User`s manual

THE STORY OF THE MACHINEDRUM

The Machinedrum SPS-1 MKII/SPS-1UW MKII is a music instrument that presents new

methods for music synthesis and creation. It also traces its heritage to classic drum

machines.

The drum machine concept is more than 30 years old. Around the same time that Bob

Moog released his first commercial synthesizer for keyboard players, the first consumer

drum machines were also made available. Although primitive in design with only pre-pro-

grammed patterns to offer, they laid the foundation for a new area of electronically aided

music and sound creation.

What followed has formed a good part of the percussive basis for modern music. The drum

machines from Roland (the TR-series), Linn and Simmons are legendary and highly

regarded for their individual synthetic sound. The analogue drum machines were actually

advanced synthesizers, specially designed for creating a specific percussive sound. Today

respect is gained not by recreating the sound of an acoustic drum, but by adding to the

tonal palette of percussion. The method of “grid programming” has also offered a creative

approach to forming rhythms.

Percussion synthesis was a neglected area for many years. Straight static samples can

never replace the full possibilities of a powerful drum synthesizer / sequencer. With the

Machinedrum, we have incorporated the best ideas from the classic drum machines, using

specially designed “machines” for many types of percussion, combined with new rhythm

composing possibilities to make the SPS-1 MKII/SPS-1UW MKII the state of the art drum

synthesizer and sequencer.

For the sample enabled Machinedrum, the Machinedrum SPS-1UW MKII, where “UW” is

short for “UserWave”, inspiration was drawn from the 12-bit samplers of the 1980’s, for

example the EMU SP-1200. The sound from these instruments were often very character-

istic and had a punch and grit that can be hard to obtain today. Combining samples with the

ease of use and flexibility that the Machinedrum environment offers will vastly expand the

sound shaping possibilities.

Not only getting inspiration from the past, the concept of the SPS-1UW MKII also makes it

possible to explore new sonic territories as it contains real time sampling features. All this

makes the Machinedrum UserWave an ideal companion for both forward-thinking DJ’s and

beat composers looking for a unique sound.

Machinedrum SPS-1 MKII/SPS-1UW MKII MAIN FEATURES

The SPS-1 MKII/SPS-1UW MKII is built from three parts - the percussion synthesizer, the

ffect system and the percussion sequencer.

The synthesizer holds 16 drum generating synthesizers - machines - simultaneously. Each

of the machines is designed for creating a specific drum sound, such as bass drum or

claves, from a set of parameters. The machines can belong to a varied set of MD-synths,

where every MD-synth have a different sound character.

The effect system consists of the TRACK EFFECT system and the STEREO MASTER

EFFECT System. The TRACK EFFECT system supplies Amplitude Modulation, 1-band

EQ, Resonant lo/band/hi-pass filter, Sample Rate Reduction and Distortion tied to each