Erica Synths Drum Mixer User Manual (PDF)
As a fellow modular artist, here’s a deep dive into how you can modulate your Erica Synths Drum Mixer to sculpt powerful, distorted percussive hits, twisted basslines, and evocative atmospheric pads:
This mixer features: - 7 Audio Inputs (IN1–IN7) with gain structure for overdrive/distortion. - Individual Level Controls and feedback LEDs. - Main & Aux Outputs (with switch routing). - Compression Section (with Comp Amt & Release controls).
Given these features, modulation is achievable via careful patching and CV control elsewhere in your rack—even without dedicated CV inputs on the mixer itself.
1. Drive Inputs into Clipping: - Each channel’s input is calibrated for max 6dB gain, but driving hot signals will push them into the red, introducing crunchy analog distortion. - Use drum modules (kicks, snares, hats) and crank their output levels before they hit the mixer. Watch for the LEDs to flash red.
2. Serial Input Processing: - Try stacking (multing) percussion modules, then patching them into several mixer channels. - Individually boost or cut each, then sum to Main Out for complex, layered distortion.
3. Feedback Patch: - Patch Main Out into a VCA or external effect with gain, then back into one of the IN jacks. - Modulate feedback levels with envelopes or LFOs for destruction and dynamic attack.
4. Smash with Compression: - Twist the COMP AMT and RELEASE knobs for aggressive sidechain-style pumping. - For extremely punchy, smashed drums, keep release short and the comp amount high.
1. Saturate Oscillator Bass: - Run your bass voice or complex oscillator in hot. - Use Mixer gain to push harmony, then blend in a drum or random noise to add extra harmonics.
2. Crossfade Madness: - Assign a synth voice to one input, another percussive element or modulated LFO-noise to another. - Fade between using the level pots—instant wub and movement.
3. Compress for Slam: - Push Comp Amt high, especially for low-frequency material, to create heavy, squashed bass.
4. Layering: - Use multiple IN channels for sub, mid, and top end of basslines, balancing easily on the pots.
1. Layered Textures: - Use several sound sources: drones, filtered noise, granular textures—each to a mixer channel. - Subtly pan (if panning is available elsewhere in chain) and mix for width.
2. Compression Swells: - Pair slow envelopes into sound sources, then shape dynamics with a longer COMP RELEASE. - The release makes pads “bloom” or “fade” in eerily.
3. Parallel FX Routing: - Patch “AUX OUT” into a reverb or delay, then return that fx output back into a spare input—route it only to AUX OUT for lush, feedback atmospheres.
4. Gentle Overdrive: - Keep input levels below +5Vpp for clean, smooth pads. - Push above for subtle saturation and warmth.
This mixer thrives on creative routing and hot signal levels. For live finger-twisting: assign levels and comp controls to performance macros via external CV sources, or just go wild with manual knob wiggling!