Published on July 5th, 2002.
Author: Darren McEntee
Category: Interviews.

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A interview with Angus F. Hewlett from Fxpansion Audio

- 1. Good evening Angus, and thank you for accepting our invitation for this interview. For the users who do not know DR-008 *yet* , can you briefly explain the operation of your software?

Sure. DR-008 is a multifunctional VSTi/DXi drum module for Windows. It has a modular architecture that allows it to be both a drum synth (using analog-modelling and similar techniques for tweakable vintage and exotic sounds) and drum sampler (for realistic, velocity-switched sounds, for taking existing samples and really twisting them, or simply as a quick, easy way to work with one-shot drum hits, FX hits, dialogue samples etc. etc.).

In addition to that, it has drum pattern sequencing (and soon also bass and chord pattern sequencing) capabilities; the really cool thing about this is that the patterns are triggered from MIDI keys, just like the rest of the pads.

- 2. Where did you get the idea to create DR-008 and how long has it been around?

I originally created DR-002, a very basic free drum sampler, in spring ‘99. That was incredibly popular, so I started work on the slightly bigger, low-cost, DR-005, as a better, cheaper alternative to LM-4.

A couple of others had the same idea, and I realised the successor to DR-005 would have to be something special… then NI announced Battery and I realised it would have to be something really, REALLY special.

My plans for a high-end drum machine began in maybe July 2000, the DR-008 design took shape in Dec 2000-Jan 2001, and v1.0 was finally completed and shipped in August 2001. But all the time, I’m working on other projects as well.

- 3. Did you work alone on DR-008, or are there other programmers who helped you with the design of the software? How many others are involved with Fxpansion.

Paul Kellett (MDA) did the DrumSynth008 and 809 synth modules. Bram de Jong (smartelectronix) did HiHat and SnareDrum; I did everything else. Neither Bram nor Paul are FXpansion employees (yet), the only permanent people are myself and my business partner, Rhiannon Bankston-Thomas.

She does PR, admin, all that sort of thing, and leaves me free(ish) to concentrate on coding. There are others involved on the periphery, we have a strategic partnership with GMEDIA Music who handle international distribution, and close ties with a wide variety of developers, large and small, independent and corporate. And various friends and freelancers doing things like Web design, GUI design, sound design, etc.

- 4. DR-008 Drum Sampler DXi was released with SONAR 2.0 XL at Musikmesse, in Frankfurt, Germany of this year… was this a major boost to Fxpansion’s reputation or do you think that Fxpansion had its ‘name’ known by this stage?

I think we’re pretty well known in the “VST scene” on the net, but that’s really only a small part of the music world. The SONAR deal will help us get much more widely known in the States, in much the same way as the Steinberg deal (the plugs in Cubase 5.1) did in Europe. That said, before the SONAR deal, most people associated Fxpansion with simpler, lower-cost things and it’s taken time for people to catch on to how big and powerful DR-008 is. We were known before, but I think people take us more seriously now.

- 5. So, what’s the focus of your Fxpansion work at the moment?

More awesomely cool stuff for DR-008; Series One v2 and Series Two; and getting the loose ends tied up on VST-DX Adapter 4. There are some skunkworks projects as well… you can have a play with the ones we’re prepared to tell people about @ fxpansion’s skunkworks.

- 6. DR-008 from version v1.1 to v1.11 in such a short time! … was there a major bug undermined, or are you just a dedicated crazy programmer?

1.1 was the (very) major release, 1.11 was almost entirely a bug fix.

- 7. Where do you see Fxpansion going in the coming year, and what part are you going to play in it? What areas are going to be emphasized?

Either we’ll grow, or we’ll get swallowed up by someone else… the current situation of numerous indie developers will not last forever. I wouldn’t want to sell out to a much bigger company (unless the money was insanely good… everyone has a price) but I think some kind of merger between several of the indies is bound to happen sooner or later.

As far as product development goes… the existing stuff will continue to improve (awesome things are planned for DR-008), the announced stuff will get finished and shipped… after that, I can’t say… I have some real blow-your-socks-off ideas, but they’re bigger again than the DR and we’ll need more manpower to tackle them.

- 8. What was your greatest technical challenge when developing this, (IMO) unbeatable product?

There wasn’t any one problem that was particularly knotty, really the hardest bit was getting the initial design right so that such a big, complex project – it’s way bigger than anything I’ve attempted before – would all hang together properly. That took a long time.

- 9. I have to fire this question at you… [Attack Vs. Battery Vs. DR-008] …give us your opinion!

They all have their strengths. Battery was a big step up from anything that came before, and can still do a couple of moderately important things DR-008 can’t (import Akai and SF2, and run on a Mac), but the depth and flexibility of the interface is a letdown, it does less than DR-008 and uses a lot more CPU in the process. Attack is unique, it takes a different approach than DR-008 and has a sound all of its own.

Personally I much prefer the way the DR-008 modules sound, and they’re sooo much easier to tweak than programming Attack (want a hi-hat? just load a hi-hat module and all the “right” parameters are there in front of you).

But, Attack has a very distinctive, aggressive kind of sound which might work better for you on some harder electronic styles – DR-008’s synth modules tend to be warmer and more mellow.

I’d say, look at DR-008 first; then Attack if you need the extra edge or want the “German” sound. Battery, I dunno… to my mind Akai and SF2 are better handled by a fully fledged sampler… Native have the king of the hill there with Kontakt, I highly recommend it – when I saw it at Musikmesse, it was one of those, “damn, I wish I’d thought of that” moments. But unless you’re on a Mac, Battery doesn’t really have any killer features that DR-008 can’t match or exceed.

- 10. Do you have advice for users of DR-008 or any of Fxpansion’s product line?

Please do participate in the community we’ve set up at K-v-R, if everyone contributes a little we’ll all be better off! DR-008 was designed with many possible ways of use in mind, its flexibility means everyone finds their own way of using it, but share with the others and everyone wins. We’re always looking for tips, kits people have made for themselves, et cetera..

- 11. DR-008 has SUCH a low CPU load, was this a difficult task to achieve? ?

Not really – once the modular design was finalised, it really kind of slotted in to place. Keeping it down was always an aim, though I’m surprised at just how well it’s worked out, given the sheer complexity. Then again, the simpler modules like EasySampler and VeloSampler have virtually no signal path – you really don’t need it a lot of the time – so there’s no cycles going to waste, unlike fixed designs.

- 12. What are the highlights for you and your company to date ?

Shipping VST-DX 1.0 back in ‘99, winning the Electronic Musician Editor’s Choice award for VST-DX 2 in 2000/2001, the deals with Cakewalk and Steinberg, plus any time we reach a sales milestone or hear of industry “names” using our work to good effect. There’s been lots of highlights, but even more hard graft in between!

– 13. What things in electronic music do YOU really enjoy? Or do you listen to that gender of music at all? And what styles are you personally into?

Melodic stuff, and the crossover between electronics and rock/guitarpop. Air are one of my favourites right now, I saw them live at the Glastonbury festival recently, absolutely incredible. Other than that… Zero 7, Massive Attack, Radiohead, Blur, Mercury Rev, William Orbit, Portishead… I have very broad taste in music, really; it’d be easier to list what I don’t like than what I do, though I’m not much of a clubber these days so dancefloor stuff tends to pass me by.

- 14. Any words for all your Fxpansion customers and supporters ?

What can I say apart from “Thanks”! And the same to everyone I knew in the scene pre-FXpansion (pre-Amulet even), making music on the Internet since ‘97.

- 15. Anything else to add ?

Be good to each other, and go make some amazing music!
Again, thank you very much Angus, and good luck to you and Fxpansion in the future!

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