Synth DB

The Ultimate Synthesizer Database

Filter on ALL, SYNTH, DRUM, SAMPLER or MISC

Total list currently 2405 items in 330 Brands

MAM | ADX1

Description

The ADX1 is a compact, inexpensive, all-analog drum synthesizer from German synth manufacturer Music And More (MAM). It has 50 on-board knobs to tweak its five analog drum sounds. These include Bass, Synth, Snare, HiHat and Metal. Each sound has ten rotary knobs that can be used to adjust a variety of parameters for that sound, such as attack/decay/release, stereo panning, filter cutoff and resonance, volume, FM depth and tuning. Sound quality is a bit noisy and a bit dirty — but in a good, analog kind of way. The ADX1 is rack-mountable with a metal faceplate that has been seen in both blue and silver color schemes.

Unlike many other drum machines, the ADX1 is purely a synthesizer—there is no on-board pattern sequencer. There is also a complete lack of patch memory. However, there is MIDI I/O, stereo outputs, individual outputs for each sound, and on-board Trigger buttons to fire off each sound from the front-panel which is useful when crafting the sounds.

As mentioned, the sounds are all analog. And all those knobs do allow you to create some great analog drum sounds—the kind that you might hear from Kraftwerk or Nine Inch Nails. The Snare and HiHat sounds both feature "open" and "closed" variants. The sounds can be quite unique, but also fairly capable of emulating most of the classic analog drum sounds of the past such as those from the Roland X0X line, although the Bass doesn't seem to have the same punch as a 909 kick. The Snare is a lot like the classic Simmons machines. Its HiHat and Metal sounds seem to get the most praise from users around the interwebs. The envelope and filter controls on the HiHat allow for some really cool animated HiHat patterns. And the Metal sound is more of an analog-explosion sound, rather than a ride or crash.

The closest competitor to the ADX1 out there would probably be the Vermona DRM. However, the ADX1 is far cheaper and grittier. The ADX1 ceased production when MAM was bought/sold to another company called Terratec. Its combination of modern MIDI implementation and internal circuitry with old-school analog sounds and low-budget construction make the ADX1 an affordable supplement to your existing synth studio, as well as very fun and capable entry-level analog drum synthesizer.

BrandMAM
ModelADX1
DeviceDrum
TypeDesktop
Engine TypeAnalog
EngineDrum
Voices (max)5
Engine Detailed5 analog drum sounds.
Filter (VCF)Bandpass, plus up to 2 resonant filters, depending on the sound
Envelope (VCA)Attack, Decay, Release options depending on the sound
FXDistortion on the bass
Keys5
Key typeButtons
VelocityNo
AftertouchNo
AudioStereo and individual outputs for each sound.
MidiI-T
Produced:1999 - 1999
Legend: Obvious Y: Yes, N: No, N/A: Not Applicable
VCO Voltage Controlled Oscillator DCO Digital Controlled Oscillator
LFO Low Frequency Oscillator Sub Sub Oscillator
VCF Voltage Controlled Filter VCA Voltage Controlled Amplifier
Velocity As with a piano, the harder you hit a key, the louder the sound, unlike most organs which always produce the same loudness no matter how hard you hit a key. Aftertouch Pressing a key after you activated it. Channel Aftertouch, no matter which key, it will send a Channel message. Poly Aftertouch, sends the pressure per key instead of the whole channel.
Values for OSC, LFO, Filter, Envelope are per voice unless stated otherwise.

Manuals, patches etc.

Facebook

If you like to discuss or talk about synths in all forms (including VST and modular), you are welcome to join the Facebook group "The Hard, The Soft and The Modular".

My music

Interested in music from "Synthisfactory" or "SX Instrumentals"?

Visit our website.

Contact Us

Did you find an error in the info or do you have an item to list? Go to the Contribution page, fill out the form and I'll see what I can do.