Latvia based Erica Synths newest drum machine takes its name from Pērkons, (Latvian: “Thunderer”) an ancient sky deity of Baltic religion. In mythology Pērkons is often depicted as a vigorous, bearded man wiElding an ax and riding across the sky in his two-wheeled chariot, unleashing fire, thunder and storms.
With an impressive looking, cyan colored drum machine that has a name inspired by an ancient sky diety, and coming as it does from the Erica Synths team, it’s safe to say this is one serious drum machine with plenty of attitude!
The Pērkons HD-01 boasts 4 hybrid voices each of which features a digital sound engine (which can function in 3 different modes) plus a tasty analog multimode (high pass, lo pass and band pass types) filter with overdrive.
8 controls per voice.
The Pērkons HD-1 features 8 controls per voice and parameter automation with a modulation LFO that can be assigned to all parameters.
Is the Pērkons HD-01 drum machine good for techno?
The Pērkons HD-01 drum machine is a powerful synthesizer with everything you need to create aggressive and dirty sounding beats. The Perkons sound palette is incredibly versatile thanks to its multi-mode digital voices and this is an ideal piece of gear for creating dark, heavy and hard hitting techno and electronica type sounds.
Does the Pērkons HD-0I have a sequencer?
The Pērkons HD-OI features a 4 track sequencer with 4 time divisions and 4 time multiplications per track, per-step ratchets and probabilities and 4 different shuffle algorithms.
Does the Erica Synths Pērkons HD-0I have individual outs?
Each of the 4 voices has individual outputs plus individual sends and returns.
How many kits can be stored on the Pērkons HD-0I?
The Pērkons HD-OI features enough internal storage space for 64 kits plus 64 patterns. You can store more kits and patterns on an SD card.
Can the Perkons drum machine sample?
The Perkons HD-01 drum machine is a 4 voice digital synth. It does not feature sampling capabilities.
What built-in effects does the Perkons HD-0I have?
The Pērkons HD-OI features a built-in analog bucket brigade style delay plus an optical compressor.
Is the Perkons HD-01 drum machine battery operated?
No.
Does the Perkons HD-0I have MIDI?
The Pērkons HD-OI has MIDI IN and MIDI OUT.
How much is the Perkons drum machine?
The Pērkons HD-01 retails for 1650 EUR/1999 USD making it a premium priced drum machine.
The Pērkons HD-01 in action (first look video)
3 alternatives to the Pērkons HD-01 drum machine:
If you’re looking for a good alternative to the Pērkons drum machine then check out:
1. Arturia Brute Impact: Considerably cheaper than the Pērkons, the Arturia Impact is a wallet friendly analog drum machine capable of delivering a dirty, gritty and powerful sounds via its 10 voices. The Impact features a powerful step sequencer with Polyrhythm capabilities, optional ‘Color’ sound-shaping and individual audio outputs for the Kick, Snares, Hats and FM Sound. (www.arturia.com)
2. Analog Rytm: A techno producers Swiss army knife of sounds, Elektron’s box of tricks serves up all the booming kick drums, snarling snares, cavernous toms and cutting hats you might need thanks to its 8 drum voices each of which features uniquely tuned synthesis models for creating percussive sounds and more. Going beyond the Pērkons HD-01 in terms of sound sculpting capabilities, the Analog Rytm lets you capture/import samples and layer your digital samples on top of the analog synthesis voices. (www.elektron.se)
3. Vermona DRM1 MKIV: At roughly half the price of the Pērkons HD-01 the Vermona DRM1 MKIV is a “bread and butter” analogue drum synthesizer and a viable alternative to the Pērkons HD-01 thanks to its somewhat similar “hard” sound palette suitable for both techno and dark electronica in particular. The Vermona DRM1 MKIV features 8 instrument voices, 10 analog outputs and 73 controls for real-time access to all parameters. Unlike the Pērkons HD-01 the Vermona DRM1 MKIV does not have a step sequencer nor any master effects (some voices feature either a reverb or filter control).(www.vermona.com)