Rampdog Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 I know alot of you guys use one at home and I know and feel comfortable with you better than the other forums... I need a drum/bass machine for my DAW... I don't know a thing about them and it's time to add one... I need one that is easy to use with my PC. I am using Sonar HS 4. I am MIDI stupid... Can any of you suggest something for me that an idiot like me can use...? I'm asking causin' I got a Sam Ash Gift Certificate for a few hundred dollars and this will help me in recording my own music...Thanks you guys Merry Christmas everyone. If it ain't fun...why do it...? http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=778394&content=music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justus A. Picker Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 Spend the money on a bass and learn to program drums in Sonar. You'll be far happier with the results in the long term. http://www.smokedsalmonband.com/exile/exile1.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdrs Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 An American P Bass would do nicely, too!!! Merry Christmas, Dog!! Don "There once was a note, Pure and Easy. Playing so free, like a breath rippling by." http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=574296 http://www.myspace.com/imdrs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Ellwood Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 I have a friend of mine who has this one and he likes it very much! http://www.zzounds.com/item--BOSDR670 http://www.thestringnetwork.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rampdog Posted December 25, 2007 Author Share Posted December 25, 2007 Thanks guys... The Boss DR 670 got some ok reviews but also some semi bad ones... Not sure if this is what I want... As far as playing the bass, been there but I don't want to... I wish the guys at Sam Ash would SHOW me how these things work...they basically give ya' the abridged version and tell you to RTFM... that's why I'm lookin' for help from ya'll... If it ain't fun...why do it...? http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=778394&content=music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justus A. Picker Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 Have you thought about upgrading to Sonar HS 6XL? It comes with Session Drummer 2 which uses some decent drum samples and a variety of midi loops in various genres (as well as allowing you to program your own)and Dimension LE which includes (along with various orchestral and synth samples)a set of bass samples that sit nicely in a mix. If you know how to read and write standard notation at all, writing your own bass lines is simple. Tons easier than trying to figure out how to operate the outboard gear. The reasons the SA and GC salesgnomes won't tell you much more than RTFM is that they don't know how 90% of the gear they sell works! http://www.smokedsalmonband.com/exile/exile1.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kramer Ferrington III. Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 I dunno, man... it sounds like you're thinking of trading something you already know how to do (ie play bass) for something that comes with yet another learning curve (a bass machine). That comes with its own bunch of hardware/software limitations. Oh, and that's not free either. Do you really need all that hassle? Instead of laying down tracks, you're going to be reading the manual, and spending ages on trying to get a machine to do what you could do easily enough on a real bass, with no learning curve at all. If you're not trying to record your amazing, magnum opus album, and you don't want to buy an actual bass guitar, I'd simply play the bass on a 6 string guitar and play with the EQ, a time-honoured recording technique. My suggestion: get a drum machine and do the bass tracks yourself. Check this one out, which you can download for free (and buy it later, if you like it) http://www.leafdigital.com/software/leafdrums/ Band MySpace My snazzy t-shirt empire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rampdog Posted December 26, 2007 Author Share Posted December 26, 2007 You are absolutly correct Kramer. I should get a bass and do it myself but I'm not a good bass player. Instead of holding the bottom together I find myself wandering off into a lead pattern. I'll check out that software you suggested but I know there has to be a decent drum/bass machine out there that can do what I want for a mental midget like me... Thanks all for your suggestions... I'll let you know what I decide... (I just hope I don't go and buy another guitar with this...LOL) If it ain't fun...why do it...? http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=778394&content=music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kramer Ferrington III. Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 Instead of holding the bottom together I find myself wandering off into a lead pattern. Well, if you find it boring, you could always do it in sections. You know, do the verse and copy and paste the .wav into the song, and then do the chorus and copy and paste that too. It'd be a bit like playing with Lego. Band MySpace My snazzy t-shirt empire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rampdog Posted December 26, 2007 Author Share Posted December 26, 2007 It'd be a bit like playing with Lego. Good point... LOL ... I'm always looking for the easy way out. It's a fault of mine that I've learned to live with... If it ain't fun...why do it...? http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=778394&content=music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strategery Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 I've got the BOSS DR-800. It sounds great and is easy to use. I must admit though. Being a guitar player I wound up buying a cheap bass guitar instead of using the pad. The DR-880 has built in guitar & bass modellers. That's what I play my bass guitar through. It can model normal electric basses or acoustic stand up basses as well. It also has any effect you need. The unit is $499 I believe. Randy "Just play!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warthog Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 My Bos DR-880 is pretty good. I like it a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillWelcome Home Studios Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Okay a couple of answers..... If you already know how to play bass but you just don't want to play bass, you can play bass using a MIDI guitar into Sonar, then assign the output to be a bass MIDI instrument, or to play back a sample of a bass. (I usually find that if I re-amp these through a real bass amp and re-record the parts as audio, the sound is more natural....odd, since so many bass parts are recorded using a DI, just as the samples are recorded.) But if you are not really a bass player, the parts will still suck. Answer, get a bass player. It is not hard to record ten or twenty songs, burn them to a disk, give them to a bassist and let him learn them, bring him over and hit 'record'. The answer for drums is similar.... it is kinda silly to buy an external drum machine for Sonar, which has always had a pretty darned decent drum editor. You have to buy something new and learn how to use it, rather than learn to use the free thing that you already have? Hmmm.... You can also buy either a drum pad or an electronic drum kit and enter the notes manually, then again have these tracks play back some MIDI kit, or a sampled kit (and ohmigod, there are some really amazing sampled drum kits out there...). Because these notes are MIDI (which is basically 'sheet music' for electronic instruments, telling them what to play and when...) they are easy to edit and clean up. But once again, if you are not a drummer, the tracks are probably still going to suck. An early answer for me was a DOS program called Drummer from Cool Shoes Software... practically made for guitar players like me who used to play drums, it was an easy answer. But this is not available anymore. Then in the studio I got an electronic pad setup. I'd play to a click, then bring in a drummer to play the pads, giving me a MIDI score that I could edit. Eventually I moved to a Kat kit, but finally just bought real acoustic drums. Now that I have moved to a more reduced role in music, I'm considering buying an electronic kit again (the acoustic kit is still at the studio, and I don't have room for it in the writing room of my new home.) Anyway, I think that this is all a distraction if you are not a bassist or drummer. You'll waste a lot of time pissing around with re-inventing the wheel, when any beginner can already do it better. My suggestion is that you use a click to record, and find either real drummers and bassists to work with, or find someone who is already good at laying down digital drum and bass tracks and let them do that work for you, while you do important stuff write write songs, play guitar, or drink beer. Bill "I believe that entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot." Steve Martin Show business: we're all here because we're not all there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gitfidler Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 My DR-880 is fine for a sideman in my duo/solo gigs, but programing the bass for a song is not worth the effort to me. If your song has a 12 or 16 bar repeating verse it's do-able, but puttting a whole song together with intros, outros, verses, choruses, solo sections and all is an ordeal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strategery Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 This is true. I would only use my DR-880 for recording purposes or for your song that has a standard framework. The other plus is that it sounds fantastic and has MANY kits and options in there. I'd suggest reading up on it online and then having a demo at a music store. Most are happy to do so. Randy "Just play!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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