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Which drum machine should I get?


guitarcat46

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I love Roland/Boss products, but the Boss DR-880 is expensive compared to the

competition. It's cool that you can plug your guitar into it, but it's $400 - $500!

 

It has to be easy to program, and sound pretty good for demo recordings.

 

There's the Zoom RT223, and the Alesis SR-16 or SR-18 models.

Which one should I get, or something else not mentioned?

 

Thanks!

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I use acoustica beatcraft for drums. pretty simple for a caveman stupid {censored} like myself to use.

 

example of some music I've done with acoustica: http://www.gulchcomic.com/workstuff/stay.mp3

 

it's just a basic sequencing engine and you can do 8th and 16th note triplets and plug in any samples you want.. cheap or *cough* free under certain circumstances *cough*.

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I'm happy with my SR-16s and it's a big plus not having to be at my PC to use them.

 

 

That's why I'm looking into getting a drum machine. I don't want to rely on having a computer around me all the time.

 

I'm mostly using this for practice, but I would use it to record some demos from time to time. I know that a computer will get better results as far as sounds, and ease of programming.

 

I actually like the idea of the Boss BR-600, because it has a drum machine built in to the recorder. It also gives you the option to connect to a PC if you want to use the software. The problem is the BR-600 has been out for quite some time. It would be cool if there was an update soon!

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When I was in the market for a drum machine, I got the cheapest one at the store - a Zoom MRT-3

 

MRT3-large.jpg

 

It's very cheap, sounds decent, and is very easy to use. I've made demos with it, and I actually use it with one of the bands I'm in (not a very serious one that plays very often, but we still have fun and get good responses from audiences with it).

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I've got a DR-880 and I like it a lot, the 24 bit sounds are great and it's reasonbly easy to program patterns on a PC then upload them to the DR (though not obviously as easy as using a Laptop and drum sequencing software) another option you could look at is the BR-800, it's a portastudio that's supposed to have the capabilities of the DR-880 built in and it costs about the same as the DR, probably not as easy to access the functions though.

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I have a boss DR670 and it sounds great, for a drum machine anyway. I used to use an sr16 and the 670 is as easy to use as the alesis but sounds way better. I think the pads a little more touch sensitive too, which helps "selling" the drum part.

 

If you get a used one make sure to get or dl a manual with it. It's fairly well written and it'll help you work with the more advanced functions that aren't readily obvious from the interface, like making custom drum kits.

 

I used it on the demos in my sig if you are interested.

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To be honest, I bought a DR-770 in "like new" condition off of a guy for $85 about a year ago and I hardly even use it. It has some great kits and beats already built into it, but I would rather use my computer based software any day of the week to build drum loops and songs because it is so much faster.

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Yup. Drum machines are like 4 or 8 track digital recorders. We already have laptops we can use almost anywhere, why pay for ANOTHER box to cart around that doesn't sound NEARLY as good?

 

You can pick up Superior 2.0 for $300. 35 GIG of amazing drum samples.

 

[video=youtube;CA8fjkrfIoU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA8fjkrfIoU

 

[video=youtube;nNA9hGCcJWA]

 

 

This is what I use with my e-drum kit, but it comes with TONS and TONS of midi clips, fills, grooves, etc.. that you can drag and drop into your projects. And it you really can't find something you like, you can mix and match parts (use the snare from one groove, kick from another) or even program your own grooves in your midi drum editor.

 

Add a $100 interface so you can record guitars, and some free VST's from lepou, and acmebargig, and some free recording software like Reaper, and you'll be recording some AMAZING demos in no time, right onto yer laptop computing device.

 

All for what, $400?

 

Here's a free guitar rig made by acmebargig. One of many they have.

 

[video=youtube;RTmj5W5i_TU]

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