If you expand Kong’s Drum and FX section and hit a pad you’ll see the current generator module appear along with any effects chained to it. Of course it helps when a synth has been designed to be a little more specific, and to that end Kong (and similar software instruments) has drum synth modules that are specially tailored towards making certain kinds of sounds. You can take the same set of modules and, depending on how you set them up, create everything from a deep kick drum to an arpeggiated pad. The great thing about synthesisers is that they’re hugely versatile. There are more, of course, and although we’re going to look at how Kong can help you quickly build your own kit, the basic principles apply to most similar drum design plug-ins. There are plenty of tools that enable you to build your own drum sounds: Reason’s Kong Drum Designer is even named appropriately, FXPansion’s Tremor is a clever drum synth with built-in sequencing, and LinPlug’s RMV combines synthesis and sampling. You may be adept at constructing your own synth and bass patches, but if you then just chuck in some sampled drum loops you can be missing an opportunity to stamp your character on the rhythmic component of your tracks. By designing your own synthetic beats you can make the drums a signature part of your sound. While many software drum machines have used samples (Reason’s ReDrum was for years its go-to beatbox) it’s often those that use synthesis for some or all of their sound generation that produce more interesting results. It’s true that nowadays you can process drum samples to an almost infinite degree, but when you literally control the waveforms and filters that are being used to generate a tone, your level of control is that much greater. The advantage of using synth circuits to make drum sounds is that they can be constructed from the ground up and then bent, twisted and tuned in any way you want. Although some early drum machines such as the Linn LM-1 used digital samples, others such as the legendary Roland TR-808 used synthesis to generate its sounds, and the TR-909 used a blend of both methods. Suddenly, not only were producers able to program patterns that had never been heard before, but they could do so using sounds that were totally new and unique. The invention of the drum machine caused a revolution in popular music.
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