The Dynacord ADD-One (advanced digital drums) is a German-manufactured, American-designed drum machine that was first released in 1986. It uses recorded samples to produce its sounds through analog voltage-controlled envelopes and analog filters with resonance, to self-oscillation per voice. It comes with 1 Mbyte of memory and can be upgraded up to 8 Mbytes.

Sample rate and bit rate

The unit can sample up to 50 kHz at 12-bits for up to 20 seconds. Actually it is 8 bits with 4 bits of companding according to one of the designers Michael Doidic. The sample rate and therefore the pitch is variable, like the Fairlight and E-mu EII and other earlier samples, via the 8 separate DACs - variable pitch via sample clock rate change. Later digital samplers, including those that operate in software utilise interpolation and other techniques to alter the pitch of a sample - the effect, particularly in the low-end is not the same.

Display

The unit features an 80-character backlit LCD.

  • Credits page on the Add-One
  • Easter Egg
  • Legending on the top of the unit

Sounds

Bass drums, congas, snares, Hihats as well as single-cycle waveforms (sine/triangle etc.) contained on EPROMS. With the optional 'Add-One Drive' one can sample any recorded sounds into the sampler via the microphone/line input with on-board compressor.

External control

The Chain mode allows these to be called up in any order and stepped through by a footswitch. The unit also features MIDI which allows it to be controlled from an external device such as a synthesizer or electronic drums.

Notable users

Further reading

  • . Sound On Sound. October 1986. pp. 52–3. ISSN . OCLC .
  • . Music Technology. November 1986. p. 24. ISSN . OCLC .