Drum machines?

[MikeT156]

Yeah, the drums that are in my Motif ES8 sound great and are easier to integrate into sequences. I Also like the ability to have individual drums on separate tracks. Mixes are easier to do and quality dynamics are easier to achieve.

 

Back in the day when the Roland R8 and R70 were introduced, they were great drum machines at a decent price.

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

Mike T.

[ProfD]

I am thinking of picking up a drum machine module to jam with, and possibly use it for composition down the road. While I will eventually use it to punch in my own beats, I think initially it should have lots of pre-programmed patterns. Any recommendations?

I've read through the excellent recommendations but it would help to know what kind of KB(s) the OP has already. A dedicated drum machine might be redundant.

[konaboy]

start by downloading the samples of 200 classic drum machines here:

 

http://www.hexawe.net/mess/200.Drum.Machines/

 

Load into Ableton, or your favorite software DAW, or cheap hardware sampler and you're good to go! YOu'll have to program your own beats though!

[mahinty]

My local chain music store have discounted the Korg Electribes and they're getting their last ER1 MKII in from another store for me to try out.

 

I like how the Electribes don't try to sound like real drums. It knows what it is. I like how it's kind of analogy and synthy with real-time filter sweeps and things.

 

Anyone else had any hands-on experience with these?

 

 

 

[ITGITC]

The Nord Drum isn't really a drum machine, right? It's a drum synthesizer, or to be more precise a virtual analog drum trigger sound module. I don't think it has any patterns and fills, like a traditional drum machine. Though, a bit hard to say since the full specifications aren't published yet.

 

http://www.norddrum.com/

It's really heavy though:

 

WEIGHT

350 g (40.3 lbs)

 

KLONK

 

And Nord's leaving us guessing as to which jacks are innies and which are outties!

 

Tom

 

http://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/nord%20drum/images/nd-connections.jpg

 

[MrVegas]

I am thinking of picking up a drum machine module to jam with, and possibly use it for composition down the road. While I will eventually use it to punch in my own beats, I think initially it should have lots of pre-programmed patterns. Any recommendations?

I've read through the excellent recommendations but it would help to know what kind of KB(s) the OP has already. A dedicated drum machine might be redundant.

 

Prof is psychic. I was just wondering about my S70xs. I am very lazy and have only played the patches with beats, do not have any idea how to use it / program it to do drum patterns and create songs?

 

[GovernorSilver]

I like how the Electribes don't try to sound like real drums.

 

Me too. I don't have an Electribe, but I apply the same philosophy to programming my own drum parts - don't try to make a drum part that a good human drummer can do better, do something else instead.

 

I've accumulated several hours of just listening to the hundreds of preprogrammed beats on my Korg M3. The funny thing is, when I program my own, I end up using the keyboard instead of the nice pads on the M3, because half the time, the patch programmer(s) decision on what drum sounds to map to the pads vs. the keyboard doesn't match what I want from that drum kit patch.

[mahinty]

I picked up an original Electribe R ER-1, second-hand the other day. I really like it. Sound source (for up to four parts) is a VA analog synth + it's got a couple of PCM sound sources (cymbals, hand-claps). It has a built in step sequencer (like on the Roland TR-808 and 909), which I find really intuitive to use and way easier than either real-time sequencing (because I'm a bit of a spaz) or programming. Ticks a lot of boxes in terms of having lots of knobs and real-time control and a lack of menus.

 

It does not sound like real drums, nor does it try. So if you want a real, decent sounding snare - do not buy this.

 

I like it though. It has heaps of possibilities and invites use and tweaking, as opposed to my last drum machine (a Zoom - I know, lame) which was a real chore to use. The kits on that machine tried really hard to sound like something else, and in the end just sounded like a pale imitation of the real (and unreal) thing. I had to refer to the manual everytime I came use it (which wasn't that often because I hated using it). The user interface is sooo important!

 

So the Electribe seems like a step in the right direction, for me at least.

 

[Bosendorphen]

I liked the sounds on the Zoom RT series (and have one). Inexpensive and very good sounding. I also have the Akai XR20 which is more of a hiphop machine but the sounds are very editable and there are 700 or so including basses, vocal hits and the like. Seen them used for $150 and it has quite a bit of memory for songs.

[sakari lindhen]

The Nord Drum isn't really a drum machine, right? It's a drum synthesizer, or to be more precise a virtual analog drum trigger sound module. I don't think it has any patterns and fills, like a traditional drum machine. Though, a bit hard to say since the full specifications aren't published yet.

 

http://www.norddrum.com/

It's really heavy though:

 

WEIGHT

350 g (40.3 lbs)

 

KLONK

 

 

there is a mistake there... 500 grams is just over a pound. so 40 lbs is a typo.

[ITGITC]

The Nord Drum isn't really a drum machine, right? It's a drum synthesizer, or to be more precise a virtual analog drum trigger sound module. I don't think it has any patterns and fills, like a traditional drum machine. Though, a bit hard to say since the full specifications aren't published yet.

 

http://www.norddrum.com/

It's really heavy though:

 

WEIGHT

350 g (40.3 lbs)

 

KLONK

 

 

there is a mistake there... 500 grams is just over a pound. so 40 lbs is a typo.

 

Aaaaaah yes. And therein lies the humor in my little post.

 

Stick around, Sakari Lindhen. I'm just getting started.

 

Tom

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