The Jomox 'AirBass99'..... Not a NATO secret air raid headquarters... but a superb new analog drumrack..... First we had the XBase09... a real analog drum box with full midi control and a built-in X0X style sequencer... Now Jomox are really rolling with several new products out... and the AirBass99 is one of them....If you're in the market for a new dance drum unit to do analog styles such as 808 909 etc, then outside of samplers or sample-rom based drum boxes with some analog-drum-box samples onboard there is very little to choose from... The Drumstation from Novation is excellent using analog-modelling... But for real analog, I'm not aware of any other units on the market apart from these ones from Jomox....and they really are superb instruments with a massive amount of sound-shaping potential....
In essence the AirBass is a reworked XBase09 in a 1U rack with no sequencer. It has the same real analog generated Kik & Snare drum, but it adds 2 real analog generated Toms to the sound arsenal.... As with the XBase09, these instruments have a massive tuning range, and real analog filters
The rest of the sounds (Hi Hat, Clap, Rim Shot, Crash, Ride), follow the original 909 etiquette of being 8 bit rom based samples.... But with the AirBass, there are a few differences.....
Now with the table-top Xbase09 drum machine, you got a sequencer.... The rom samples were not polyphonic.... but the 09 was still incredibly versatile cos the sequencer section allowed you to allocate different samples &/or controller levels for individual beats of patterns... Where the AirBass differs is that now ALL the samples can play at the same time... fully polyphonic.... Not only that, but each sound has a seperate output !!... 10 outs in total !!!...
All these ROM samples have a seperate dedicated real VCF (analog filter to newbies)...so you get 10 drums... all playable simultaneously... each with dedicated output... each with real analog filter... and the whole lot is midi controllable.. AND... all ROM samples can playback in reverse... aha !....
So.... all in all a bloody formidable unit... these Jomox drum boxes can go WAY beyond simple vintage analog drum-box sounds.... In effect you are buying an analog drum synthesiser with all the creativity that implies.... these units will do garage to industrial....
It's a 12V AC wall-wart power supply... 1U rack with midi In, out, thru... and you get a headphone socket & an audition trigger button to setup preset kits without having to attatch a controller unit.... nice...
Also you get huge amounts of preset storage, with 1024 programmable presets and 500 rom presets... so it comes with 500 setup ready to go kits !!!.... blimey...
Well... There you have it.... bit late getting this item added, but I just got out of hibernation from re-doing the new site.... I'll try to get a real-audio demo for it... but in the meantime, check out the XBase09 demo audio... cos this unit gets pretty much the same sounds........ Here's the spec's...
| Instruments | Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Hi Tom, Low Tom, Hi Hat, Clap, Rim Shot, Crash, Ride |
| Presets | 1024 User RAM, 500 ROM |
| Sound Production | BD, SD, HITOM, LOTOM: fully analog like XBase 09 HH, CLP, RIM, CRH, RID: ROM-Sample with analog envelope |
| Envelopes | Analog Envelope for ROM-Section with attack, peaktime; decay for each ROM-Instrument |
| Number of Voices | 9 times fully polyphonic, hi hat open/close with separate out |
| Filter | The hi hat can be routed into an analog filter. ROM or noise signal can be the signal source. Filter is a 2pole resonant with one highpass / one lowpass, each is an individual parameter |
| LFO's | 2, assignable to different parameters |
| Display | LCD 2x16 characters |
| Midi | In, Out, Thru |
| User interface | 1 data wheel, 6 illumiated buttons |
| Outputs | 10 individual out, stereo mix, headphone, all 1/4³ jacks |
Output Level | about +4dBu at level maximum on all outputs |
| Supply | external wall socket adapter 12V AC/AC |
So... There it is... Get over to the JOMOX site... Comments please ladies & gentlemen !....
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