Return of the Analogue Drum Machine – Synth Journal
Plus Upgrade Your Vintage Yamaha Monosynth!
3,4 / 5,0 | 
Before the dawn of the Linn LM-1, all of our beats came from analogue drum machines. These approximations ranged from crunchy to punchy, and their appeal has never waned!
Synth Journal
Amiteque AR-110 Analogue Drum Synthesizer
The first of our analogue drum machines (ok, this is more an analogue drum synth than an analogue drum machine as there is no sequencer) this week is the very cute-looking Amiteque AR-110, a new Kickstarter-funded project from Canada. It’s a very clean, stylish little unit with five drum sounds, all triggered over MIDI.
There’s Kick, Snare, Hi-Hat, Cymbal, and Claps. Each drum sound has its own level control as well as its own individual audio out for independent processing. There’s also a Main Mix Out and as you connect each individual output up, it is subtracted from the main mix.
There’s a single MIDI In 5-pin DIN socket and a mains connection (PSU supplied), and two LED lights. One for power, the other for MIDI In activity. It’s all that simple! The unit responds to MIDI Channel 10 and can be triggered by any MIDI device connected to it, be it a DAW, keyboard, drum pad controller, etc.
That’s it! Nice and simple, compact, and it actually sounds really nice! Best of all, if you jump on the Super Early Bird deal, it will only cost you £67 before shipping, which is estimated to be around August of 2025. When the early birds have gone, the price rises ever so slightly to £73.
For these prices, this is a cracking little unit that deserves to do very well indeed! You can check out all the details on their website, and then head over to their Kickstarter to make a pledge. As always, Kickstarters do have a risk factor, so it’s a case of ‘caveat emptor’, but with units already filtering out to certain ‘Synthfluencers’, I think we can feel somewhat confident about this one!
Audio.Computer Beat Friend Analogue Drum Machine
Our next analogue drum machine comes from Audio.Computer. This one is somewhat more complex compared to the AR-110 we spoke about earlier. This new unit, from a new U.K.-based duo, features six sounds, each with their own slider which adds complexity to that sound’s triggering within one of the 30 preset patterns.
Yes, that’s right. Preset Patterns. But fret ye not. You can address each drum sound individually over MIDI. The drum sounds are created using analogue circuits based on the Roland CR-78, so you kinda know what sound you’re going to get with this!
As well as shaping the individual sounds, there’s the curiously named ‘Enthusiasm’ knob which, I am told, adds or subtracts notes randomly to either increase or decrease its… er… enthusiasm? And the ‘Jazz’ knob increases or decreases the jazziness of the pattern.
Speaking of the patterns, of which there are 30, you can adjust the tempo and time signature, and a small LCD screen shows you your selection, as well as showing where your drum hits are landing. Finally, there are some digital and analogue effects built in, but Audio.Computer have been a bit sketchy on what these actually are!
The instructions simply say that they ‘unbalance the system’, so I guess we shall leave it at that. There’s also a variable fill button which adds yet more unpredictable but fun behaviour! Interestingly, the Beat Friend can output everything over MIDI, so when you’ve got your unique pattern rolling, just hit record on your DAW and capture it, or hook it up to your favourite other drum machine for even more fun!
The first batch has sold out, but another is in production, expected to ship in November/December of 2025. The Beat Friend analogue drum machine will set you back £500 of your British Pounds and is available to buy from Soundgas. Check it out at Audio.Computer’s website.
SynthCompanionApps OB-6 Companion App
Right, I think that will do with the analogue drum machines for now. I do like a good, dedicated librarian/editor for my hardware synths, and SynthCompanionApps have just followed up their Sequential Prophet 6 app with one for the Oberheim OB-6. Billed as the ‘ultimate second screen’ for your OB-6, this is a tool at home in your studio or on stage.
You can easily browse all the patches on your synth, or stick it in Performance Mode for a nice, large, clear view of your patches. There’s an ingenious clipboard function that allows you to copy and paste entire patches from one location to another, or just parts of that patch.
A Listen feature allows you to compare two patches with each other, as well as a handy A/B preview feature. You can finetune and recall parameters, as well as lock those in place and sharing sounds via import and export has never been easier.
On the surface, it doesn’t look much, but there’s a lot of cool stuff going on under the hood and OB-6 users will be very happy with what it gives them. And best of all, it’s available for both Mac (Universal Mac/iPad/iPhone), Android and Windows. You can grab your preferred format on the Mac, Microsoft and Android app stores for just £24.99/$24.99.
Tubbutec CeeS MIDI Interface for Yamaha CS-10, CS-15 and CS-30
I’ve left the most niche item till last because I’d wager that not an awful lot of you own a Yamaha CS-10, CS-15 or CS-30. But if you do, this will make you reach for your wallets! Tubbutec has just announced its CeeS MIDI upgrade for these three analogue classics.
Nothing too fancy, just all the sockets, wires, PCB and screws you will need, along with a lovely matching overlay that fits right into the synth’s decor! But there’s a little more going on here because as well as adding MIDI, this upgrade also adds a bunch of additional filter modulation sources!
You can now control filter cutoff and resonance via MIDI CC, and there’s an additional LFO for each filter with multiple waveforms and optional MIDI Clock Sync. You can also link velocity and aftertouch to the LFO amount and frequency along with the filter cutoff.
Furthermore, Tubbutec have created the CeeS hardware controller to give you knob-per-function control over all of these amazing additions. It’s an optional extra, but I imagine the draw will be strong to anyone fitting the upgrade kit.
The CeeS Upgrade kit costs €167 for the CS-10 kit, and €178 for the CS-15 or CS-30 kit, whilst the optional controller will set you back €255.
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