| Released in 1988, the DD10
was never intended as a 'pro' piece of kit - instead (as can be
seen from the drawing to the right which was taken from the original
operator's manual!), it was aimed at the home market for those who
fancied banging out a few beats in a self-contained. self-amplified
'laptop' unit. It also had preset patterns which you could play
along with. The sounds are 8-bit (at a push!) with a low bandwidth
and several sounds share the same samples at different pitches (for
example, the crash cymbal appears to be the ride cymbal slowed down!)
and with no interpolation or anti-aliasing, the transposed samples
are very crunchy.
The pads were velocity sensitive, albeit only at two
levels - half volume and maximum volume! The sounds could be played
with velocity using the unit's limited MIDI spec though.
However, none of these limitations stopped creative musicians
utilsing it in their music. With 26 drum, percussion and sound effects
samples available, its low cost appealed very much to musos on a
budget.
Frankly speaking, the sounds (by and large) are absolute
rubbish and some don't even bear any resemblance to their label!
However, they do have a lo-fi charm all their own which might add
some distinctive spice to a track. |
