BD909 User Manual
Introduction. The BD909 is a recreation of Roland's TR-909 analog bass drum sound generator adapted for modular synthesizer use. The front panel contains all of the controls found on the original TR-909 drum machine, allowing you full control over the sound’s volume levels to mix with other drums and accent levels, decay tune and the envelope attack and decay segments. In addition to those original controls we have also added new controls, further enhancing this legendary sound generator. Let’s get started.
Dynamics and Gain. Accent and Levels: Dynamic Accent and Level control of any drum sound in the mix is a big part of making a beat sound right. Dynamic Accent provides emphasis on a particular note through loudness. In analog circuits like the BD909, the accent pulse physically "hits" the internal envelope circuit harder and provides not only a louder sound but also slightly more attack (much like if you were to hit a real bass drum harder with a drum stick.
The sound of the BD909. The BD909 really shines when it is played alongside a nice big bass line. Most of the energy of the BD909 is centered in the mid range of the sonic spectrum, the result being that there is headroom for deep low bass lines to fill up the lower end without “fighting” the bass drum in the mix. This quality of the BD909 makes it a real joy to work and mix with. Try mixing two Z3000’s set to 30-50HZ into the Z2040 with a snappy envelope from the Z4000 to the Z2040 FM IN.
