E-drums in Something remake

A new track which features heavy use of electronic percussion is rocketing up the charts with more than a million views in just two weeks. The remake of the Beatles’ Something by producer Charlie Z (AKA DRMAGDN) with vocals by Michelle Ray from The Voice is topping Spotify playlists and getting heavy play on Soundcloud, Instagram and YouTube. The drummer/DJ/producer tells digitalDrummer that the track was recorded into Ableton using an extensive gear array that includes a Roland SPD-SX LE. “I have a host of plugins I used to create the entire track from the ground up myself on Ableton. No Beatles Samples were used on this since I had to change the key to fit Michelle Ray’s vocal range,” he explains. “After […]

Roland unveils new SPD

Roland has released a new SPD-SX PRO, the first significant upgrade to the sampling pad in more than 10 years. Visually, the new multipad device looks very similar to the model it is replacing, but under the skin, there are significant changes. For players, perhaps the most striking (pardon the pun) change is the improved triggering on pads 1 to 3, the upper row of trigger bars. Pad 3, in particular, was prone to ‘flaky’ triggering, and all three were always less sensitive than the six main pads. The new version also boasts improved pad crosstalk protection. The other obvious change is the enlarged display which is now a colour screen – but still not a touch screen. Roland says […]