Boss DR-880 drum machine

[slide_blues]

Any users of the boss dr880 drum machine in here?

 

I'm really thinking of raising the cash for this unit, I know it's pricy for a drum machine but the videos on the boss site are pretty convincing, re: sound quality and ease of use.

 

I'm looking to use it for recording/practicing...not playing live.

[stratsyndrome]

i have one

let me qualify my statements by saying I've never used a drum machine before. For recording I've always used loops (groove monkey is excellent) or midi.

For actual song composition and building out drum parts, fills, etc. - the videos make it seem very easy. In actual use I found the interface to be a huge pain in the ass, especially the way fills are setup. Maybe I'm using it wrong, but I feel like I put enough time into it and reading the manual to realize that it is not user friendly, and since I'm all about time, I can't use it for this purpose.

For practicing and just jamming out to different types of patterns, its very cool, the drum samples sound great and you can plug in straight to the unit and get some good BOSS COSM tone (noisy).

However for the price of this unit, I think it is largely a failure.

For recording there are a lot easier solutions out there, and if all you need is a unit for practicing, there are cheaper drum machines out there.

I can't reccomend it, but I'm sure others will disagree, and like I said it is my first drum machine.

[ck3]

I tried one in a store and could make neither heads nor tails of the interface. The DR-5 is much better IMO ... even if you have to program the accents vs. having touch-sensitive pads.

[slide_blues]

Thanks for the honest opinions - this thing is not cheap and I don't mind the critical responses.

I know drum software is a great option for recording, but my PC is not "with" my guitar stuff. This unit is touted as the best hardware standalone option, and supposedly has a better interface than the older boss drum machines (?). Hmmm..