Members MuzikB Posted April 26, 2004 Members Share Posted April 26, 2004 I'm looking for a portable, rack mountable drum machine to use along with my Nord Lead 2X as well as at home and The Novation and the Alesis DM5 seem to be the only game in town. Does anybody own the Novation to provide some thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J3RK Posted April 26, 2004 Members Share Posted April 26, 2004 I used to have one. (6 years ago or so.) It made very nice 808/909 sounds. I found that they were very close to what the real ones sound like (not exact but close enough.) Having midi-control is nice too. These days I just use Battery and a couple of drum-synth VST instruments. I had a DM5 more recently. It had nice drum sounds, lots of trigger inputs, and was extremely easy to use. The problem I had is that mine had a slightly mis-calibrated DAC, so I got trailing noise on the release phase. It was really annoying. The D4 had a little trim-pot that you could adjust to get rid of that if you opened it up. The DM5 did not when I took it apart, so I was stuck with the noise. I'm sure not all of them have that problem, but mine did. If you use lots of FX, then it is harder to notice. But I used dry drums for a lot of things, so it wasn't optimal. I would get a Drum-Station, and then perhaps use Battery or another soft-sampler type of thing for the non-808/909 stuff. Or just use Battery and ERSDrum (Very cool for a free plugin, and makes an incredible bass drum.) or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MuzikB Posted April 27, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 27, 2004 Thanks for the reply. I'm more of a hardware type of guy and would like a hands on approach to adjusting my drums the same way i adjust sounds on my other synths. I already have samples that I use with Live and what's in the Fantom-X and Virus but these would take more time to tweak and I'm not moving the Fantom or Virus from my studio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J3RK Posted April 27, 2004 Members Share Posted April 27, 2004 If you want to be able to adjust and tweak, get the Drum Station. You can tune the drums on the DM5, but not with the turn of a knob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yoozer Posted April 28, 2004 Members Share Posted April 28, 2004 What about the Waldorf Attack (rack)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MuzikB Posted April 28, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 28, 2004 Originally posted by Yoozer What about the Waldorf Attack (rack)? It's kind of big for what I have in mind and the Virus C already has its' capabilities and then some. Sweetwater has a bag that can fit 2 racks of gear along with a laptop. My plan is to fit that bag with my Motu 828MkII and a Novation D-Station along with my laptop and carry along my Nord Lead 2X in its' gigbag. Powerful portability that doesn't break the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yoozer Posted April 28, 2004 Members Share Posted April 28, 2004 But even then, you might save some if you'd get a Drumstation V2. That's exactly the same as the D-station (which is exactly the same as a V1 with 1.3 ROM) minus the cosmetics. Unless you have a thing for those . Oh yes, too bad they're not easy to get.. but an MFB Kult is not as tweakable.. but very compact and filled with a load of samples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MuzikB Posted April 28, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 28, 2004 Originally posted by Yoozer But even then, you might save some if you'd get a Drumstation V2. That's exactly the same as the D-station (which is exactly the same as a V1 with 1.3 ROM) minus the cosmetics. Unless you have a thing for those . Oh yes, too bad they're not easy to get.. but an MFB Kult is not as tweakable.. but very compact and filled with a load of samples. I appreciate the concern but I'm not into buying used gear anymore. I have more than enough to sell to cover the cost of a brand new D-Station. I'll check out that link and get back to ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MuzikB Posted April 28, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 28, 2004 Seen the link. Nah. I need something rack mountable for the sake of space and ergonomics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AgtOrange Posted April 28, 2004 Members Share Posted April 28, 2004 Isn't the D-Station discontinued? You may have to go used, unless you've found a place that still has some in the stockroom. One neat little extra to consider; IIRC the D-Station has an integrated MIDI->CV converter. Or maybe it's the older DrumStation or the BassStation. I may not remember correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J3RK Posted April 28, 2004 Members Share Posted April 28, 2004 I can't quite remember either. I bought a Bass Station Rack and a Drum Station Rack when they came out. I know the Bass Station had the Midi-CV, but I don't remember if the DS did or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MuzikB Posted April 29, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 29, 2004 Originally posted by AgtOrange Isn't the D-Station discontinued? You may have to go used, unless you've found a place that still has some in the stockroom. One neat little extra to consider; IIRC the D-Station has an integrated MIDI->CV converter. Or maybe it's the older DrumStation or the BassStation. I may not remember correctly. Sweetwater still sells them. I think Music123 sells them also and yes it has a converter so you can use it along with a TB303. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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