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Made in Poland polyend.com
Polyend Perc
Drumming Machine
User Manual
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The first one
You’ve finally got your hands on Perc, thank you for purchasing it! You probably
knew everything about the Perc before you’ve made an effort to spent your
pocket money to get it. We appreciate it. But even if we think that there are not
too many things to explain about Perc, we’ve prepared this small introduction
for you.
The Perc is Polyend’s first product and even while we’re proud of all our
instruments it will always remain special to our crew. Its development has
determined Polyend's later approach to the innovative use of technology in the
creation of musical instruments. It has also shown us the patch between being
inspired by music and making unique tools for musicians.
What it’s all about
The Perc is a MIDI/CV controlled drumming machine which can play on pretty
much everything that drums and resonates. It wasn’t created with a classic
drum set on mind or for replacing the drummers. Nothing will ever replace a real
performer and one’s groove and feeling in mashing the drums. It was made for
experimentation, more into having a drum machine out of anything that’s in
the kitchen, garage etc. To have a tool that will be able to follow the most
complicated rhythms always in time. For a creative person, it can be an endless
source of inspiration. Bear this in mind and take your time, experiment as much
as you can. Talking about creative ideas, you’ll probably notice fast that Perc
isn’t offering any open/close hi-hat mechanisms, but if you’d go the creative
way and install one beater on top of your hi-hat and another one on the bottom,
you can achieve a similar effect.
Yet, Perc can also be a great companion for your drum kit training techniques
and everyday routines. Use it as a metronome or just feed it with crazily
complicated MIDI rhythm files and try to follow it. Perc is crazy fast and is fully
velocity and tempo controllable too. It can also serve as your additional hand
or hands as our bodies are physically limited.
Mentioning the body limits, Perc can also be useful to people with both
congenital and acquired disabilities and allow them to chase or continue
following their musical ideas. We’ve already seen this and we’re especially
proud of that fact.
Quick start
Every Perc kit consists of the controller, beater and clamp which will allow you
to mount the beater in a convenient way. All the necessary cabling and an AC
adapter are also included.
First, connect the beater using the DMX XLR captive socket located on the
back of the controller. Please avoid connecting beater to the controller
when it’s already turned on. If you do so, it won’t make it explode, but there’s
a slight chance that one day this might damage it. Connect the attached
AC adapter to the unit, and of course, to the power outlet. Once this is done, just
set up the beaters in place, and you’re ready to start hitting things.
Now feed the Perc controller with a MIDI data or analog CV signals. Perc will
work with any MIDI and CV transmitting device, your favorite DAW, hardware
sequencer, modular system or smartphone apps. Just connect any source via
USB, MIDI DIN or CV gate input, and you’re ready for pairing.
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There’s only one switch on the controller surface, it’s here to put the Perc into
a learning mode. Press the button for two seconds, the LED on the back panel
will start flashing. Now the controller is in its learn mode and is waiting for
a signal from your controlling device. This way Perc controller will learn the
MIDI note and channel for its corresponding beater.
Other information you might find useful:
• You can daisy-chain as many Perc controllers as needed by using their
MIDI output and input ports.
• The beater’s connector cable is 3 meters long, but you can extend it by
using regular 5 pin DMX XLR cable.
• The striker comes out from the beater for about 5 millimetres, which
makes this is the longest distance the beater should be mounted from
the instrument. There’s no smallest distance thought. It’s up to you and
the effect you want to achieve; the beater can touch the membrane of
a kick drum for example.
• There are three different types of strikers available – oak, aluminum and
silicone and each of them will have a different effect on the same
instrument. You can’t replace the striker by yourself, but remember that
you can also attach different types of fabric on top of a striker to achieve
what you need.
• If the impact of a single Perc beater on a large drum instrument isn’t
powerful enough, you can always use more than one beater on the same
instrument. This will increase the impact.
• The Perc Pro is fully velocity controllable - that means it can play gentle
or hit strong. Another thing is it can be very fast, ridiculously fast.
Limited warranty
Polyend warrants this product, to the original owner, to be free of defects in
materials or construction for one year from the date of purchase. Proof of
purchase is necessary when a warranty claim is made. Malfunctions resulting
from improper power supply voltages, backwards or faulty cable connection,
abuse of the product or any other causes determined by Polyend to be the fault
of the user are not covered by this warranty (normal services rates will be
applied). All defective products will be replaced or repaired at the discretion of
Polyend. Products must be returned directly to Polyend with the customer
paying the shipping cost. Polyend implies and accepts no responsibility for
harm to person or apparatus through operation of this product. Please contact
[email protected] for return to manufacturer authorization, or any other
technical questions/concerns. Thank you, all best!
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