s3g-dsp

Drum Break

Drum Break is one unified procedural kit with independently shaped kick, snare, tom, and hi-hat synthesis voices. Each hit combines smooth-onset oscillators, inharmonic modes, filtered noise, restrained neighboring-band bleed, and a shared room and character path. It is informed by the recurring behavior of edited low-resolution breaks and open stereo drum recordings, but it contains no source audio and never performs sample playback.

Four independently triggered drum voices have individual level and spectral-isolation controls, with cohesion kept in a separate shared panel.

Workflow

  1. Insert s3g Drum Break on a stereo instrument track.
  2. Route the stereo output to the main speakers or a headphone monitor.
  3. Sequence notes 36, 38, 45, and 42 for kick, snare, tom, and hi-hat.
  4. Shape and balance each drum family, then use the separate COHESION panel to make them occupy one break-derived recording space.
  5. Raise BLEED and ROOM until the voices read as one recorded kit.
  6. Use AGE and the character section for bandwidth, conversion, and bus color; set OUTPUT GAIN last.

Sound Model

The kick combines a downward-pitched oscillator, low filtered impact energy, and compact inharmonic modes. KICK TUNE, KICK DROP, KICK DECAY, and KICK WEIGHT cover clipped break kicks through deeper anchors. The snare balances shell modes and band-limited stochastic wire energy; tune, body, wire, and decay move from dry cards and ghost notes to broad backbeats.

The tom uses a pitched membrane and inharmonic shell whose TOM TUNE follows alternate GM tom notes through NOTE TRACKING. The hi-hat is a short, high-passed metallic-noise field with independent tone, texture, and decay. Every voice also has its own LEVEL and adjustable BAND center. The broad post-voice band-pass lets the useful part of that instrument through while attenuating unwanted spectral spill; lowering the kick band is especially useful when snare-like bleed is audible above it.

TRANSIENT changes contact emphasis without bypassing the short raised-cosine onset, so host- or tracker-aligned strikes do not begin with a discontinuous DSP click. BLEED excites quieter neighboring bands, with deliberately restrained mid/high coupling in the kick. ROOM adds decorrelated ambience, while AGE narrows and destabilizes the shared response.

MIDI and Drum Selection

NotesVoiceBehavior
0-36KickFalling membrane, weight, modes, and restrained upper bleed; note 36 is canonical.
37-40SnareShell body and stochastic wire; note 38 is canonical.
41 / 43 / 45 / 47 / 48 / 50TomPitched membrane and shell; note 45 is the canonical center.
42 / 44 / 46 and unmatched notes above 40Hi-HatShort inharmonic metal and filtered high texture; note 42 is canonical.

NOTE TRACKING applies after the spectral voice is selected. At 0%, all notes in a range keep the designed pitch; higher settings make alternate notes useful as tuned break variations. MIDI RECEIVE defaults to OMNI and can isolate one of sixteen channels.

Controls

PanelControlsRole
KickTune / Drop / Decay / Weight / Level / BandDefines and spectrally isolates the low anchor.
SnareTune / Body / Wire / Decay / Level / BandShapes and balances the backbeat shell and wires.
TomTune / Decay / Level / BandSets the pitched membrane, tail, output balance, and spectral center.
Hi-HatTone / Texture / Decay / Level / BandSets the metallic texture, duration, output balance, and spectral center.
CohesionTransient / Bleed / Room / AgePlaces the four voices in one shared performance and recording space.
CharacterDrive / Bias / Compression / Rate Reduction / Bit Depth Reduction / Reconstruction / Character ToneAdds shared nonlinear, bus, and conversion color.
Output / MIDIStereo Width / Velocity Sensitivity / Output Gain / MIDI Receive / four named performance padsSets image, dynamics, trim, routing, and manual audition.

Presets and Safe Random

The fourteen factory kits include BREAK FRAME, 22K ROLLER, DUSTY POCKET, SOUL ROOM, TIGHT EDIT, MONO CRATE, and BROKEN PRESS. Each preset derives coherent tom and per-voice band values from its established body, high-band, and room character. RANDOM creates a correlated four-voice kit, including safe changes to individual voice levels and bands, while preserving OUTPUT GAIN, NOTE TRACKING, VELOCITY SENSITIVITY, and MIDI RECEIVE.

Output

The kick oscillator and principal modal centers remain centered. Width opens metallic texture and room energy around them; 0% produces exact dual mono. The plugin reports the longest active drum, room, or character tail through CLAP.