One of the most exciting announcements from the Superbooth trade show back in May, HexDrums is a collaboration between Latvian manufacturer Erica Synths and the now-defunct modular brand Hexinverter Électronique. This week, Erica Synths has made HexDrums available to pre-order and announced a price: €1200.
HexDrums is an analogue drum machine that inherits the DNA of Hexinverter's Mutant Drums series of Eurorack modules, which themselves are "mutated" or reimagined takes on classic analogue drum circuits.
There are 10 sound sources on board, eight of which are fully analogue percussion voices, spanning 808 and 909-inspired kicks, snare drum, clap, rimshot and hi-hats. These are joined by Machine, a versatile percussive synth module made up of four sound generators that can be called upon to produce snares, toms, drones and more.
HexDrums' analogue voices are complemented by two hybrid voices that run an adjustable pair of cymbal and ride samples through an analogue VCA – you're able to load your own samples into these slots via the USB connection.
All 10 voices can be panned individually and then mixed in HexDrums' master section, which is equipped with analogue drive and a soft-knee stereo compressor based on a premium chip typically found in high-end studio gear. Both the drive and the compressor offer blend controls for parallel processing.
All of HexDrums' sound-tweaking parameters are accessible via the top half of its front panel, presenting an array of options for shaping the timbre, pitch, tone and envelope of each sound. Parameters can't be automated and patches can't be saved digitally, however, so you'll have to dial in the desired sounds manually for each performance.
Below this you'll find a flexible X0X-style sequencer equipped with swing, accents, ratcheting, microtiming and probabilities, that can store 16 banks of 16 patterns of up to 64 steps in length. Each track can have a different pattern length and play direction, so you're able to create evolving polyrhythmic sequences, and a Song Mode is available for chaining multiple patterns together in structured arrangements.
HexDrums is well-equipped on the I/O front, with a dedicated 1/4" output for each voice alongside main stereo outputs and a headphone out. You also get MIDI In/Out and a USB-B port for MIDI control, sample upload, pattern memory backup and firmware updates. Finally, there are 1/4" Clock In/Out and Reset jacks for syncing up with external gear.
It's a great time to be into analogue drum machines. Only a few weeks after Roland delivered a modern spin on 808 and 909-style analogue drums with the TR-1000, Erica Synths has done the same – but at half the price.
Taking the "less is more" approach, HexDrums is a stripped-back, focused instrument that marries punchy, characterful sound with an intuitive and accessible workflow. If you're lusting for that raw analogue tone but don't want or need the TR-1000's bells and whistles (of which, admittedly, there are many) HexDrums could be the drum machine for you.
Erica Synths' HexDrums is available to pre-order now. Check out a sound demo below.
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