Analog Bass Synthesizer and Sequencer, Donner B1 Controller with 128 Patterns, Saturation & Delay Effects, LED Display and MIDI IN/OUT

Product Information

So the original db303 had a very distinctive system for sequencing melodies. Some people love it. Some people hate it. But there's no question that that sequencing system is at the core of why acid house music sounds the way it does. That said, while the B1’s sequencing offers extra flexibility, the synth engine itself is still as bare bones as any other 303-alike, and without features like a full amp envelope, additional oscillator or variations in filter mode, the sonic range is effectively limited to a single – albeit very desirable – style. The synth has front panel and rear panel connections. On the front, you have an aux in, headphone, sync in and syc out. At first I thought “oh cool modular patch points”, but I was wrong. Versatile Connectivity】You can connect the Essential B1 to your DAW using the USB Type-C, serving as a MIDI controller to speed up your music production process. Two full size 5-pin MIDI I/O and Sync I/O allow easier communication with other hardware devices.

Analog Built-In Effects】The analog saturation and delay effects located at the end of signal path make the sound of the Essential B1 more warm and fancy, help you get the right sound from the get-go.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

This release comes as something of a surprise. Donner is of course a company that specializes in very inexpensive music gear: guitars, violins, you name it. Anyway the B1 is their first-ever analog synth. It appears to be their own design so I'm pretty curious. That seems like a good place for a slide. Let's hear how that sounds. Just like that, we've added some more characters to our loop. If we like the changes that we made, we're just going to hit Save. Then, the signal flows into a filter with cutoff, resonance and depth controls. On the modulation side, you get a simple decay envelope. Also similar. This knob up here, the accent knob which we hadn't talked about yet, is actually going to determine how pronounced that accent is. Obviously, you don't want it too high, but it's a way of introducing variation. Let's look at the next dimension. There's Ratchet here, which is kind of cool. It allows you to hit a note two or three times in rapid succession.

Los Angeles, August 15, 2023] – Chinese musical instrument manufacturer Donner today announced the release of the latest firmware update, V1.1.0, for the Essential B1 Bass Synthesizer, their first analog bassline synthesizer with sequencer. This major update brings a host of exciting new features, enhancements, and bug fixes, making the Essential B1 even more versatile and user-friendly. Adjusting OCT, GATE LENGTH, and RATCHET for each step is now faster and more intuitive by holding the corresponding button and pressing the↑/ ↓ buttons. Let's say that we wanted to do that on the very last step. Turn Ratchet up. Once again we use these Up and Down arrows to turn that up. That's going to play the note three times instead of just one time. I'm going to turn that off because I actually don't like the way that one sounds.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Behringer’s clone certainly looks the part more, is more faithful in its sequencer design, and matches the CV outputs of the original. The B1, however, is easier to program and its additional playability and sequencing tools mean that it can do more than simply replicate straightforward acid bass riffs. Its delay is a great addition too. Donner’s take simplifies this significantly, coming with a two-octave pad keyboard, which allows the synth to be played chromatically. Sequencing is more straightforward too; steps are input one by one, allowing users to select a pitch and then input note length and assignslides or accents before moving on to the next step. No tap write or realtime record, and no ability to record slides or accents in realtime, the TB-303 does not have some of these features but a lot of other clones do.

Overall I’m really impressed. I’m building a live guitar/synth setup and the B1 is tiny yet does everything I want. Hopefully we’ll see some more synthy products heading our way so I can spend the money I saved on this! Faithful To The Original】The synthesis engine on Essential B1 is straightforward. With only 1 VCO, 1 VCF, And 1 VCA, You can't get the wrong sound. To get the organic sound texture, we keep the signal path fully analog. Here's how it works. The first thing you do is hit the Record/Edit button and that gets you into Record/Edit mode. Then if you've got a pattern loaded in memory, it'll show up here. Like it does here. Recently a video went viral on YouTube by the famous composer and music tutor David Hilowitz (YouTube channel: David Hilowitz Music). His review of the Donner B1 bass synthesizer is one of the most detailed on the internet. " How did I JUST find out about this channel? ", as a comment under the video says. A couple of things I noticed while I was doing that MIDI editing: First, the synth has a note range of four octaves. It's not velocity-sensitive. However, do you remember how in the sequencer mode there are accented and unaccented notes? If you send a MIDI note on a message that has a velocity greater than 96 it will send that out as an accented note, so it's sort of almost velocity-sensitive.There's a tone knob. I'm going to turn it all the way to the left so we get it all bassy. So that's the most bassy it can go and then I'm going to go all the way to the right distortion is of course a very subjective thing I like this quite a lot. I think it adds to the grimness of the sound. This idea was of course a complete commercial failure and it was discontinued in 1984. so a few years after it was discontinued. There was a brief time when 303s could actually be found at pawn shops and thrift stores. As a result, it got rediscovered by the underground techno scene in Detroit and Chicago, resulting in an entirely new sub-genre of electronic music called the acid house in the mid to late 80s. Then to the right of that, you have accent. This doesn't affect the normal notes, only the notes you mark as accented, and it really just determines how much they are accented. Donner is (I believe) a Chinese manufacturer of musical instruments with warehousing in the USA and Europe. The company has been in business for a decade. It’s built up a range of own-brand musical gear, including guitars, drums, strings, wind and keyboard instruments. The B1 looks like its first entry into the synthesizer market, and it’s pretty nifty. The slide implementation is not by default set to legato playing, it can be set by holding the lower F# on keyboard whilst turning on power though, but it should really be automatically on, it does remember the setting though, so after setting it isn’t an issue.