Novation Drumstation v2

[pyelagin]

Hi Everyone,

What is diffrent between Novation Drumstation and Novation Drumstation v2 ?


Peter

[FeatheredSerpent]

Google is your friend

[pyelagin]

Well, Google says that the OS is diffrent. Does not say if it's possible to take v1 and update OS to 1.3 (which is v2) version... One post says that 1.3 is not running well in v1 but that might be faulty unit problem also...

I'm thinking about getting drumstation since they are quite cheap these days but just need to know if I can go for v1 if will see one...

[Acid Hazard]

Don't buy a v.1 unless it's been updated already. Otherwise, go for the v.2 model, with the red striping. Or the silver faced D-Station. Which is the exact same with a make over.

[raffor]

I have a version 1 with OS 1.3 and never had any problems. I think one the major problems with V1 drumstations was the power supply. Just replace it with something from Radio Shack and you have a solid unit.

[chrisso]

Another problem was the sound - weak and insipid.

[Acid Hazard]

V.1 suffered from low volume output and a polyphony bug as well.

[rachel]

I have a V2. I like the sound it makes and it is fun to use.
I used to trigger it from a 626 but now I use the octopus.


rachel

[crufty]

op, the shortcomings of the drumstation v1 can be overcome in your daw. but go for the v2 if you can.

its not that remarkable but like rachel said it has a vibe.

[rockmanrock]

I've got a V1 yellow stripe DS and I think it's on firmware 1.2. I wrote to Novation/Focusrite support a few weeks ago about getting hold of a 1.3 chip, no reply yet.

Regarding the DS sound, it's not too bad but I've never seen this mentioned before: everywhere you read about the DS, it says it uses "Analogue Sound Modelling". Well, it DOES say that on the front panel and in the manual but to my ears, all the modelling going on is layered samples and maybe a mild bit of filtering, a bit like the R8! That would tie in with the reduced poly when using certain sounds. You can clearly hear the noise wave used on the snares is a sample, any modelling as we would expect today would use a proper modelled white noise source. I expect the VSTi ones available today do something like that.

It is pretty static compared to my TR606, but then again so are the 808/909 samples I used for ages in my sampler (EPS16+). With the DS I gain polyphony, dedicated outputs, crispier treble and knobby hardware action. The DIN Sync output is a nice feature too. Well worth 100 quid. It wasn't worth 400 quid to me (in 1990s money!).

[chrisso]

Maybe.....maybe 100 quid, but nearly all the samples I hear these days are far superior to the Drumstation.

[rockmanrock]

Originally Posted by chrisso

Maybe.....maybe 100 quid, but nearly all the samples I hear these days are far superior to the Drumstation.

Do you mean those pumped up, pre-EQed, compressed etc ones? From what I can tell the DS covers the basic 808/909 sounds reasonably well and I'd rather start with those raw sounds then mangle them to my liking. Both routes are valid I think, we're spoilt these days cos there are a billion ways of getting these sounds now. For the uber-anal route, I've got a 9090 DIY kit waiting to be made (Soundlab and X0XB0X first!).

[Acid Hazard]

The D.S. is about as close as you're gonna get to the real things w/o buying either the real deals or an out right analog clone.

[chrisso]

Hmm, I had a Drumstation (v1) and rented a 909 on several occasions and the 909 was like Rocky III compared to the Mary Poppins of the Drumstation.

[rachel]

There is a sort of cheesiness to the Drumstation, but it is easily beefed up with a bit of compression.
I actually replaced my R8M with it, because I did not like the R8M's user interface and they do sound
similar, given I have the Dance and Electronic cards for the R8M, but the DS lets you
freak the sounds a bit more and you can do the front end trim and so on.

What I do is team the Drumstation with the 606, which is again another cheesy drum machine,
but it has a bit of soul. I use the 606 for the hats and mix a bit of snare in occasionally
and let the DS do the kick/snare toms etc. So you get this kind of overlay which
sounds quite analogue overall, but not mushy like if you overdrive the output of the 606.


I should add - using the Drumstation with the Octopus is so convenient. It is like a x0x master station
with so much control. I have barely scratched thr surface with Octopus, we have heatwaves over here
right now so I will not turn on my studio :(


rachel

[raffor]

I don't know many people using the 909 sound dry. There is always some compression and maybe distortion going on. I can do the same with the Drumstation sound and even dry they sound convincing to me.

The advantage of a drumstation over samples is obvious. You cannot tweak samples the way you can tweak the drumstation or as the matter of fast, the real thing.

[ELI-173]

Originally Posted by rockmanrock

Regarding the DS sound, it's not too bad but I've never seen this mentioned before: everywhere you read about the DS, it says it uses "Analogue Sound Modelling". Well, it DOES say that on the front panel and in the manual but to my ears, all the modelling going on is layered samples and maybe a mild bit of filtering, a bit like the R8!

As I understand it, the Drumstation uses analog circuits for some of the drums (kick, snare, toms) and samples for others (clap, rim).

[Acid Hazard]

Originally Posted by ELI-173

As I understand it, the Drumstation uses analog circuits for some of the drums (kick, snare, toms) and samples for others (clap, rim).

No. It uses Analogue Sound Modeling. A combo of their ASM and samples. All the metallic sounds are samples, and the claps and i think rim shot and cowbell mare a combo of the 2. Probably a few other sounds as well.

[ELI-173]

I see. I was mistaken. I guess that would be pretty cheap for a unit with analog 808/909 circuitry!

[unlabeled]

Hi guys. Sorry for interrupting your topic, just wanted to ask if anyone had problems with D-Station? For example, when i want to edit Toms section, I should put trigger of the Congas section on to Maracas((. Otherwise, i can only edit Tom1, but no Tom2 and Tom3. Can anyone send me a sysex file to update firmware on D-Station? Thanks a lot

[Fatherless One]

How easy is it to upgrade a Drumstations firmware?

[rockmanrock]

Originally Posted by Fatherless One

How easy is it to upgrade a Drumstations firmware?

I think it's a case of opening it up and swapping an EPROM chip. I've read that the case screw threads are very easy to strip though.

[Fatherless One]

Originally Posted by rockmanrock

I've got a V1 yellow stripe DS and I think it's on firmware 1.2. I wrote to Novation/Focusrite support a few weeks ago about getting hold of a 1.3 chip, no reply yet.

I've recently been talking to Novation about the same upgrade (I have the same V.1 with 1.2), they told me the only difference between V1.2 and 1.3 is a +3dB level increase.

[totty]

Used to have it, It is good, but I then heard a real 909 and it was very different in tone and vibe. D16's Drumazon nails it for me now.

[arkon]

you can get some good HARD kicks out of the DS and its built in overdrive so it doesnt have to be weak and whimpy

I got some really nice techno stuff out of it in the 90s

but

its "real" 808/909 sounds are not very convincing , the 808 is particularly bad

its a bit noisy

its a bit buggy

it needs a good powersupply

i didnt really miss it when I sold it

[gearhead2010]

Can anyone describe the "polyphony bug" in v1.x?

[blinky909]

Originally Posted by Acid Hazard

The D.S. is about as close as you're gonna get to the real things w/o buying either the real deals or an out right analog clone.

sadly, the real vibe from the 808 and 909 come from the sequencers. i had a DS V2, triggered from a TR-505, then i picked up an 808 for dirt cheap. hearing the difference in the 808 from the DS V2 and from an 808 pushed me to picking up a 909.

this was before i had an MPC - i think i could have gotten darn close to the feel with the MPC sequencing. all those great house classics get that feel from the 909 sequencer pushing and pulling on the beat.

so if you have an MPC and it's like 100 bucks, pull the trigger

[blinky909]

Originally Posted by gearhead2010

Can anyone describe the "polyphony bug" in v1.x?

you might get 4 sounds on the same step. if you try to add a 5th, you will hear it glitch and drop out.

[totty]

Yeah I remember this. I think the 909 toms and the 808 cymbals were the heaviest on the dsp.

[Fatherless One]

Here's the responses I received from Novation recently.


Q/. Was there an OS Version 1, and if so what did 1.2 which I have improve on?

A/.There was a V1, however the only changes between this and V1.2 were minor code improvements.

Q/. I've read that the DrumStation V.1/V.2 are the same other than a facelift, but is the D-Station different again, I've read that the original DrumStations are 5 voice and the D-Station has 8 voices, is this correct?

If this is so does the 1.3 OS give me the extra 3 voices too?

A/. This is incorrect. This article explains it:

What is the difference between the "V1" , "V2" Drumstations and the D-Station .: Novation Answerbase

Effectively the only differences with this are cosmetic.

In terms of the number of voices, this information may explain this in more detail:

The quoted polyphony for the Drum Station is 8 notes. This is a maximum polyphony. The the ASM sounds require more processing power than the sampled sounds. The maximum number of ASM sounds which can be played simultaneously is not straight forward - it depends on the actual sound. As a guide, the amount of % processing power for each sound is:


909 snare 25
909 bass 14
909 tom 32
909 hats 22
909 crash cymbal 10 - sample replay
909 ride cymbal 10 - sample replay
808 snare 24
808 bass 15
808 tom 18
808 hats 10 - sample replay
808 crash cymbal 28

So a 909 kick + 909 tom + 808 crash + 808 kick = almost 100% of processing power.
(4 sounds)

or 808 hat cl + 808 hat op + clave + maraca + rim + ride + 909 crash + 808
clap = 100% of processing power.
(8 sounds)

So a V.1 or V.2 with OS V1.3 is as good as the D Station