Pittsburgh Modular has expanded their experimental Safari series with Llama & Polar Bear, non TR-based kick and snare Eurorack drum modules
For some time now, the US-based company Pittsburgh Modular has been breaking new ground. With their Safari series, they regularly show Eurorack modules with designs right from the research lab desk. The safari range of modules aim to be exploratory and offer concepts that have yet to be proven whether they are suitable for a large product release. So proof of concept designs.
The Flamigo module, for example, explored a particular circuit by Don Buchla. The two new ones are unique kick and snare drum modules.
PGH says that both new modules have the goal of creating realistic percussive sounds without replicating timbres from vintage drum machines. So it’s not a 808 or 909 kick or snare.
Pittsburgh Modular Llama
Llama (6HP) is a unique kick drum module that is described as a majestic creature known almost exclusively for the unique way it generates kick drum sounds when it is angry. Instead to a vintage unit, it pays tribute to this soulful, sonic wonder.
It is a physical kick drum that uses an all-analogm, modified lowpass/gate circuitry. The module carries a beautifully designed red Llama artwork and has 4 parameters for tweaking the sound. The controls were named to describe the function they aim to emulate on a physical drum says Pittsburgh Modular.
Vibration sets the LFO frequency great for adding variations, breater adjusts the attack of the kick, and tension sets the decay aka tightness of the drum head. Connection side, you get a tension CV input with an attenuator, a trigger jack and socket that outputs the kick drum sound.
Pittsburgh Polar Bear
Polar Bear is a 6HP snare drum module that follows the same analog physical modeling synthesis idea as Llama. Also here, the module carries a lovely designed artwork of a polar bear with four controls.
Snares sets the amount of noise that tuned to emulate the sound of snares, tension adjusts the decay, and head is the head balance control. The latter allows you discover the bottom, top or a mix of both heads.
Further, you get a CV input for the bottom head with a dedicated attenuator with a good amount of flexibility. You can plug in either a gate, trigger, or CV to trigger or modulate the pitch of the bottom head.
Both Llama & Polar Bear also features brand-new colored knobs that premieres in the modules.
Soundwise very unique modules that have little to do with traditional drum modules. Very variable, organic in sound in my opinion. Not only do they sound different, they also look not like any other module.And in the video you can see there will be more modules in the future like the wolf, we can be curious.
Pittsburg Modular Llama kick and Polar Bear snare modules are available now for $199 USD each. They are available in a run of 200 modules.
More information here: Pittsburgh Modular
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