Digital Revolution

Operation Manual Version 1.0

(20/04/2014)

Steven Heath, Matthew Fudge, Daniel Byers

WAVE ALCHEMY
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2
Digital Revolution Concept .................................................................................................... 2
Install Instructions ................................................................................................................. 3
System Requirements ........................................................................................................... 3
Already a Transistor Revolution MKII User? .......................................................................... 4
Digital Revolution Basics ....................................................................................................... 4
Loading and Navigating the Instrument ............................................................................. 4
Rhythm Composer Page ................................................................................................ 5
Track Mixer Page ......................................................................................................... 15
Master / Settings Page ................................................................................................. 18
Digital Revolution Percussion.............................................................................................. 21
Digital Revolution Drum Modules ........................................................................................ 23
Drum Module Processing Chain ................................................................................... 24
Credits ................................................................................................................................ 29
Demo Creation ................................................................................................................ 29
Sampling Specifications ...................................................................................................... 30
Introduction
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for purchasing Digital Revolution, our
virtual drum machine instrument inspired by the classic digital drum machines of the
1980s
Powered by Revolution Engine technology (first developed for Transistor Revolution MKII),
Digital Revolution puts a wide range of vintage drum machine sounds from the 1980s at
your fingertips.
We sincerely hope that you have lots of fun exploring Digital Revolutions capabilities, and
enjoy creating new sounds with it as much as we have enjoyed developing the instrument
itself.

Digital Revolution Concept

Following on from the research, development and subsequent release of our successful
Transistor Revolution MKII instrument we now find ourselves at the beginning of a new
chapter involving a brand new instrument powered by what we call the Revolution Engine.
Simply put the Revolution Engine (which was first developed during the creation of
Transistor Revolution) is the driving force behind our Revolution instruments, the result of
many years of passionate multi-sampling research, programming and development.
This time we wanted to include many more drum machines and integrate them into one
unified instrument to give you instant access to a huge variety of classic drum machine
sounds within a software plugin.
As the name Digital Revolution suggests, this instrument mainly focuses on capturing the
iconic sound of the classic digital drum machines of the past (along with three bonus analog
drum machines!).
The digital nature of the majority of these sound sources meant that we could focus less on
in depth multisampling (which for digital sound sources would be a waste of resources) and
more on the creation of interesting real-time re-sampling modes, capable of a creating a
wide range of tonal variations.
This gave birth to Digital Revolutions unique re-sample modes; hi-fi and lo-fi, with the latter
selectable between pitch mode and grit mode. We are particularly excited about grit mode
which resamples the selected drum sound through an iconic grey sampler in real-time,
allowing you to add the dirt and grit you would get from a retro sampler instantly!.
We are confident (and hopeful) that the combination of these new features along with our
tried and tested Revolution Engine 16-step sequencer, dedicated 10-track mixer, dual delay
and reverb units, master processing section and modular preset browser will result in one
thing for you Beats with Teeth.
Steve Heath, Dan Byers and Matthew Fudge
The Wave Alchemy Team
Install Instructions
Digital Revolution is available in Standalone, VST, AU and RTAS instrument formats for
Windows and Mac OS X via the Free Kontakt Player from Native Instruments. The full
version of Kontakt is NOT required.
1. After purchasing Digital Revolution, fully download the supplied .zip file to a suitable
location on your hard drive.
2. Double click the .zip file to unpack the library.
You should now have a folder named Digital Revolution. Put this somewhere safe on your
hard drive. If you do not own Kontakt, you will need to install the free Native Instruments
Kontakt player which you can download here - Kontakt Player Download Link
TO ADD THE LIBRARY AND AUTHORIZE IN KONTAKT
1. In Kontakt or Kontakt Free Player, open the Browser on the left (the folder Icon at the
top).
2. In the Libraries tab at the top of the Browser go to "Add Library"
3. Click and use the dialogue window to navigate to, and point Kontakt to the location of the
Digital Revolution folder. This will add it to the Kontakt Library list AND to the NI Service
Center.
4. If Kontakt asks you to activate the library, the NI Service Center program will launch and
you will need your serial number to authorize the software. If Kontakt doesn't ask you to
authorize, you can force it to by clicking the little "activate" button in the upper right corner of
our Digital Revolution Library logo, in the Browser/Libraries list. It will then prompt you to
launch the Service Center.
Your serial number will be sent to you via email within 24 hours of purchasing. While you are
waiting for your serial number, you can run the instrument in demo mode until it arrives.
Note: After authorization, you should restart Kontakt.

System Requirements
Available in Standalone, VST, AU and RTAS instrument formats for Windows and Mac OS X
via the free Kontakt Player from Native Instruments. Full version of Kontakt is NOT required.
1GB free hard disk space.
We recommend a minimum of 4GB of Ram to smoothly run Digital Revolution.
Windows
Windows 7 or Windows 8 (latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit), Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon
64 X2, 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
Mac
Mac OS X 10.7 or 10.8 (latest update), Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
Already a Transistor Revolution MKII User?
If you are an experienced user of our Transistor Revolution MKII instrument you will already
be familiar with the Revolution Engine and therefore will already know how to operate
Digital Revolution. If you are confident with the operation of TRMKII then feel free to skip
through the manual. We recommend you read the following sections of the manual to quickly
get up to speed with Digital Revolution:
Machine Selector / Sound editor section
Digital Revolution Percussion Instrument
Digital Revolution Drum Modules
Sampling Specifications

Digital Revolution Basics

The Digital Revolution library comes with a range of different instrument .nki files which suit
different applications. In the Instruments folder you will find;
Digital Revolution Drum Kit.nki
Digital Revolution Percussion.nki
Drum Modules (folder)
The Digital Revolution Drum kit.nki and Digital Revolution Percussion.nki integrate multiple
drum machine sound types into a unified instrument that features a 16-track step sequencer,
a track mixer with dedicated channels for each sound type and a master section comprising
of a multi-track tape machine and master effects section.
Note: The Digital Revolution Drum Kit.nki includes a limited range of percussion sounds e.g.
rim, clave, clap, shaker and tambourine for each drum machine while the Digital Revolution
Percussion.nki includes all of the above as well as the more exotic percussion sounds such
as timbales, guiro, congas, bongos, whistles and cabasa.
You will also find an additional folder called Drum Modules which contains all individual
sound types (particularly useful if you only want to load a kick drum or snare into your DAW).

Loading and Navigating the Instrument

After successful installation you will see Digital Revolution in the browser window under the
libraries tab to the left of Kontakts main window. To load the Digital Revolution Drum Kit
instrument select the instruments tab and double click Digital Revolution Drum Kit.nki or
alternatively click + hold and drag the instrument onto the main Kontakt window to load.
Rhythm Composer Page
Once the Digital Revolution Drum Kit is loaded the first page you will see is the rhythm
composer page. This is the main instrument page that allows you to select, edit and
sequence the raw source drum sounds that make up the Digital Revolution Drum Kit.

The rhythm composer page can be broken down into 4 main sections:
1. The Track Sequencer
2. Machine Selector Matrix / Sound Editor
3. The Pattern Load and Sequencer Settings Section
4. The Sound Type Selector
1. The Track Sequencer
At the very top of the instrument you can see a 16 step TR style sequencer which allows
the user to input notes with a click of the mouse.

A full orange bar triggers accented notes while a half orange bar triggers un-accented notes.
The levels of which are controlled by the volume parameter in the sequencer settings section
found on the rhythm composer page.
To run the sequencer press C-1 on a connected midi keyboard controller or alternatively
enter a midi note into a piano roll editor (or similar) using your sequencer of choice. When
the sequencer is running you will see a red indicator light cycling from left to right through
each step. We have highlighted steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 to help you identify the downbeats
quickly and easily.
What you see in the track sequencer changes dynamically depending on what sound type
you have selected. For example if you have the BASS type selected you will see the BASS
track sequencer. You can quickly select the drum sound type you want to work with by using
the sound selector at the bottom of the instrument or by using live midi input mode which is
toggled on/off with the select on note feature which can be found in the sequencer settings
section.

2. Machine Selector Matrix / Sound Editor

Just below the track sequencer you will see the machine selector matrix / sound editor for
the currently selected drum sound type. Similar to the sequencer track view, the parameters
that you see in the sound editor change depending on what drum sound you currently have
selected.

In the example above you can see that the 82 L bass drum sound is currently selected so
the following 82 L bass drum editing parameters are shown; level, variation, character and
resample along with gate settings, and MIDI learn for the chosen drum sound.
Remember you can load separate drum module .nki files into your DAW if you only need a
specific drum sound type or want to save on RAM (see Digital Revolution Drum Modules).
The following descriptions briefly explain the different editing parameters available for the 82
L bass drum.
82 L Bass Drum a Brief Explanation

The 82 L bass drum re-creates the sound of a popular classic hardware digital kick drum
from the 1980s. The following parameters are used to edit the tone and shape of the drum
sound.

Level This control is provided for every sound source and controls volume. Rotating this
clockwise will increase the volume.
Machine Used to select the current drum machine for the selected sound type e.g. BASS
(82 L is selected for this example)
Variation Used to cycle through the recorded variations of the chosen individual drum
machine sound (if no slider is available this means no variations were recorded for the
chosen drum sound, often due to the design of the original hardware e.g. no tune exists on
the original hardware so tune variation was not recorded). The variation slider controls tune,
decay or sample select depending on what drum machine sound you have selected.
Character Allows you to select between 3 playback modes; hi-fi, original, lo-fi and off.
Resample Mode Allows you to choose the grit or pitch when the lo-fi character is
selected.
Resample Slider Allows you to adjust the tune or pitch of the lo-fi character.
Generic Controls

All drum sounds available in Digital Revolution have generic gate and MIDI learn controls.

Hold This sets the playback length of the drum sound. Ranging from 0 - 15,000ms.
Decay This sets the decay length of the drum sound, which begins after the playback
length has ended. This ranges from 0 - 25,000ms.
MIDI Note Name Displays the current playback note for the sound source.
MIDI Learn Switch When pressed, the next played note will become the playback note for
the sound source. This allows for quick and easy setup when using Transistor Revolution
with any MIDI hardware controller or drum pad.

3. The Pattern Load and Sequencer Settings Section

Below the sound editor you will find the pattern load and sequencer settings section. The
pattern load section to the left gives you access to 16 sequence pattern slots with full
loading, saving and copying features for a quicker work flow.
3. Pattern Load Section

Patterns can be selected with the mouse or by triggering midi keys D-1 through to F0. With
Kontakts show keyboard function enabled you can easily see which midi keys on your
keyboard will trigger the different patterns (the pattern trigger keys are light blue in colour).
To see a full breakdown of midi trigger keys and their functions you can click the options
menu under the speed control next to write mode (also see options page).
Once you have triggered a pattern Kontakt waits until the start of the next bar before
triggering to keep everything in time. This is especially useful in live situations and to keep
musical ideas flowing with seamless transitions from one pattern to the next.
Pattern Save
You are free to save patterns anywhere on your machine although we recommend saving
your patterns into the user folder which is located in the Digital Revolution root folder. Here
is the file path:
Digital Revolution/Presets/Sequence Patterns
Note: Unfortunately due to the way that Kontakt works you will not see your saved patterns
in the sequence preset browser until you close down and re-load Kontakt or similarly re-load
the instance of Kontakt in your DAW.

Using the pattern section you can choose to load previous / next pattern, save a pattern,
load a pattern, copy a pattern and open the pattern sequence browser.
Prev Selects and loads the external sequence file preceding the one currently selected in
the browser.
Next Selects and loads the external sequence file subsequent to the one currently
selected in the browser.
Save Saves the current pattern to a file that can be stored to the preset folder or another
external location.
Load Loads a Digital Revolution.nka file from an external location and loads the sequence
into the current pattern.
Copy When enabled the current sequence will be copied to the next selected pattern. Note
that this function is not compatible with switching patterns via the mouse unless using the
Kontakt keyboard to send pattern select key switches. This option can also be called by
triggering the note A0 via external midi.
Browse Enables the browser view which allows fast loading and browsing of all patterns
stored in the /Presets/Sequence Patterns location in the Digital Revolution library folder.

Sequence Preset Browser

Digital Revolution uses modular file browsers which give you access to different kinds of
factory presets depending on which page you currently have selected (rhythm composer,
track mixer or master / settings pages). On the rhythm composer page when browse is
activated you will see a file browser window which gives you instant access to the factory
pattern sequences as well as an empty user folder which you can save your own pattern
sequences to.
You can load different patterns to different pattern slots easily by selecting a pattern slot and
then navigating the browser to locate and load (double click) on a pattern. This is a great
way to build up ideas and experiment with switching patterns on the fly.
You will also notice a Reset Pattern.nka which you can use to quickly erase all patterns so
you can start building patterns from scratch.

Sequencer Settings

The sequencer settings section gives you global control over how many steps the sequencer
uses, the volume of accented notes and the sequencer rate.

Steps Determine the global length of all step sequencers. This function is useful for
achieving time signatures other than ones divisible by 16.
Split Determines the velocity breakpoint of which external MIDI will trigger accented or un-
accented notes. Velocities equal to or above the number shown will trigger accented values,
velocities below will trigger unaccented values.
Vol Determines the global volume level of all un-accented triggers. When the value is set
to 127 accented and un-accented triggers will have an identical volume level. As the number
is decreased the dynamic range between un-accented and accented triggers will increase.
Rate Determines the synchronised rate or speed at which the sequencer will move from
one step to another. This function is only available when the sync found to the right of this
control is illuminated.
Sync Button Determines whether the rate or speed at which the sequencer will move from
one step to another is synchronised to the BPM of an external host or the rate of the speed
knob found below this button.
Swing / Shuffle Determines the swing/shuffle groove of the internal sequencer by adding
negative or positive delay to sub-divisions of each beat. Moving the knob to the left adds
negative delay to the sub-divisions, moving the knob to the right adds positive delay. When
the knob is centred no swing/shuffle is added to the groove.
Speed Determines the un-synchronised rate or speed at which the sequencer will move
from one step to another. This function is only available when the sync button found to the
right of the synchronised rate is illuminated.
Select On Note If enabled, the user interface will automatically update to show the
parameters of the last drum sound to be triggered by external MIDI.
Mute Input If enabled, external MIDI will not trigger the playback of individual drum voices.
When used in combination with SELECT ON NOTE you can update the interface to a
specific drum voice without hearing its playback. This option can also be called by triggering
the note G#0 via external MIDI.
Write Mode If enabled, external MIDI will not trigger the playback of individual drum
voices. When used in combination with SELECT ON NOTE you can update the interface to
a specific drum voice without hearing its playback. This option can also be called by
triggering the note G#0 via external MIDI.
Options Menu - If selected, the Options Menu is revealed to display advanced settings
related to the internal sampler engine and sequencer.
Sampler Options

The sampler options section gives you control over the following range of functions for each
drum voice:
Sampler Tune Adjusts the digital tuning of a drum voice. This slider has a range of +/- 12
semitones with its default position set to halfway (original pitch).
Bit Depth Adjusts the digital bit depth. When set fully to the right the sampler will playback
at its full uncompromised bit depth. As the slider moves to the left the bit depth decreases.
Sample Rate Adjusts the digital sample rate. When set fully to the right the sampler will
playback at its full uncompromised sample rate. As the slider moves to the left the sample
rate decreases.
Output Filter Adjusts a low pass filter which is placed on the output of the Drum voice
directly before being sent to the mixer. This is useful for eliminating or reducing high
frequency noise which may be created by abusing bit depth and sample rate for the Drum
voice.
Polarity Inverts the polarity of the Drum voice. This can be useful for adjusting the phase
relationship between different drum sounds when played simultaneously.
Sequencer Options

The sequencer options section gives you a graphical display of the different key trigger
commands and their respective key mappings as well as a range of global sequencer
functions which can be triggered by MIDI keys or a mouse click.

Key Mappings
MIDI Key Trigger Command

C-1 START/STOP the sequencer

C#-1 Re-starts the sequencer immediately from step 1

D-1 though F0 Triggers patterns 1-16

F#-0 CLEAR ON NOTE If enabled, the next Drum Voice which is selected via external
MIDI will have its current sequence erased. After this function is carried out
playback will revert back to normal behaviour.

G0 CLEAR FULL PTN When selected, the entire sequence of the current pattern will
be erased. If you wish to avoid inadvertently triggering this option you can select
CLEAR FULL PTN. SAFETY below.

G#-0 MUTE MIDI INPUT If enabled, external MIDI will not trigger the playback of
individual drum voices. When used in combination with SELECT ON NOTE you
can update the interface to a specific drum voice without hearing its playback.

A0 COPY PTN When enabled the current sequence will be copied to the next
selected pattern. Note that this function is not compatible with switching patterns via
the mouse unless using the Kontakt keyboard to send pattern select key switches.

A#-0 WRITE MODE - If enabled and the internal sequencer is running, any drum voice
which is triggered via external MIDI will be written into the pattern at the current
sequence step. The 'SPLIT' value will be used to determine un-accented and
accented values.

B0 PLAY ON SELECT If enabled, triggering a pattern via external MIDI (D-1 - F0) will
cause playback to begin with that specific pattern. The default behaviour is to leave
this option enabled however in some situations it may be useful to temporarily
disable.
Stop with Ext. Seq If enabled, playback of the internal sequencer will stop when the
external sequencer hosting Digital Revolution is also stopped.
Clear ptn. Safety If enabled, the 'CLEAR FULL PTN' option will be disabled. Triggering
'CLEAR FULL PTN' via the user interface or via external note G#0 will be ignored.
Switch On Step #1 If enabled and pattern changes are triggered via external MIDI (D-1 -
F0), the current sequence will not update until the subsequent 'Beat 1' of the external
sequencer has arrived. This is useful for ensuring that patterns will change on the 'down-
beat' when hosting Digital Revolution in an external host.
Start On Beat #1 If enabled and Digital Revolution is being hosted in an external
sequencer which is currently playing the internal sequencer will not start until the subsequent
'Beat 1' of the next bar has arrived. To ensure proper timing is always achieved with external
hosts the recommendation would be to leave this option enabled.
Exit Exits the options menu

4. The Sound Selector Buttons

At the bottom of the rhythm composer page you can see a strip of buttons that are used to
select the drum voice you want to work with.

When you select a drum voice you will see that the sound editor and the sequence view will
change to show you the current sequence and editing parameters for that drum voice. When
SELECT ON NOTE is enabled the interface will update to show the parameters and
sequence of the last drum voice played.
Track Mixer Page

The track mixer page which is accessed by clicking the track mixer tab at the bottom of
Kontakt main window contains individual mixer channels for each drum voice.

10 channels are provided with volume, mute, solo and pan controls along with a dedicated
processing chain for each individual channel with an EQ, Compressor and a Transient
Shaper. Additionally each channel has 2 effects sends (reverb or delay) which can be
switched to buses A or B allowing for individual effects processing for each drum voice.
 Reverb - Adjusts the amount of signal which is sent from the selected channel
to the selectable 'Reverb A' or 'Reverb B' effect.
Reverb A/B Select Appears when the amount of reverb is increased and
selects whether the Reverb Send is directed to the 'Reverb A' or 'Reverb B'
effect."
Delay - Adjusts the amount of signal which is sent from the Bass Drum channel
to the selectable 'Delay A' or 'Delay B' effect.
Delay A/B Select - Appears when the amount of Delay is increased and
selects whether the Bass Drum Delay send is directed to the 'Delay A' or 'Delay
B' effect.
Pan - Adjusts the pan of the channel. The channel pan also effects the panning
of the signal which is sent from the channel to the Reverb and Delay sends.
Mute - Mutes the output of the channel.
Solo - Solo's the output of the channel. Note that the Solo is defeatable and will
un-solo any previously solo'd channel.
Fader Level - Adjusts the volume of the channel. The volume adjustment is
post-inserts and pre-sends.

Track Mixer Browser

The Track mixer browser which is accessed by clicking the BROWSE button gives you
access to a range of factory settings that you can instantly load into any of the mixer
channels. Presets are provided for each type of drum sound although you are free to mix
and match by loading any preset into any channel.

As well as loading mixer settings from the factory you can also save your own mixer presets.
You are free to save mixer presets to any location on your machine although we recommend
saving them to the user folder in the following location so you can load them at a later date
from the browser window within Digital Revolution.
/Presets/Mixer Presets/User
Save Saves the current mixer setting to a file that can be stored to the Preset folder or
another external location.
Load Loads a Digital Revolution .nka file from an external location and loads the Preset
into the currently selected Mixer Channel.
Prev Selects and loads the external Mixer Preset preceding the one currently selected in
the browser.
Next Selects and loads the external Mixer Preset subsequent to the one currently selected
in the browser.
Reverb Effect

Digital Revolution has dual reverb units which are loaded with custom built impulse
responses. Two reverbs (A and B) are available and can be assigned to individual channels
using the reverb level and reverb A/B select buttons.

Delay Effect

Dual delay units are also available which can be assigned to individual channels using the
delay level and delay A/B select buttons. Delay A is synchronised to the sequencer speed or
host tempo (when you are working in a DAW). Different delay times can be selected using
the TIME knob.
Delay B is free running with its own dedicated TIME knob to control the delay time
manually.
Master / Settings Page

The Master / Settings page which is accessed by clicking the Master / Settings tab at the
bottom of Kontakts main window gives you access to a multi-track tape machine with
individual channels for each drum voice, a mastering effects section with EQ, Dynamics,
Filter and distortion sections and a Master Settings browser which allows the loading and
saving of master settings presets.

Multi-Track Tape Machine

The Multi-track tape section (above) is shown by default.
Enable Button This button enables the Multi-Track Tape Machine. Take note, the tape
machine algorithm can increase CPU usage considerably.
Input Drive Input gain-stage before the channel tape input for added warmth and
distortion. This setting is inactive when the Multi-Track Tape Machine is disabled.
Tape Gain Controls the input gain of the channel. This will increase the amount of tape
distortion and compression. This setting is inactive when the Multi-Track Tape Machine is
disabled.
Output Gain Controls the output gain of the channel from the Multi-Track Tape Machine.
This setting is inactive when the Multi-Track Tape Machine is disabled.

Mastering Effects

The mastering effects section which is accessed by enabling the MASTER button gives you
access to a mastering effects chain which includes a 2-band parametric EQ with low and hi
shelving, a dynamics compressor, a multi-mode LPF/HPF and a distortion unit.

Each section has an enable/bypass switch so you can quickly compare the processed and
un-processed sound.
Master / Settings Browser

The Master / Settings browser which is accessed by enabling the BROWSER button allows
you to load mastering effects presets from the factory library. You are also free to save
mastering effects presets to any location on your machine although we recommend saving
presets to the user folder so you can recall your favourite settings using the browser.
/Presets/Master Presets/User
Load Loads a Digital Revolution .nka file from an external location and loads the preset for
the Multi-Track Tape Machine and Master Bus.
Save Saves the current Multi-Track Tape Machine and Master Bus settings to a file that
can be stored to the preset folder or another external location.
Prev Selects and loads the Master Preset preceding the one currently selected in the
browser.
Next Selects and loads the Master Preset subsequent to the one currently selected in the
browser.
Instrument Settings

The Instrument settings accessed by enabling the SETTINGS button gives you access to
global and individual playback modes as well as 4 parallel output channels for each drum
voice.

The ability to change the playback modes individually gives you powerful RAM saving
options for the most efficient use of the instrument.
Available sample playback modes:
Original - plays the sample back with the identical sound character of the original machines,
recorded completely dry through an API 512c pre-amp.
Hi-Fi - plays the sample back processed through a unique high end outboard mastering
chain, including gear such as an Empirical Labs Fatso & Distressor, API EQs and Pre-amps,
Thermionic Culture Vulture ME, A-Designs EM-PEQ, Elsyia X-Pressor and more.
Lo-fi - resamples the sound in real-time through an iconic grey 12-bit sampler in one of two
different resample modes: Grit and Pitch. Each raw drum sound has been recorded and
manually re-pitched 16 times.
Playback Mode Sets the available playback modes for the Drum voice. This setting is for
optimizing the instrument and will stop playback of the internal sequencer.
Channel Output This panel assigns the channel to an external output. Pre-configured
.nkm multi files are also included with outputs already assigned.
Parallel Outputs 1-4 These sliders send to 'PARALLEL OUTPUTS 1-4' for the specific
channel. Digital Revolution has a total of four parallel outputs which can be used for various
functions including; summing drums to external tracks, integrating outside send effects and
side chaining other instruments.
Global Playback - Sets the available playback modes for all Drum voices. This setting is a
convenient, non-realtime intended, way of switching all playback modes. When any
Playback Mode is set to a dissimilar value this panel will read 'Custom'.

Digital Revolution Percussion

During the research and development of Digital Revolution we soon found that it would not
be possible to fit absolutely every sound (including all percussion sounds) from ALL of the
drum machines into a single unified instrument. In our opinion, doing so would break the
design of the instrument and adversely affect its usability.
The solution was to create two instruments;
Digital Revolution Drum Kit - includes a limited range of percussion sounds in the Digital
Revolution Drum kit e.g. rim, clave, clap, shaker and tambourine.
Digital Revolution Percussion - includes all of the above as well as the more exotic
percussion sounds such as timbales, guiro, congas, bongos, whistles, cabasa.
You will find Digital Revolution Percussion.nki instrument In the instruments folder. The
layout of which differs slightly from the Digital Revolution Drum kit.
As you can see the Digital Revolution Percussion instrument has an extra LED style selector
screen underneath the main machine selector. Both selectors form a dual selector matrix
system that enables you to choose the percussion sound you want for each of the 8
percussion drum voices.
The Digital Revolution Percussion instrument has 8 percussion voices which are selectable
using the drum voice selector buttons (see below).

When you load the Digital Revolution Percussion.nki the Perc 1 voice will be selected by
default.
Both 82 L and Rim are highlighted meaning that the rim shot from the 82 L drum machine
is currently assigned to Perc 1 (Midi note C1).
A good starting point is to de-select both 82L and Rim so you have a completely initialized
percussion machine (see below).

By using this approach you can now start off by selecting a drum machine from the main
machine selector (top) and a sound type from the bottom selector.
As soon as you select a machine e.g. 83 E you will see the selector below change to show
the percussion sounds available for that machine e.g. rim, cow bell, clav and clap.
You can now assign any one of the available percussion sounds to the Perc 1 voice.
Notice that when you choose a sound source e.g. clav the main machine selector updates
to show only those machines that have a clav sound available.
This gives you a lot of flexibility when it comes to sound selection enabling you to choose
percussion sounds by machine type OR sound type depending on your requirements.
Tip Assign the same percussion sound to all Perc voices (1-8) e.g. cow bell and change
the pitch of each voice. You can now create interesting pitched percussion melodies by
using the in-built sequencer or sequencing midi triggers in your DAW.
Digital Revolution Drum Modules
In the main instruments folder you will also find an additional folder called Drum Modules
which contains drum selector modules for each and every sound type. This is particularly
useful if all you want to do is load a single sound type into your DAW e.g. a bass drum. This
approach also gives you the flexibility to build your own drum kits and save them as Kontakt
multi-instruments.
Users of the original Transistor Revolution MKI will be used to this way of working.

The key to understanding the separate modules is that instead of using a LED matrix style
selector to select machines you use the Machine slider to scan through and choose any of
the available kick drums from the 12 drum machines.
You will find that each module has additional parameters such as Tune and accent modes.
Tune Digitally re-pitches the sample playback using Kontakts internal sample engine.
Ranges from -12 to +12 semitones.
Acc Mode (Accent) - Velocities above the Acc. split are played at the max value. Velocities
below the Acc. Split are played with the min value.
Acc Mode (Level) Dynamic range is determined by velocity and limited by the Min and
Max values
Accent Mode (Off) All velocities are played at full volume.
Drum Module Processing Chain

Each drum modules has a page selector menu which can be used to access the effects
processors that make up a processing chain comprising of an EQ, Compressor, Tape
Saturation, Transient Shaper, LPF/HPF and Bit Crusher.

EQ Enable - Selecting this button activates the EQ in the signal chain.

Comp Enable - Selecting this buttons activates the Compressor in the signal chain.
Tape Enable - Selecting this buttons activates the Tape in the signal chain.
Transient Shaper Enable - Selecting this buttons activates the Transient Shaper in the
signal chain.
HPF Enable - Selecting this buttons activates the Hi Pass Filter in signal chain.
LPF Enable - Selecting this buttons activates the Low Pass Filter in the signal chain.
Bit Crusher Enable - Selecting this buttons activates the Bit Crusher in the signal chain.

Equalizer

The Digital Revolution drum modules include a high quality four band equalizer which is
modelled after the channel EQ of a classic 1980s recording console. Among many things,
this EQ is very well known for its tone sculpting with drums.
Low Gain - Adjusts the amount of boost or cut at the LF Frequency.
Low Frequency - Adjusts the center frequency of the low frequency band at which the boost
or cut will occur.
Low Bell - Toggles the bell shape of the low frequency band. If turned off the band becomes
a shelf.
Low Mid Freq - Adjusts the center frequency of the low-mid frequency band at which the
boost or cut will occur.
Low Mid Gain - Adjusts the amount of boost or cut at the LMF Frequency.
Low Mid Q - Controls the Quality (or Q) of the low-mid frequency band. For most EQs, the
higher the quality, the narrower the frequency band, but with this EQ the control is reversed
to match the hardware it emulates and becomes a bandwidth control.
High Mid Freq - Adjusts the center frequency of the high-mid frequency band at which the
boost or cut will occur.
High Mid Gain - Adjusts the amount of boost or cut at the high-mid Frequency.
High Mid Q - Controls the Quality (or Q) of the high-mid frequency band. For most EQs, the
higher the quality, the narrower the frequency band, but with this EQ the control is reversed
to match the hardware it emulates and becomes a bandwidth control.
High Freq - Adjusts the center frequency of the high frequency band at which the boost or
cut will occur.
High Gain - Adjusts the amount of boost or cut at the HF Frequency.
High Bell - Toggles the bell shape of the high frequency band. If turned off the band
becomes a shelf.
EQ Output - Controls the EQ output level.

Compressor

The included compressor is a high quality model from the same classic recording console as
the EQ. As with the EQ, this compressor is extremely well known for its ability to refine and
control drum sounds.

Threshold - Sets a level threshold above which the Compressor starts working. Only levels
that rise above this threshold will be reduced by the compression; signals that stay below it
will be left unprocessed.
Ratio - Controls the amount of compression, expressed as a ratio of 'input level change'
against 'output level change'. A Ratio of 1:1 means that no compression will be happening.
For example, a ratio of 4:1 means for every 4 decibels of amplitude above the threshold, the
output will increase by only 1 decibel.
Attack - Adjusts the time the Compressor will take to reach the full Ratio value after an input
signal exceeds the Threshold level.
Release - Adjusts the time the compressor will take to fall back to non-compression after the
input signal falls below the threshold.
Mix - Controls the dry/wet mix of the compressor. This can be used to create a parallel
compression style routing, which increases the quieter signals rather than reducing the
louder ones. At a setting of 100% you will only hear the compressed signal, at a setting of
0% you will only hear the unprocessed input signal.
Makeup - Controls the output gain of the compressed signal. Used to compensate for the
gain reduction of the effect.
Wave Shaping

The wave shaper section of each Digital Revolution Drum module contains two different
processors which can be used to alter the drum voice from subtle tone shaping to drastic
distortion. Tape Saturation models the sound of recording the original instruments post
EQ/Compression to an analog tape machine. It uses a high quality oversampling model of a
real tape machine and can easily range from gentle saturation with low gain setting to full out
fuzz-distortion on higher settings. The Transient Shaper is a high quality model of a well
loved studio drum tool which can be used to boost the attack and release of each drum
voice. It is similar in some ways to the ADSR settings found on many synthesizers however,
unlike an ADSR envelope, the Transient Shaper operates directly on the audio signal after it
has been generated to help bring out or conceal what is already present in the sound.

Tape Saturator

Warmth - Controls the low frequency boost/cut of the effect.

Gain - Controls the input gain of the effect. This will increase the amount of tape distortion
and compression.
HF Rolloff - Controls the high frequency roll off starting frequency. Frequencies above this
point will be attenuated.
Tape Saturation Output - Controls the Tape Saturation output level.
Transient Shaper

Input - Controls the input gain to the effect.

Attack - Controls the scaling of the attack portion of the input signal's volume envelope.
Increasing this parameter will add more punch and decreasing it will reduce sharp attacks.
Sustain - Controls the scaling of the sustain portion of the input signal's volume envelope.
Increasing this parameter will add more body to the sound and decreasing it will reduce the
sound's tail.
Transient Shaper Output - Controls the Transient Shaper output level.

Filter / Bit Crusher

The filter section on each Digital Revolution instrument includes three separate processors;
a Hi Pass Filter, Low Pass Filter and Bit Crusher. Both the Hi and Low Pass Filters are 4-
pole ladder filters which have variable gain and resonance. A nice trick for heavily saturated
drum sounds can be to use the gain from one of these filters as a makeup after the level
drop from overloading the Tape Saturation. The Bit Crusher processor creates a form of
distortion found in early analog digital converters. The bit crusher can be useful to create the
character found in digital samplers.

Hi Pass Filter
Cutoff - Adjusts the frequency above which signals will be attenuated.
Gain - Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to
compensate for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the
effect.
Resonance - With a value greater than 0, this control will boost a small frequency range
around the cutoff frequency.
Low Pass Filter
Cutoff - Adjusts the frequency above which signals will be attenuated.
Gain - Controls the amplitude increase after the filter. This control can be used to
compensate for amplitude reduction due to the filter, or to increase the soft saturation of the
effect.
Resonance - With a value greater than 0, this control will boost a small frequency range
around the cutoff frequency.

Bit Crusher
Bit Depth - Re-quantizes the signal to an adjustable bit depth. Fractional bit levels (such as
12.4 bits) are possible and can add considerable 'grit'. Audio CDs have a quantization depth
of 16 bits, old samplers frequently used 8 or 12 bits, and 4 bits evoke memories of countless
irritating children's toys.
Sample Rate - Re-samples the signal to an adjustable sample rate. The resampling is done
without any kind of (usually mandatory) low-pass filtering, which causes all kinds of
wonderful aliasing artefacts. The sample rate goes all the way down to 50 Hz, which will not
leave much of the original signal.
Noise - Adds digital hiss to the audio signal.
Bit Crusher Volume - Controls the Bit Crusher output level.

Effects Routing

The effects routing page can be used to select between four different routing options by
using a click and drag with the mouse (hover over Mode A while holding the mouse and
dragging up or down).

Effects Routing - Switches between the four alternate signal flow options of the various
effect sections.
Credits
Transistor Revolution Concept, Instrument Design and Programming Matthew Fudge
GUI Design Anders Hedstrom
Additional Design Concept Wave Alchemy

Demo Creation

Demo 01: Donny Walls Its a Revolution

Produced by Donny Walls
www.soundcloud.com/donnyw

Demo 02: Synth Patrol Nobody Else

Produced by Synth Patrol, aka Garrett Rowland
https://soundcloud.com/synth-patrol

Demo 03: Mike Ritchie Synth

Produced by Mike Ritchie
www.mikeritchiemusic.com
Mike is a composer, musician, and recording engineer. He plays in the band The Caravan,
and is working on audio for virtual reality.
Demo 04: This Sound Will Save You I Try
Produced and written by This Sound Will Save You
www.thissoundwillsaveyoucom
This Sound Will Save is songwriter/vocalist Chloe Jones and Producer Matthew Fudge.
They make Future Pop.
Demo 05: The Last Survivors Life on a Wire
http://thelastsurvivors.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/the-last-survivors
Produced and written by The Last Survivors, aka Garrett Rowland, Darrik Getz and Taylor
Dunn
Demo 06: Mike Hastings Mothership
Produced by Mike Hastings
http://www.soundcloud.com/mikehastings
Sampling Specifications
The following table shows the approximate number of samples that make up each digital
drum machine.
Machine Info Drum Voices No Raw No of Re- No of
Samples samples (lo-fi processed
(original sample mode) samples (hi-fi
sample mode) sample
mode)

82 L A classic digital Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 87 1392 87

drum machine Open, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3,
originally Ride, Crash, Rim Shot, Cow Bell,
manufactured in Clap, Shaker, Tamb
1982

82 O A classic digital Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 168 2688 168
drum machine Open, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3,
originally Ride, Crash, Shaker, Clap
manufactured in
1982

83 E A classic digital Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 13 208 13

drum machine Open, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3,
originally Ride, Rim Shot, Clave, Clap,
manufactured in Cow Bell
1983

84 S A classic digital Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 169 2704 169
drum machine Open, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3,
originally Clap, Ride, Crash, Rim Shot,
manufactured in Cow Bell, Shaker, Tamb
1984

85 E A classic digital Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 134 2144 134
drum machine Open, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3,
originally Ride, Crash, Rim Shot, Cow Bell,
manufactured in Clap
1985

85 R2 A classic digital Bongo, Conga, Timbale, Agogo, 35 560 35

drum machine Cabasa, Maracas, Whistle,
originally Quijada, Star Chime
manufactured in
1985

85 R1 A classic digital Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 15 240 15

drum machine Open, Tom1 , Tom 2, Tom 3,
originally Ride, Crash, Rim Shot, Cow Bell,
manufactured in Clap, Tamb
1985

86 R A classic digital Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 16 256 16

drum machine Open, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3,
originally Ride, Crash, Rim Shot, Cow Bell,
manufactured in Clap, Conga, Timbale
1986

89 N A digital machine Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 51 816 51

originally Open, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3,
 manufactured in Ride, Crash, Rim Shot, Cow Bell,
1989 Clap, Shaker, Timbale, Guiro,
Chime

80 R A classic analogue Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 60 960 60

drum machine Open, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3,
originally Crash, Rim Shot, Clave, Cow
manufactured in Bell, Clap, Shaker
1980

82 R A classic analogue Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 21 336 21

drum machine Open, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3,
originally Crash
manufactured in
1982

84 R A classic analogue Bass, Snare, Hat Closed, Hat 97 1552 97

drum machine Open, Tom 1, Tom 2, Tom 3,
originally Ride, Crash, Rim Shot, Clap
manufactured in
1984