Recording - March 2013 - 30

RECORDING'S

SHOWCASE OF SOUNDS

Rob Papen Punch
By Devon Brent

Powerful and compelling digital drum sounds, alone or mixed with live drums, are
a vital element of modern music production in styles ranging from pop and hip
hop/R&B to electronic dance music and even some genres of rock. Loop libraries
are one option for recording musicians and engineers/producers in these genres,
but many rhythm creators prefer to build beats on their own with hardware or software drum machines, either loaded with single-hit samples or using synthesis to generate drum sounds on the go.
For folks like that, the search for the “ultimate” drum sound generator is an endless but enjoyable journey. So naturally Rob Papen’s entry into this realm, called
Punch, piqued my curiosity.
Rob’s products should be well-known to our readers; most recently (April 2012)
Mike Metlay reviewed eXplorer, the comprehensive bundle of synths and effects that
includes pretty much everything Rob sells; both Punch and the new Blade synthesizer (review forthcoming), which hadn’t shipped last year, are now available on
their own or as part of the newest version of eXplorer. Time to dig in and find out
what Rob and crew have cooked up for us this time around!
What is Punch?
Punch has all the elements a good drum program should have: a flexible sound
engine, a pattern-based sequencer, a plethora of effects, plenty of modulation
options, and an effective mixer. Let’s take a look at the various sections in detail.
Punch combines the best of both worlds when it comes to sound generation, providing both synthesis and sample playback options. There are a total of 24 drum
“pads” to modify in Punch:
Delivery: Digital download
Formats: VST/RTAS 32 and 64 bits for Windows XP/Vista/7; VST/AU/RTAS
32 and 64 bits for Mac OS X 10.5 (also available in 32-bit
only for OS X 10.4)
Copy Protection: Serial Number
License: Single user, two computers (once registered)
Documentation: PDF manual
Price: $179
More from: Rob Papen, www.robpapen.com
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RECORDING March 2013

~ two Bass Drums with four synthesis
models and 24 samples
~ two Snare Drums with two models and
65 samples
~ two Open and two Closed Hi-Hats with
three models and 11 pairs of samples
~ three TomTom/User slots with two models and 11 samples
~ two Claps with three models and 15
samples
~ three User Drum slots with nine models
and 128 samples
~ eight dual-Sample playback slots, each
with a fair number of amplitude, pitch, filter, and envelope controls.
At the end of the audio line for each of
these pads is the ability to send the audio
Out to one of eight outputs in stereo pairs,
either dry or via one of the four effects
processors. If you’ve loaded the multi version of the VST, these outs would correspond
to the eight output channels of the plug-in.
Below the output select for a given pad,
you can set which one of four Choke groups
the pad belongs to (think hi-hat choking,
which basically stops an open hi-hat sound
from playing, for added realism, once a
closed hi-hat sound plays). There are also
settings for volume, velocity, and pan, and
finally 19 distortion algorithms with two
independent controls that are based on the
distortion effect chosen. For example, when
the Bit algorithm is selected, the Distortion
knob provides the ability to choose how
many bits of resolution the audio is being
crushed into, from 16 down to only 1.
No drum machine, to me, is complete
without a built-in sequencer. Punch provides
eight independent patterns (four for the
Groove, and four for Breaks) with 16 steps
apiece. Each pattern can have from one to
four of the pads assigned to the individual
pattern. Each step in the sequencer provides
a trigger for the step, Velocity, Panning,
Tuning, Flam, Envelope Speed, Offset of
when the sample will start playback during
that step, and a Free Modulation control
source. Below that you can adjust swing control, flam time, “humanize” the performance,
modify the start and end step parameters to
select which of the 16 sequential steps will
play back in loop mode, set the loop speed,
and lock the loop programming to always
be there even if you switch presets.
The Mixer page of Punch is quite
straightforward; each of the 24 pads has
its own Volume and Pan knob, and the
four FX modules have Mix and Pan controls. Simple, yet complete.
The Mod/FX page provides two basic
envelopes and two LFOs, each with source
and destination, along with eight freely assignable modulation source and destination parameters. While the modulation sources and
destinations are plentiful, not every parameter
can be set as a destination. Strangely absent
from the destination selections are most of the
features in the sequencer.

http://www.robpapen.com

Recording - March 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - March 2013