Shakmat Modular Battering Ram
Analog bass drum synth with waveshaping and preset storage
8 HP Eurorack module
Battering Ram is an 8HP analog bass drum synthesizer by Shakmat (designed by Marc Nostromo) that delivers sounds ranging from long sub-bass 808-style kicks to aggressive techno drums. It features precise control over decay, tuning, depth, click, and drive with dual waveshaping modes, a switchable 3-pole high-pass filter, velocity input for dynamic phrasing, and 16-preset storage via Select Bus compatibility.
Features
- Analog bass drum synthesis engine
- Dual waveshaping modes: fold (smooth saturation) and clip (hard distortion)
- 3-pole 30Hz high-pass filter (switchable)
- Adjustable click transient for attack shaping
- Pitch envelope depth control
- Pitch lock mode for octave-stepped tuning
- Gate mode for sustained bass tones
- Velocity input for dynamic accents
- Amplitude envelope output with polarity inversion
- CV inputs for Drive, Decay, Click, and Pitch
- Preset store/recall with 16-preset Select Bus compatibility
- 8HP, 21mm depth — skiff friendly
Controls & Jacks (21)
- Drive Type — Switches between waveshaping modes: subtle fold for gentle saturation, and high-gain hard-clipping for aggressive distortion.
- Store/Recall — Stores and recalls panel potentiometer settings as presets. Compatible with 16-preset Select Bus.
- Pitch — Controls the base tuning/pitch of the bass drum sound.
- Decay — Controls the envelope release time of the bass drum, from short punchy hits to long sub-bass tails.
- Drive — Controls the amount of waveshaping drive applied to the output signal, from subtle fold to aggressive distortion.
- Click — Adjusts the initial transient click amount, controlling the attack characteristics of the kick.
- Gate — Toggles between gate and trigger mode for the input. In gate mode, the sound sustains while gate is held high.
- Trig — Manual trigger button that fires the bass drum sound.
- Level — Toggles between different output level settings.
- Decay CV In — CV input for modulating the envelope decay time.
- Lock — Locks the pitch control, converting the Pitch knob into an octave switch for precise tuning steps.
- Pitch CV In — CV input for pitch modulation, accepts V/oct for melodic bass drum use.
- Trig In — Trigger/gate input to fire the bass drum. Accepts trigger or gate signals depending on Gate mode setting.
- Velocity In — Velocity CV input for dynamic phrasing and accent control.
- HPF — Enables or disables the 3-pole 30Hz high-pass filter to remove sub-bass content from the output.
- Inv — Inverts the amplitude envelope output signal polarity.
- Envlp Out — Amplitude envelope output. Polarity can be inverted using the Inv button.
- Click CV In — CV input for modulating the click/transient amount.
- Drive CV In — CV input for modulating the drive amount.
- Out — Main audio output of the bass drum sound.
- Depth — Controls the pitch envelope depth, affecting how much the pitch sweeps down from the initial hit.
How-To Guides
- Basic Kick Drum
- Distorted Techno Kick
- Melodic Bass Drum Line
Explore the interactive Battering Ram panel on BleepDex — tap any control to learn what it does.
