Thwomp

Thwomp is a four oscillator drum synthesizer for Max for Live. It's a subtractive synthesizer that specializes in making drum sounds with the following features:

• Fixed frequency by default, as most drum sounds aren't played chromatically.
• Prominent pitch envelope for creating kick drums.
• No sustain or release, because those aren't features of percussive instruments.

Thwomp's interface is designed to be transparent and predictable, e.g., every parameter is labeled with its unit type.

Installation

Freezing the .amxd

Before the device is added to the User Library in Ableton Live or Ableton Push, the device should be frozen.

The latest version of the frozen device can be downloaded from the Thwomp page on the Max for Live site.

The device can be frozen manually by following these steps:

1. Open Ableton Live and drag Thwomp/Thwomp.amxd to the Device area (where it says Drop an instrument or Sample here).
2. Click the disclosure icon in the upper right of the device and choose Edit in Max.
3. In the Max window, click the Freeze Device icon in the bottom bar that looks like a snow flake, then choose File > Save As... to save the frozen device to a temporary location.

Note that this file can be deleted after the device has been added to the User Library.

Installing in Ableton Live

Drag the frozen Thwomp.amxd to the User Library (e.g., under User Library/Presets/Instruments/Max Instrument/).

Installing in Ableton Push standalone mode

1. Launch Push in standalone mode
2. In Live's sidebar, select Places > Push
3. Drag the frozen Thwomp.amxd to Places > Push > User Library (e.g., under User Library/Presets/Instruments/Max Instrument/ [note that in the Push Use Library this folder is not create by default like it is in the Live User Library]).

Using the Device on Push

After Thwomp has been installed in the Push User Library, the device can be added by choosing it under Device > User Library.

Opening in Max Directly

To open in Max directly without Live, open Thwomp/Thwomp.maxpat, Thwomp has some some additional features when opened outside of Live:

• Button: Trigger the MIDI note
• Pitch: Select the MIDI note pitch
• Velocity: Select the MIDI note velocity
• DAC Toggle: Toggles whether the audio engine is on
• Typing the letter "s" plays the note

Global Parameters

• Volume: The volume of all of the oscillators combined.
• Oscillator Tabs 1-4: Select an oscillator

Presets

• R: Read presets from a file
• W: Write the presets to a file
• OW: When toggled on, W will automatically write again to the sample file
• To recall a preset, click a box
• To save a preset, shift-click a box
• To delete a preset, shift-option-click a box

Oscillator Parameters

Waveform

• Osc Toggle: Toggle the oscillator on or off
• Waveform
• Note Toggle: Toggle whether to use the incoming MIDI note frequency (when off, the frequency is specified)
• Freq: Specify a frequency (only visible when note is off)
• Semi: Specify a semitone offset (only visible when note is on)

Pitch Envelope

• Pitch Envelope Graph
• Amount: Pitch envelope amount
• Duration: Pitch envelope decay

Filter

• Filter Toggle: Toggle the filter on or off
• Filter Type
• Freq: Filter cutoff
• Q: Filter Q

Envelope

• Attack: Attack
• Decay: Decay

Push Parameters

Thwomp support Ableton Push. When using Push, the leftmost knob always chooses the selected Oscillator. There's four different banks that allow all of Thwomp's parameters to be accessed.

Banks

• Main
• Oscillator
• Envelope
• Filter

Presets

The following presets are built-in, they're numbered from the upper left to the lower right (so the upper right preset is the kick).

1. Kick

Oscillator 1 (Body)

• 65Hz
• Cycle
• 2ms Attack
• 383ms Decay
• 0db Gain

Pitch Envelope

• 120Hz Amount
• 100ms Decay

Oscillator 2 (Transient/Click)

• 251Hz
• Rect
• 0ms Attack
• 26ms Decay
• -10db Gain

Filter

• bandpass
• 500Hz
• 5.6Q

2. Snare

Oscillator 1 (Body)

• 175Hz
• Cycle
• 1ms Attack
• 60ms Decay
• -6db Gain

Filter

• highpass
• 40hz
• 0.66Q

Oscillator 2 (Noise)

• Noise
• 0ms Attack
• 140ms Decay
• -40db Gain

Filter

• highpass
• 1000hz
• 0.4Q

3. Tom

Oscillator 1 (Body)

• 110Hz
• Cycle
• 2ms Attack
• 500ms Decay
• -8db Gain

Pitch Envelope

• 12Hz Amount
• 300ms Decay

Filter

• highpass
• 50hz
• 0.3Q

Oscillator 2 (Noise)

• Pink
• 2ms Attack
• 200ms Decay
• -30db Gain

Filter

• lowpass
• 1200hz
• 0.3Q

4. Hi-Hat

Oscillator 1 (Noise)

• Noise
• 0ms Attack
• 150ms Decay
• -4db Gain

Filter

• highpass
• 6000Hz
• 0.3Q

5. Bongo

Oscillator 1 (Pitch 1)

• 1100Hz
• Saw
• 0ms Attack
• 125ms Decay
• -30db Gain

Filter

• lowpass
• 1100Hz
• 3Q

Oscillator 2 (Pitch 2)

• 725Hz
• Cycle
• 0ms Attack
• 125ms Decay
• -10db Gain

Filter

• lowpass
• 8000Hz
• 0.3Q

Oscillator 3 (Noise)

• Pink
• 0ms Attack
• 200ms Decay
• -20db Gain

Filter

• lowpass
• 12000Hz
• 0.3Q