Vermona DrumDing Merges Analog Percussion With Built-In Sampling Engine

Vermona, the German maker whose DRM1 Mk4 set the reference point for analog drum synthesis, is attacking the category's most persistent frustration with DrumDing: the moment you power down an analog drum machine, every sound you crafted disappears with it. Beta demos from OoraMusic, now circulating alongside footage from Vermona's own channel, show a machine built to break that cycle.

DrumDing runs six tracks, each anchored by a single analog percussion voice drawing on DRM1 Mk4 circuitry and running a full VCO, FM, multimode VCF, mixer, and envelope stack. The workflow inversion at its core is simple but consequential: rather than triggering the analog voice directly with a sequencer, users sculpt a sound on that voice, then capture it as a sample inside the machine. Tuning, forward and reverse playback, and AHD envelopes are all available for shaping the captured hit. Two FX pages add overdrive, bit reduction, and AM on the first, and delay, reverb, and panning routing on the second; both pages stack simultaneously on a single voice. Vermona also confirmed an external audio input, which extends the resampling logic to outside sources, drawing comparisons on forum threads to the SP-1200's capture-anything-mid-session approach.

There is a structural commitment baked into this workflow that studios need to understand before pre-ordering: if you decide to alter a sound after sampling, you resample the analog voice entirely. The process is deliberate by design, not a workaround. Each of the 64 projects holds 16 samples alongside all six sequencer tracks, and changing course means returning to the analog voice, resculpting, and capturing again. That loop rewards careful sound designers and may frustrate producers accustomed to non-destructive parameter tweaking.

What the OoraMusic beta demo showed clearly working is the sequencer. Vermona developed it in collaboration with an outside sequencer specialist, and the feature set reflects that investment: up to 64 steps per track, parameter locks, probability, micro-timing, ratcheting, polyrhythmic support, independent sequence length per track, and both forward and backward playback directions. An ALT mode layers a second set of parameter settings per step on top of that, adding rhythmic variation without altering the underlying kit. A multi-wave LFO routes into the digital engine parameters, and effects can be automated within the sequence. It is one of the most comprehensively specified sequencers to appear in a drum machine at this price tier, though what that price is remains unannounced.

DrumDing was first shown at Superbooth 2025 in Berlin. Vermona describes it as "almost ready," which puts it closer to release than any previous statement but still short of a ship date.

Three questions to resolve before waiting versus committing to a current alternative now: Does 16 samples per project across 64 projects match the depth you actually use in a live set, or do you exceed that regularly? Does designing, committing, and resampling fit your iterative sound design process, or do you depend on always-adjustable analog voices at the point of triggering? And does the DrumDing, once priced, justify retiring the analog plus SP or Octatrack pairing already on your desk, or does it become a third instrument rather than a replacement for two?