share
eight control channels. The Impact is
not, however, simply a cut-down
version of the larger DrumBrute –
much of the sound engine has been
overhauled here, and the overall range
of sounds has been switched up.
these pages, and I stand by that.
While, admittedly, its analogue drum
sounds tend to skew towards a
bread-and-butter vintage character, it
remains a great source of punchy,
classic drum sounds. Moreover, its
sequencer is excellent, hitting on the
ideal balance between intuitiveness
and creative depth, with interesting
features like the ability to easily
program polyrhythms, and per-track
swing and randomisation.
Fortunately, all of those powerful
sequencing tools are present in this
new compact, wallet-friendly
THE PROS & CONS
+
Same great
sequencer as the
original DrumBrute,
at a great price
Color adds an extra
level of sequencing
and sound depth
Analogue distortion
is great for saturation
and gel
-
Not the most
versatile sounding
drum machine
No automation or
sequencing for the
FM Drum
Cymbal sound pretty
similar to Open Hat
Arturia DrumBrute Impact | Reviews
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FMU335.rev_arturia.indd 81 08/08/2018 15:39