Drums

Synthesised drums after the TR-808 and TR-909, one instrument per drum.

Kick

Kick(polyphony=1)

A bass drum: a pinged resonator with a falling pitch, a click and optional drive.

The TR-808 bass drum as Werner, Abel and Smith model it (DAFx 2014): an impulse rings a resonator whose pitch falls from tune * drop to tune over drop_time, with the trigger’s click through a tone low-pass. A deep, fast drop with drive is the TR-909’s punch; a long decay with little drop is the 808’s boom (Reid, Synth Secrets 34).

kick = kiln.Kick()
kick.decay = 1.2        # a long, booming tail
kick.hit()

Parameters

Name Type Description Default
polyphony int Hits that ring at once (default 1: a new hit chokes the last). 1

Attributes

Name Type Description
tune Pitch the drop lands on, Hz, 20 to 200 (default 50).
decay Time for the body to fall 60 dB, seconds, 0.05 to 4 (default 0.5).
drop Starting pitch as a multiple of tune, 1 to 8 (default 3).
drop_time How long the pitch takes to land on tune, seconds, 0 to 0.5 (default 0.06).
click Level of the attack click, 0 to 1 (default 0.3).
tone Brightness of the click, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).
drive Saturation, 0 to 1 (default 0): the 909’s punch.
volume Output level, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).

Snare

Snare(polyphony=1)

A snare drum: two pinged membrane modes and high-passed noise for the wires.

The TR-808 snare (Reid, Synth Secrets 35): two resonators, at tune and about 1.83 times it, give the drum’s body, and high-passed white noise gives the snappy wires, which ring a little longer.

Parameters

Name Type Description Default
polyphony int Hits that ring at once (default 1). 1

Attributes

Name Type Description
tune The lower membrane mode, Hz, 80 to 400 (default 180).
decay Time for the body to fall 60 dB, seconds, 0.05 to 1 (default 0.2); the wires take 1.5 times as long.
tone Brightness: the upper mode’s level and the wires’ high-pass, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).
snappy Level of the wires, 0 to 1 (default 0.6).
volume Output level, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).

Clap

Clap(polyphony=1)

A hand clap: band-passed noise that strikes four times, about 10 ms apart.

The TR-808 clap (Reid, Synth Secrets 36): several hands never clap at once, so the noise’s envelope restarts three times, about 10 ms apart, and the last strike rings out as the room.

Parameters

Name Type Description Default
polyphony int Hits that ring at once (default 1). 1

Attributes

Name Type Description
tune Centre of the noise band, Hz, 400 to 4000 (default 1100).
decay Time for the tail to fall 60 dB, seconds, 0.05 to 2 (default 0.3).
tone How much bright, unfiltered noise is mixed in, 0 to 1 (default 0.3).
volume Output level, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).

HiHat

HiHat(open=False, polyphony=1)

A hi-hat: the TR-808’s six inharmonic square waves, band-passed and high-passed.

Six square waves at the 808’s metallic frequencies (205.3 to 800 Hz, scaled by tune) through a band-pass near 9 kHz and a high-pass (Werner, Abel and Smith, ICMC 2014; Reid, Synth Secrets 37). A closed hat is short and an open one rings; every hi-hat is in one choke group, so a closed hat cuts a ringing open one short, as on the machine.

closed = kiln.HiHat()
opened = kiln.HiHat(open=True)
opened.hit()
closed.hit()            # chokes the open hat

Parameters

Name Type Description Default
open bool An open hat (rings, default decay 0.5 s) or a closed one (0.07 s). False
polyphony int Hits that ring at once (default 1). 1

Attributes

Name Type Description
tune The lowest square’s frequency, Hz, 100 to 600 (default 205.3).
decay Time to fall 60 dB, seconds, 0.02 to 3 (default 0.07, or 0.5 when open).
tone Brightness: moves the band, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).
open bool Whether it is an open hat (read-only).
volume Output level, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).

Tom

Tom(polyphony=1)

A tom: a pinged resonator with a small pitch drop, a click and a little noise.

The TR-808 toms (Reid, Synth Secrets 34): the kick’s recipe, higher and shorter, with some noise for the skin. Toms are made to be played at pitches: note_on(freq) plays a hit at freq.

Parameters

Name Type Description Default
polyphony int Hits that ring at once (default 1). 1

Attributes

Name Type Description
tune Pitch the drop lands on, Hz, 40 to 500 (default 110).
decay Time to fall 60 dB, seconds, 0.05 to 2 (default 0.35).
drop Starting pitch as a multiple of tune, 1 to 4 (default 1.4).
drop_time How long the pitch takes to land, seconds, 0 to 0.5 (default 0.12).
tone Level of the noise, 0 to 1 (default 0.3).
click Level of the attack click, 0 to 1 (default 0.2).
volume Output level, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).

Rimshot

Rimshot(polyphony=1)

A rimshot: two short pinged resonators, a click, a high-pass and drive.

After the TR-808 rim shot (Reid, Synth Secrets 35): a hard, woody knock.

Parameters

Name Type Description Default
polyphony int Hits that ring at once (default 1). 1

Attributes

Name Type Description
tune The lower resonator, Hz, 200 to 1500 (default 480); the upper one is 3.6 times it.
decay Time to fall 60 dB, seconds, 0.01 to 0.3 (default 0.04).
tone Level of the upper resonator, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).
drive Saturation, 0 to 1 (default 0.4).
volume Output level, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).

Cowbell

Cowbell(polyphony=1)

A cowbell: two square waves a fifth-ish apart, band-passed, struck and ringing.

The TR-808 cowbell (Reid, Synth Secrets 37): squares at 540 and 800 Hz through a band-pass, with a sharp strike that falls to a longer ring.

Parameters

Name Type Description Default
polyphony int Hits that ring at once (default 1). 1

Attributes

Name Type Description
tune The lower square, Hz, 200 to 1500 (default 540).
decay Time for the ring to fall 60 dB, seconds, 0.05 to 2 (default 0.3).
tone Brightness: moves the band up, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).
volume Output level, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).

Cymbal

Cymbal(polyphony=1)

A cymbal: the 808 metallic bank in two bands, the low one dying first.

Werner, Abel and Smith’s TR-808 cymbal (ICMC 2014): the hi-hat’s six squares, split into a band near 3.5 kHz with a short envelope and one near 8.5 kHz that shimmers for the whole decay.

Parameters

Name Type Description Default
polyphony int Hits that ring at once (default 1). 1

Attributes

Name Type Description
tune The lowest square’s frequency, Hz, 100 to 600 (default 205.3).
decay Time for the shimmer to fall 60 dB, seconds, 0.2 to 6 (default 1.6).
tone How much of the high band, 0 to 1 (default 0.6).
volume Output level, 0 to 1 (default 0.5).