A good drum machine?

[adrianne76]

Hey Taxi friends,I am a singer/songwriter and I am currently recording to a digital multi-track recorder. I am looking for a drum machine that has lots of quality presets that I can write to (to get me out of my box). I would also like said machine to sound decent enough to use in my recordings in the future. Does anyone have any recommendations?Thank you!

[mojobone]

I don't know of any machines currently in production that sound as good and as realistic as software. What is your budget/price range? What style or styles do you need to cover?

[aimusic]

I agree with Mojo(jojo) on this one....It's cool to get a drum machine to trigger software in your daw though... but I don't think I've heard a drum machine where I've actually gone "wow, now that's all u need".

[guscave]

I'm assuming that by "digital multi-track recorder" you are not using a PC to record and is why you're looking for a drum box. If so, try out the Akai line-ups:I use to use them all the time until I got into software based systems which IMO are so much better.

[aimusic]

Good look there Guscave,I completely read over the fact that adrianne is using a DMTR...

[mazz]

Hi,It looks like Alesis has just come out with a new one: http://www.alesis.com/sr18As you probably know, no drum machine, even if it has 1GB of memory is going to be able to compete, sound-wise, with a multi-Gigabyte virtual instrument that runs on a computer. But if your main thing is electronic music type things, a drum machine would probably work fine in most cases. Where drum machines fall down is in the depth of their acoustic samples (due to memory limitations) and also in the flexibility of programming, although the newer ones are probably much better in that regard.I don't know what type of DMTR you are using but I know some of them had MIDI capabilities and sequencing built in. If that is the case, consider using a computer as a sound source and triggering drum sounds from the DMTR and using the computer to play the sounds back and record them back in to the DMTR. You'd still have the familiar interface of your recorder but would benefit from the enhanced sound capabilities offered by virtual instrument sound libraries.Since you're on the forum, I assume you have a computer available. It would take a modest hardware investment and, of course, some software, to get up and running. But if you're just triggering drum sounds, you wouldn't be putting a huge strain on your computer and with a fairly modest machine, you would have much better sounds than a drum machine would offer.Just some thoughts. Good luck!!Mazz

[diogenes]

I have a Boss Dr.-770 and it's pretty good. I've released two CD's with it.

[mojobone]

Yep, style and budget have a lot to do with the choice; for rap and electronica, it's hard to beat Akai MPC and its variants, but those can be pricey, (big advantage is that you can load drum sounds that custom fit your style/genre) and you may not want or need velocity sensing pads if you intend to trigger the sounds with MIDI patterns. Not sure if the MPC does sample interpolation, (avoids the dreaded/desirable machine gun snare roll effect) most software solutions do.

[mewman]

Hi adrianne76I've got to agree with diogenes and throw in a good word for the Boss Dr-770. It's easy to use, sounds great, can probably be bought for really cheap, and has loads of presets. You can also make your own.I have to admit that I've gone the computer route, as suggested by mazz, but I still play with my Dr 770 'cause it's loads of fun and is really easy to program!Mewman

[adrianne76]

Thank you all for the input. I'm going to check out the Boss DR. I was hoping to not spend more than $500, but even that seems like I'm halfway to buying a computer and maybe i should just do that.To clarify, my home computer is shared, so the digital multi track recorder is what's in my little studio room and I am trying to avoid buying another computer and everything that goes along with it...