Drum Kits, Product Reviews
Deebox Chopra: Drum Box to 2″ Tape Review
Mar
Deebox Chopra: Drum Box to 2″ Tape Review
There are drums everywhere! Sometimes it can be overwhelming. Some of my producer peers say ” I’m sticking with my old drums” and be stubborn about. “If it Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix it” But what about revamped. Or like your favorite piece of furniture reupholstered? The homies from 100 Akres presents: Deebox-Chopra, a redesign of classic 1980’s drums machine processed through a series of signal chains and pathways.
What is a signal chain? This is the process of adding compressors, equalizers, or effects in a certain order before reaching the final output. The Deebox kit utilizes 8 different paths using 2″ tape machine, DBX 160XT, API 550 EQ, Pultec EQ and a Holy Grail pedal. With just 1 kit of kicks, snares, percussion and toms; it totals to over 700 samples in 16bit/44.1kHz that are slightly different in tones and textures. Checkout the 8 Signal Chains:
Preset 1 – API 550a-> Pultec EQ-> DBX 160XT-> 2” tape
Preset 2 – API 550a-> 2” tape
Preset 3 – API 550a
Preset 4 – holy grail (dry)-> API 550a-> Pultec EQ-> DBX 160XT-> 2” tape
Preset 5 – holy grail (wet)-> API 550a-> Pultec EQ-> DBX 160XT, 2” tape
Preset 6 – Pultec EQ-> DBX 160XT-> 2” tape
Preset 7 – Pultec EQ-> 2” tape
Preset 8 – 2” tape
Within each sound folder are a “Driven” folder then a “Light Saturation”. 100 Akres explains that the “Driven” folder will tend to have less tape hiss and more of the gentle distortion. While the “Light Saturation” folder will present more tape hiss but less overall saturation.
As I load the sounds within Maschine, I notice that these old school sounds punch with just as much force as some of the newer created sound kits. And with the different signal paths, there is a great variety. Whether using the sounds alone or stacking up, the Deebox Chopra is a great tool to have in the drum chamber. I have used these joints on some sound replacement to give beats a little more that was missing originally. For example I was working on a song that I produced with all the vocals loaded. The snare wasn’t cutting through as well so I imported one from Preset 7 and it worked out great; subtle but very effective.
With an amazing price listed at $14.99, copping the Deebox Chopra kit is something you can not pass up! Great for any sound geek to have on the hard drive.
