Drumbeam midi bar - kickstarter

Chewie5150

Chewie5150

Fractal Fanatic
I'm always experimenting with different ways of laying down midi drums. I've gone from midi pad products to full Roland TD17 ekit and back to using pads (maschine mk3) +drawing in the midi into daw etc...anyhow, saw this neat new product that is in beta development with a release coming early 2025 it seems. Kickstarter project from this small company in Germany. my interest is piqued. This guy who does a lot of M4L devices for Ableton does a bit of demo here
 
secondwindow said:
That's cool!

There was a sale on the Drumbeam a couple of weeks ago, ~$360 Euro and 20% off accessories. That sale may have ended.
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I was asked how I have the drumbeam setup ...

I don't have a "permanent" setup for it yet. I have it installed on the stand I bought with it, a fairly heavy desktop stand, as shown on their website and in some videos. I've placed the stand on a Roc-n-Soc drum throne that's on wheels. The padding on the throne minimizes noise and, since it's on wheels, I can move it out of the way when not in use.

The USB cable will easily disconnect when playing, so using a cable tie to keep it in place is a must. Or, the cable they sell that attaches with a screw screw works well, probably better than a cable tie.

I'm still working through how I'd like the zones (segments) setup; you can configure for 1-8.

I like the playing feel, using 7A sticks - but probably any that you're used to would be fine.

I've ordered a Roland KT-9 pedal to trigger kick drum. There's only one trigger input on the Drumbeam. It does have MIDI I/O, so a pedal that sends CC for hi-hat (open/close/etc) might be cool.
 
secondwindow said:
I was asked how I have the drumbeam setup ...

I don't have a "permanent" setup for it yet. I have it installed on the stand I bought with it, a fairly heavy desktop stand, as shown on their website and in some videos. I've placed the stand on a Roc-n-Soc drum throne that's on wheels. The padding on the throne minimizes noise and, since it's on wheels, I can move it out of the way when not in use.

The USB cable will easily disconnect when playing, so using a cable tie to keep it in place is a must. Or, the cable they sell that attaches with a screw screw works well, probably better than a cable tie.

I'm still working through how I'd like the zones (segments) setup; you can configure for 1-8.

I like the playing feel, using 7A sticks - but probably any that you're used to would be fine.

I've ordered a Roland KT-9 pedal to trigger kick drum. There's only one trigger input on the Drumbeam. It does have MIDI I/O, so a pedal that sends CC for hi-hat (open/close/etc) might be cool.
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Sounds very cool! what vst(s) are you triggering? any latency or I suppose with midi it should be quite fast. Do you find the velocity sensitivity works well?
 
Chewie5150 said:
Sounds very cool! what vst(s) are you triggering? any latency or I suppose with midi it should be quite fast. Do you find the velocity sensitivity works well?
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I'm using Superior Drummer 3. I'd also like to try it with marimba/vibraphone-type instruments.

I'm not noticing latency using as VST3 with Cubase on Windows 11. The velocity sensitivity it very good.

I'm just getting to know it, but digging it so far
 
secondwindow said:
I'm using Superior Drummer 3. I'd also like to try it with marimba/vibraphone-type instruments.

I'm not noticing latency using as VST3 with Cubase on Windows 11. The velocity sensitivity it very good.

I'm just getting to know it, but digging it so far
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I'd honestly love to incorporate it into my workflow. It'd feel more intuitive to drum in even the broad strokes pattern to refine later with DAW editor, but I just don't have any space. I just added the Softube Fader and Channel Consoles on arm/vesa mounts using up every square inch of space I got at my desk. having drumbeam on a rolling throne like you have it though perhaps.....strokes chin musing.....
 
Chewie5150 said:
I'd honestly love to incorporate it into my workflow. It'd feel more intuitive to drum in even the broad strokes pattern to refine later with DAW editor, but I just don't have any space. I just added the Softube Fader and Channel Consoles on arm/vesa mounts using up every square inch of space I got at my desk. having drumbeam on a rolling throne like you have it though perhaps.....strokes chin musing.....
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That's my use case for a MIDI drum pad, too. It's more intuitive than using a MIDI keyboard controller (to me). I'll use the MIDI drum pad, drumbeat now, to record scratch drums when I'm writing and sketching out arrangements. I'll refine the drums later and can drop snippets of what I played into SD3 to help with ideas.

I have the drumbeam desk stand and thought I'd just place it atop a wooden under-desk storage cabinet and move it off if I needed that surface for something else. When the drumbeam arrived, and that cabinet top was occupied with clipboard and capos, I just temporarily placed the drumbeam on the drum throne just to try it out. So, by accident, I found a better way (for me) to manage the location of the drum beam.
 
So what is the benefit of having Drumbeat midi bar instead of having something like this for $99 or the other similar pads? Is the bar easier to play? I am trying to wrap my head around it.

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levipeto said:
So what is the benefit of having Drumbeat midi bar instead of having something like this for $99 or the other similar pads? Is the bar easier to play? I am trying to wrap my head around it.

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I had that drumkat and it didn't work for me, didn't have it long. The playing feel wasn't to my liking and it just felt a bit toy-ish.

It probably works well for lots of people, plus it's a good price and they're easy to find.

The drumbeam has up to twice as many trigger zones and has a nice bounce to it. But, no built-in sounds.
 
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