kwgm Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Following a link today I happened on www.alternatemode.com, the home of MalletKat and DrumKat midi instruments. MalletKat is a midi vibraphone-like instrument with hard, neoprene bars you play with mallets. DrumKat is a midi drum pad. They've got videos of a very good performer playing this thing through a Motif ES Rack, and the sound engineering is superb. You'll all want the Motif ES sounds after view this! There are many videos on this site, and the demos of the DrumKat in both single and ensemble are mindblowing! I'm not quite sure how it works yet-- maybe with velocity triggers through a sequencer, but it is impressive--they are playing melodies and chords with single strokes of a drum stick at times, at other times chord punches and bass notes. Fascinating to watch. Check out the video with the fellow using the breath controller in conjunction with this thing. Now I know why I need all those drum sounds in my S90ES! Yesterday I felt they were a waste of ROM. Check it out! regards, --kwgm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prague Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 I have some DrumKat gesr. I've always wanted to get a 3 or 4 octave MalletKat. To play chords, they simply allow more than one note number to be transmitted per each pad/trigger. Most keyboards do not allow a single key to send more than one note number at a time (unless it's part of a layer). Even then, you usually have to send the smae note numer, but can send to different sounds for each layer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeronyne Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 I own a Drumkat mk3 and the TrapKat. They are cool as hell. The MalletKat is cool, too, but expensive for a keyboard player. "For instance" is not proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gliderproarc Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 I happen to own a malletKat. Unfortunately I had allot of midi implementation issues and they were never resolved. After some rain got on a few of the pads, It hasn't seen much use. It made a great transition instrument for me going from drums to keyboards. GIGO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay da cop Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 My electronic drum kit in my studio includes a DrumKat 2.0. It is incredibly versatile. I had to download the manual, and I was in for a very pleasant surprise at all it would do. I keep threatening to hook it to more than just a D4, and do some off-the-wall melody stuff, if just to see what happens. Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluescreen Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 I have a DrumKat DK 10. It's a real high quality drum trigger unit with excellent velocity response. I don't use it often though. After 2 years of practising my timing is still so bad that I need more time editing an correcting a live played drum track than I need if I program it from scratch in Cubase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric VB Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Originally posted by Bluescreen: I have a DrumKat DK 10. It's a real high quality drum trigger unit with excellent velocity response. I don't use it often though. After 2 years of practising my timing is still so bad that I need more time editing an correcting a live played drum track than I need if I program it from scratch in Cubase It has to give a more authentic percussion sound than tickling the ivories, no? Having some drumming experience, it just feels weird to use a fingertip to press down a C key for a big bass drum sound. I might be interested in looking at these things, since I don't have the budget for a full electronic drum kit atm. Sounds like a good product, but I'll probably do a search here first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluescreen Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 Originally posted by RicBassGuy: It has to give a more authentic percussion sound than tickling the ivories, no? Sure. There's a big difference of course in relation to drum triggering with a keyboard. I had to learn though that a good trigger unit doesn't make a drummer without extensive practising I still use it a lot for fun drumming, means I accompany a CD track with my untight rythms for relaxation purposes. My drumming only isn't good enough to be recorded. I might be interested in looking at these things, since I don't have the budget for a full electronic drum kit atm. Sounds like a good product, but I'll probably do a search here first. The KATs aren't bargains anyway, because, for drummer like feeling, you have to calculate not only the cost of the pads, but the cost of the bass drum and hihat pedals too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay da cop Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 Bluescreen, That all depends on if you are using the unit for a full kit. If you are simply using it as a trigger, then the footswitch capabilities, which are extensive, are optional. Mine is almost maxed out, but I have extra triggers plugged in, and export MIDI messages, with my trigger ins on my D4s (2 of them) coming from the drum pads and cymbals themselves. All of my alternative triggers (LP spikes, Dingbats, etc) are plugged into the Drumkat. I will admit that they are not cheap, nor are they inexpensive. Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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