Clave Euclidean Percussion Machine Launches On Kickstarter

Clave is a sample-based drum machine from Mexican company Oficina de Sonido.  It's built around Euclidean rhythms, and it is now seeking funding on Kickstarter. The pitch from the makers is straightforward: think of a drum machine as a drummer, and Clave as a percussionist - something that complements and syncopates with what you already have.

Everything runs across 16 steps and 8 sample tracks. Turn the encoder to add or remove steps from a channel's sequence and they are spaced evenly across the pattern; press and turn the encoder to rotate the position of those steps. The LED ring shows the cycle over time and the hits per channel, with the colour telling you which of the eight channels you are on.

Linear mode - Shift+Mute toggles between the two. The encoder becomes a position cursor and a press turns hits on or off. This works per channel, so a single song can mix Euclidean and linear tracks, and each channel remembers its editing mode in presets.

Accents - each channel has its own, which can be a change in volume or pitch depending on the channel. They form a second Euclidean layer that can be scaled and rotated, or added one at a time in linear mode, and active steps are highlighted in a different colour.

Panning - set per channel, which means the internal mono samples come out as a stereo mix.

Probability - each channel may or may not play, based on a percentage set on the LED wheel. At the halfway point there is a 50% chance of a hit; at 90% the odd beat simply gets skipped.

Automation - pitch, effects and filter can be recorded in real time, with pitch captured independently for each sound layer.

Clave plays one-shot samples. Five factory kits are installed and there is room for your own, uploaded as mono WAV at 44.1 kHz, 16-bit via a browser-based app that will also handle firmware updates. It is a sample-based drum machine, not a sampler or a synth, and there is no chromatic mode - the pads select the voice or channel. Power comes over USB-C, so a phone charger or power bank will do.

There is a resonant low-pass filter ahead of the effects chain, and its automation can be recorded. Only one effect is active at a time, chosen from:

• Various reverb types
• Echo and delay with preset subdivisions
• Two distortion types
• Bitcrusher
• Phaser
• Comb filter

The campaign is the maker's fourth project on Kickstarter, and they say a couple of working prototypes already exist; the money is to fund the first production batch. As with any crowdfunding launch, delivery dates are estimates rather than promises.

Pricing is MX$4,000, about £171. The first batch of 170 units is listed with an estimated delivery of January 2027, and a second batch of 200 units at the same price for February 2027. A 30-unit early bird tier at MX$3,714 (about £159) has already sold out.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/oficinadesonido/clave/