Korg DDD-1
Dynamic Digital Drums (1986)

 

One of the firtst affordable digital drum machine with internal sequencer and 12 bits samples from this era.

DRUM MACHINE Main panel features a 16 x 2 lines backlit LCD display, 14 touch-sensitive pads, 32 push buttons and 2 sliders.

Back panel terminal connectors:
- Midi IN / OUT
- TAP tempo input
- 2 pedalswitch inputs for FILL-IN and start/stop function
- tape interface
- headphones out
- stereo out + 7 analog outs
- trigger out with polarity inversion
- metronome out
- 4 card slots for PCM waveforms + 1 RAM slot

 

SYSTEM main cpu 8 bits 78C10 (e.g NEC d78) manages 12 voices polyphony.
Each voice has an assigned PCM waveform or sample on internal EPROM, then sample can be edited with some parameters on the matrix chart system:

- 7 stereo panning positions - individual analog output assignement. - tune pitch (range: 128 steps) Hear

 

 

WAVETABLE the DDD-1 is a rompler machine with a 18 PCM ROM on board at crunchy 12 bits resolution mainly classic percussions.

PCM list: kick (x2), snare (x2), rimshot, hihat (x4), rides, crash, handclap, tomtom (x3), cowbell and cabasa.

EXPANSION the wavetable can be expanded using PCM cards memory card ROM also compatible with other DDD model. There are about 45 official Korg cards around plus third-part:

DDC-A01 Rock 1 DDC-A02 Rock 2 DDC-A03 Jazz 1 DDC-A04 Fusion 1* DDC-A05 E Drums 1 DDC-A06 E Drums 2 DDC-A07 Brushing 1* DDC-A08 Gate Reverb 1 DDC-A09 Gate Reverb 2 DDC-A10 Gate Reverb 3 DDC-A11 Gate Reverb 4 Electronic DDC-A12 Rock 3 / Ambience DDC-A13 Rock 4 / Hydraultic DDC-A14 Fusion 2 Fiberskin DDC-A15 E Drums 3 DDC-A16 Rhythm Box DDC-B01 Latin 1 DDC-B02 Latin 2 DDC-B03 Latin 3 DDC-B04 Latin 4 DDC-B05 Latin 5 DDC-B06 Japanese 1 DDC-B07 India 1

DDC-B08 Gate Percussion DDC-B09 African 1 DDC-B10 Gamelan DDC-C01 Orchestra 1 DDC-C02 Variation 1* DDC-C03 Orchestra 2 DDC-C04 Variation 2 DDC-C05 Variation 3 (Bass) DDC-C06 Reverse 1 DDC-C07 Finger Snaps DDC-C09 Variation 4 DDC-D01 Cymbal 1* DDC-D02 Cymbal 2 DDC-D03 Cymbal 3 DDC-D04 China Cymbal DDC-D05 Cymbal 4 DDC-E01 Timbales 1 DDC-E02 Bass Drum 1 DDC-E03 Snare Drum 1 DDC-E04 Snare Drum 2 DDC-E05 Sound Effect DDC-E06 Tom 1 DDC-E07 Bass Drum 2

PERFORMANCE each sound can be played in 3 different modes:

- MONO: sound is retriggered at each press - POLY: sound finishes the EG at retrig (possible overlap) - EXCLUSIVE for hihat :open and close hihat cannot be played together - MIDI sound mapping can be edited but no advanced exclusives management - of course sounds can be triggered by Midi with velocity but no special Control Change.

 

EXPANSION the DDD1 can be expanded using the optional and rare DSB-1 sampling board:

DSB-1 sampling board TECH : - 13,6 / 23,1 Khz - max recording time of 3.2 sec. recorded samples cannot be edited more than standard internal PCM.

ENVELOPE only the decay (16 steps) can be set for each percussion.

TIP: Pads sensibilities can be also set from the edit interface. Hear decay on crash

SEQUENCER patterns can be recorded in 2 modes:
- Real-time with metronome (quantisizer resolution from 1/4 to 1/96)
- Step by step mode.

Internal tempo can be set from 40 to 250 BPM (with possible speed variation an time signature) or sync to external Midi clock, tape sync, trigger in, tap button or pedalswitch tap. Roll, flames swing options (50-80%) are also programmable. Hear sequence

MEMORY:
- 10 songs
- 4458 notes
- 100 patterns
- 9999 bars.
BATTERY REPLACEMENT: a 3V CR-2032 soldered to the main board, a bit of skill is requirent for replacement. The recorded sequences can be stored to different destinations: magnetic tapes, Midi exclusives and RAM card model MCR-02 (128kb) but also compatible with MCR-03 (256kb) widely more used by workstation synthesizers like classic Korg M1.

MODIFICATIONS the most common modification is the circuit bending process for experimental lo-fi noises.

- picture of a model we made - SOON SOME SAMPLES.   HEAR circuit bending

 

 

RELATED FAMILY:

	DDD-5 little budget brother with less analog outs, but also different soundset, more samples and some rhythm presets. Less card slots, pads and no sampling option
	DRM-1 rackmount version with analog trigger and Midi. It features 23 PCM samples (different DDD1/DDD5 set) that can be phase-changed. The DRM-1 needs a special remote control to be operated: do not buy one without or you won't be able to use it.
	SQD-1 the sequencer in the series, looks like the same VIDEO

 

 

VST PLUGIN / SAMPLED VERSION there are some free and commercial samples set:

Logic-caffe

FREE DDD1 sample pack

 

 

 

GALLERY: