Erica Synths Bullfrog Drums

Erica add to their ‘not just for education’ education range with an extremely playable drum machine...

If Netflix viewing has taught us anything, it’s that a series can be two episodes long. By this rationale, Erica Synth’s Bullfrog series is now ready for prime time. In our April 2024 issue, Robin Vincent reviewed the Bullfrog, a synthesizer with the worthy goal of serving as an educational tool for students of electronic music. It was designed in conjunction with techno lynchpin Richie Hawtin and offers school‑proof build quality, without compromising on grown‑up features.

For Erica Synths’ head honcho, Ģirts Ozoliņš, the Bullfrog concept is a personal mission. The manifesto is to create an educational set of instruments that neither patronises students nor unnecessarily simplifies the design. Ģirts is a former teacher, which makes his belief in creating instruments with education at the centre all the more relatable. It’s a heartwarming mission that seems to be a long‑term thing (they’ve just teased a third instalment: the Bullfrog Mix).

Do not dismiss the Bullfrog instruments as toys for kids, however. The cutesy frog icon should not be taken as a reason to overlook these instruments. Keep reading, and you will discover that these are serious instruments.

Roll The Drums

And so to Episode 2 in the series: Bullfrog Drums, which is clearly designed to be used alongside the Bullfrog Synth. The Bullfrog Drums is an eight‑channel sample‑based drum machine that lets you completely replace its internal samples. It has an X0X‑style 64‑step sequencer, a dedicated CV channel (ideal for sequencing the Bullfrog Synth), and even an internal microphone for recording your own samples.

At 405 x 185 x 60mm, the Bullfrog Drums is a medium‑sized desktop unit, larger than your average Elektron box but not as big as an original TR‑808 or 909. The build quality is fantastic, with a metal enclosure and dark‑stained wooden sides. It uses sizable knobs, and there is plenty of space on the front panel for fat fingers. A small three‑character LED display and data encoder help with presenting values and settings. There are 19 cherry keys for track, pattern and kit selection, as well as sequencing and transport controls. A scattering of illuminated buttons change modes and enable settings, and the built‑in speaker and microphone (neatly hidden in the ‘O’ of the word ‘frog’) round out the front panel.

Measuring 405 x 185 x 60mm and weighing 2.7kg, the Bullfrog Drums is officially a ‘bantam weight’ drum machine. OK, I’ve just made that up, but it’s not too big and not too small, and the front‑panel mic is hidden in the ‘O’ of the Bullfrog logo, which is pretty neat.

Sample Basics

At the heart of the Bullfrog Drums are seven identical sample‑based channels. The eighth track is reserved for CV sequencing. Each sample track has a dedicated volume knob along the top of the unit and a single red LED that glows to show you the volume.

The signal flow is simple. You choose a sample, adjust its pitch, decay, start, end and loop point, DJ‑style filter cutoff (low‑pass or high‑pass), resonance, overdrive and pan position. Then start programming a pattern. Alternatively, you can load kits (a collection of sounds) and patterns (all the sequencer stuff) separately. The Bullfrog Drums comes pre‑loaded with kits and patterns, as well as seven banks of 32 samples chosen by Richie Hawtin and the Erica team. The banks are organised into categories: Kicks, Snares, Toms & Low Percussion, Claps & Noisy Percussion, Various, Hi‑Hats, and Cymbals.

You can add your own samples, or even completely replace the factory samples, by accessing the internal drive via USB‑C. Interestingly, the manual states that samples can only be 512KB, and must be 48kHz and mono. However, I was able to load and play...