Dave Smith Instruments and Roger Linn Design have been diligently working together since Winter NAMM 2007 to bring a digital and analog drum synthesizer to the eager masses. What was once going to be called BoomChik has now been dubbed LinnDrum II.

An all-digital version will be released through Roger Linn Design and the LinnDrum II Analog will be released through Dave Smith Instruments. The analog version will add a 4-voice analog synth and 27 dual-functioning voicing knobs.

The LinnDrum II operating system is designed for real-time performance. Users can drop in and out of record on different beats, play several beats simultaneously, seamlessly switch in and out of song mode, and a whole lot more while continuing play. In addition to MPC-style real time recording, XOX-style step recording is just as doable. The 16 velocity and pressure sensitive pads can be assigned to sounds, tunings, beats, pad mutes, or sequence steps, and they're also backlit for visual sequence animation as well.

Dedicated buttons also exist for control of touch sensitivity, sound restart, real-time erasing, and pressure sensitive note repetition or rolls. The 16MB of internal flash memory are augmented by a rear panel slot for additional compact flash card plug and use. LinnDrum II also has four audio outs, two sampling / audio processing / drum trigger inputs, headphone out, USB, MIDI in / out, and the Analog model has four direct voice outputs as well.

More features include:

• 8-Level velocity switching
• Dynamic filters and resonators
• Distortion and lo-fi algorithms
• Two complex modulation matrices
• Sequence events usable as modulation sources
• Four Curtis chip-based analog voices (LinnDrum II Analog)
• Analog feedback resonator paths (LinnDrum II Analog)

Availability for LinnDrum II is projected for mid-2008.