We’ve picked out some of the best Eurorack drum modules for creating drum sounds within your modular synth rig. We’ll discuss some different approaches and hopefully find an option that works with your setup.
If your goal is to make music with your modular system, drums will come into the picture sooner or later. Luckily, there are various approaches you can take with drum modules to create a workflow that suits your musical style.
Choosing The Best Eurorack Drum Modules
While some modules generate sounds with analogue oscillators, others use digital wavetables or sampling engines with the power to load your own sounds. Moreover, certain designs give you multiple voices, but others provide extensive sound design capabilities.
We’ve selected modules that fall into different categories, each offers value in its own right. Your personal taste will determine whether you want a vintage drum machine module or something more versatile.
ADDAC 103 T-Networks
If you’re looking for analogue drum machine sounds, the 103 T-Networks module provides 4 voices in a compact 6 HP format. It’s capable of authentically reproducing anything from clicks, claves, and rimshots, to bass drums, toms, and congas.
Overall, the workflow is straightforward, and having a main mix output as well as individual outputs is a very useful feature as this allows you to route and process each voice individually.
Tiptop Audio BD909
The single-voice approach to drum modules is also relevant in minimalistic music production workflows, so TipTop Audio modules such as the 8 HP BD909 are great at providing a well-known sound with plenty of tonal shaping options.
TipTop Audio offers a range of modules inspired by the famous Roland TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines. So if space isn’t a factor, this is a nice way to build your own modular drum machine.
vpme.de QD
As the name suggests, the Quad Drum Voice is a 22 HP 4-voice drum module with a choice of 3 different sound sources per voice. These include drum modeling, wavetables, and sample playback with controls for pitch, decay time, and an additional unique parameter for each sound generator.
The module allows up to 1024 samples or wavetables to be loaded via the microSD card slot. What’s more, there is a stereo mixer and 3-band EQ with compression. The QD can also be expanded with the QEX.
Jomox ModBase 09 MKII
Although it comes at a considerable expense for a module that’s only dedicated to generating kick drum sounds, the 20 HP ModBase 09 MKII offers a wide range of creative features for those who want to design their own unique kicks from scratch.
All four of the CV inputs are assignable, and you can alter the tune, pitch, decay, harmonics, pulse, noise, attack, and EQ, which gives you plenty of flexibility. There’s also memory for 100 presets which is great for an analogue module.
Endorphin.es Queen Of Pentacles
The Queen Of Pentacles is a monster 30 HP drum module with 7 voices, including 3 analogue voices for bass drum, snare, and clap, as well as 4 sample-based voices.
Each instrument has its own trigger input, accent/velocity input, trigger button, level control, and output, and there are 16 different effects to choose from. The only drawback is the position of the microSD card slot, on the rear panel.
Also worth checking out:
More about the Eurorack drum modules:
Videos:
*Note: This article about eurorack drum modules contains affiliate links that help us fund our site. Don’t worry: the price for you always stays the same! If you buy something through these links, we will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!
