A personal journey through sound.

Grendel Drone Commander

Posted: July 6th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: gear, music, sound design, synthesis

Of COURSE I had to get it in red.

Hand-built one at a time by Eric Archer, the Grendel Drone Commander is a two-oscillator synth built inside of a metal surplus ammo box. Its apparent simplicity belies its sonic complexity. I’m still feeling my way around the thing, but I wanted to post an example of what it makes possible. (Next step: Play with CV control!)

This heavy, drone-y, smeary track was created using only the Grendel Drone Commander, recorded live thee times, each on a different track, in Logic Pro (with a few plug-ins as well).

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/18374428″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=ee0000″ width=”100%” height=”81″ ]

| 7 Comments »

7 Comments on “Grendel Drone Commander”

  1. 1 AzimuthAudio said at 7:07 am on July 13th, 2011:

    That is super cool. I am thinking I am going to have to get one of those. Is it easy to turn it off and next time you boot it up get the same sound? Or is it like analogue synths where you may never find that perfect sound again?

  2. 2 Nathan said at 9:49 am on July 13th, 2011:

    @Azimuth Audio: It’s not _like_ an analog(ue) synth, it _IS_ an analog synth. You can’t store patches beyond the knob settings, and warming it up does make a difference in the sound. Generally, yes, after a warm-up period, it sounds about the same as the last time it was turned on. Analog gear isn’t for everyone, and I’d not want a studio filled with only analog equipment…but for immediacy, getting inspired, sketching, and producing raw tones for beds of sound, the Grendel Drone Commander is amazing!

  3. 3 Colin Hart said at 8:00 pm on July 13th, 2011:

    Ugh… Now I want one!

    Great stuff :-)

  4. 4 Chris said at 8:34 am on July 23rd, 2011:

    Phenomenal. May have to take the plunge.

  5. 5 Tracy Harms said at 3:20 pm on October 1st, 2014:

    Hi, Nathan,

    I got my Drone Commander a couple weeks ago, and I’m so happy with it! Thanks for posting recordings you’ve made with yours, as I’m quite insatiably hungry for the DC sound these days.

    T

  6. 6 eihcrA said at 8:21 pm on March 12th, 2015:

    I wish I never saw this. Need. :)

  7. 7 Autokhthon said at 1:48 pm on July 14th, 2017:

    now i need 4 of them !

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