Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

I made a template patch that allows me to design my Kick (and other) drums, 'on the fly'.

Essentially it comprises 4 layers, each with a different kit (809-909-Acoustic, etc), volume ranges slightly overlapping. I can RTx crossfade /blend these using a knob. Another knob allows choosing of sample start point (can give a nice click attack to an 808 kick, or soften a 909).

Further knobs are mapped to Pitch envelope - the effect of turning this is akin to tightening the drum head, which makes everything a lot more punchy - and another knob to control overall pitch (either up or down).

Similarly I use a knob to control the depth of Filter envelope. 

Playing around with these few controls can provide a good range and allows you to fit or tune your drum specifically for your composition.

Taking it further, you could put a sine wave with a medium attack on one layer and map two knobs to it's volume and Envelope decay - can provide a nice 'boooom' or rattle with some vibrato - but easily overdone. I tend to HP or BP filter my kicks (everything in fact) - I haven't been able to get the EQ filters to eliminate low frequency mud as effectively.

For variation, you can use the Vel-Amp knob to bring-in and out ghost notes - which can be very effective. You could assign another knob to control randomness from a KeyRnd or LFO mapped to Volume.

There are lots of ways to go from there. I use this same template, with minor modifications, to design snares, hats, Toms, etc - all from the same basic template which only needs to be set-up once (though it took a lot of experimentation - you will need Prodatum :) Maybe I'll post a screenshot.

But I think of all the above, the most important aspect to consider in  making your sounds unique, is familiarity with the envelopes. Play with these and you will be richly rewarded. I recommend you start with only a sine wave and the envelopes - it will give you 'the feel'.

FWIW I have a XL-7 with Pop, Vintage and Ensoniq roms. The stock ROM has plenty of good kits IMO. The Vintage collection Kits are quite nice, but my favs are in the Ensoniq Project Rom. It is set-up as a kit-builder, so you are encouraged to use 3 layers per kit. However, nothing beats the flexibility of keeping it to one drum type per track and tweaking the hell out of it as above, and for that any kit can be used as basis. 

Good Luck!
J
--- In xl7@...m, Atom Smasher <atom@...> wrote:
>
> i'm curious what ROMs/sounds/effects ya'll are using for kick drums, in 
> different styles of electronic music....
> 
> 
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