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Drum Blaster

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Title Screen

Drum Blaster

Developer: Larry Tipton
Publishers: Epic MegaGames (v3.0 onward)
Platform: DOS
Released internationally: October 11, 2007 (v3.0 Creative Commons)
Released in US: April 11, 1991 (v1.0), 1992 (v3.0)

Carts.png This game has revisional differences.

Drum Blaster is a piece of audio software made to be a virtual drum set or digital sound board. It started simple and silly, winning a Sound Blaster programming competition at "Rusty and Edie's BBS". Over time, it added new features and refined old ones, and by 1992 it had truly become something "epic", even catching Tim Sweeney's eye.

For what it is, it's not a bad little bit of programming, but there are more advanced and specialized pieces of software.

Early Jill of the Jungle Music

The Shareware version of Drum Blaster v3.0 includes a trio of songs from the first two Jill of the Jungle games: "Action", "Dungo", and "Funky". While "Action" sounds almost exactly like its Jill counterpart, the other two songs have some interesting differences which make them sound like rough drafts for the final products.

"Dungo" by Dan Froelich
Drum Blaster Jill Goes Underground

The main instrument is an entire octave lower than normal and there are some tiny differences in the percussion.

"Funky" by Dan Froelich
Drum Blaster Jill of the Jungle

The main instrument seems to have some reverb to it. Additionally, there are several wrong notes throughout the latter half and the xylophone section seems unfinished.

Version Differences

From 1991 to 1992, Drum Blaster received a handful of changes. A lot of them were rather noticeable.

Registration Nag Screens

In pre-v3.0 releases of Drum Blaster, starting or exiting would lock the user at this "nag screen" for ten seconds after hitting "almost any key".

Version 1.0 Version 1.2 Version 2.0
Press any key -- no, not that one! Thanks for letting me know! Thanks again, I guess
  • Version 1.1 (not shown) removes the release date of April 11, 1991.
  • Version 1.2 clears the screen before showing this at the start. It also tells the user that registering gets them a "validation code" to remove the nag notice.
  • Version 2.0 reformats the message somewhat and puts the "any key" message at the very bottom of the screen.
Version 2.0 Version 3.0
I forget, who made this? Now backed by 'the new name in

In version 2.0, the exit screen is done in 640×350 resolution text-and-graphics style rather than pure ASCII text mode, with Larry Tipton reminding you of who created the program. Meanwhile, v3.0 removed the pause altogether and changed the screen into a fancy ANSI display backed by Epic MegaGames. They also upped the price by $5 US. Rude.

Title Screen

Versions 1.0-1.2 Version 2.0 Version 3.0
Drum Blaster, stated simply The All-New Drum Blaster 2.0! And back to simply stating itself

Version 1.0 is pretty unassuming in its presentation, showing Larry on the drums and in the corner with some red, white, and blue color bars. Version 2.0 removes the color bars, so Larry can do the Cha Cha Slide across the screen, but version 3.0 completely removes Larry, focusing on the product instead.

Menu

Versions 1.0-1.2 Version 2.0 Version 3.0
I have no idea what these do I have some idea of what these do I have an idea of what these do and the text is bigger. Thanks!

Once again, the menu in version 1.0 is pretty simple, just giving the user valid keys they can press. Version 2.0 actually lists the names of the samples within the DB.LIB file - a change which stuck in the Epic MegaGames-backed 3.0.

This is the only time you'll see me, folks!

Additionally, Larry was confined to a loading box and some new musicians were brought in. Sorry, Larry!

Version 3.0 Features

Once Epic MegaGames founder Tim Sweeney got Mr. Tipton on board, Drum Blaster took an interesting turn in development. Many new features were added which expanded the capabilities of the program.

  • Help Menu

  • Drum "Traker" Menu

  • Synthesizer Toggle Menu

  • CMF Music Player

  • Drummer Selection Menu (with REGGAE selected)

  • Sample Library Menu

  • First and foremost, Drum Tracker now has a built-in "help" option, giving the user some idea of what they can do with the software without having to rely on external documentation.
  • The next feature is the "Drum Traker" [sic] which allows users to play tracks created by and for Drum Blaster. These tracks use the currently-loaded sample library, so playing songs using the wrong sample set usually ends up making the song sound extra silly.
  • The "Synthesizer Toggle" allows users to pick one sample and play it in a range of frequencies, much like a synthesizer on an electric keyboard.
  • The "CMF Music Menu", as one might expect, allows users to play any and all Creative Music Format files. Unlike some other players and sound engines, this one recognizes note velocity codes!
  • The "Drummer Menu" lets users reskin the performers. The Shareware version came with two sets: "DB" and "REGGAE" while the registered version came with a pair of robots - which were edited from the original 3.0 defaults. It's unknown if there were more than three official sets of performers.
  • And lastly, the "Library Menu" allows users to swap out the sample sets. One of the Addon Disks contained a number of new sample sets, but the sample sets from either version 3.0 release and the set from version 2.0 are compatible as well.

We. Are. The robots.

Curiously, the Drummer Menu and Library Menu options were both removed from the Freeware "Creative Commons" release of this software. Very odd.

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