Ruismaker Noir

What it does

A monophonic drum synth wrapped around its own step sequencer. Notes are dots placed on a grid, where height sets pitch and the size of the dot sets weight, and a pattern runs from eight up to 32 steps with adjustable resolution and shuffle. The voice pairs two oscillators with FM, ring and x-ring modulation, a noise source, filters, and a grip and bit driver stage for dirt. Modify, mutate and a dice button shuffle the pattern or the patch. It can also send MIDI out to drive other instruments.

In the demo

Jade opens a 20 minute AUM sketch running six instances, then builds a patch from an empty grid. She splits one instance into two sounds using the VCO balance, loads a free 147-preset pack, and stacks three instances over a GarageBand drummer track.

Worth knowing

It is monophonic, so a full kit means several instances, one per part. Mutate and modify have no undo, which matters if you have not saved.