Your favorite drum machine and how you use it.

[inverseroom]

OK--I admit that I'm asking this question so that I can go on eBay and steal your ideas. Seriously--I write and record alone, and all I've ever used are the trusty but dull Zoom $99 jobber, and the Alesis SR-16. I need some new beats and some new ways to make them. What do you use, and how do you use it?
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[Meriphew]

I have a small collection of them, but my main go to drum machines are my Elektron Machinedrum, and my Roland R8 mk II. I'll normally get some funky rhythm going on then bring in a real drummer on top of it ala Steve Jansen style.
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[inverseroom]

A quick addendum to this post: I guess I'm interested in your thoughts about two categories of drum machines/modules.

1) Most realistic approximations of acoustic drums and percussion

2) Most interesting sounds, synthesized or otherwise.
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[Meriphew]

Most realistic: Roland R8 (R8 mkII is better beacause it has a lot more sounds).
Best synthesized: Elektron Machinedrum. Nothing else is even close.
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[JohnDavisNYC]

my favorite drum machine ever is the Roland TR606... the 808 being a close second. right now, my favorite 'drum machine' is my Octave Cat analog synth being played over midi>CV. just one sound at a time, and it usually turns out great. it's like some Jonny Greenwood shit ala Idioteque if you can't afford an Analog Systems modular.... just gotta be deliberate about it and think about how the sounds'll mix together.

the R8 is cool, too. don't really use it much, though.... was sitting under my bed for along time. basically, i'm a modular guy for drum sounds.

one great feature i discovered recently, though... is in reason's redrum module, if you click on the drum machine, command-r randomizes the pattern in real time... it's great to just load up one of these with a few hihats or something, along side a more basic loop, and then just keep hitting command-r and record the results... instant never repeating electro-hats.

yeah...

john

[Meriphew]

[JohnDavisNYC]

well, with the 303, you could scramble the memory by switching it on and off.. resulting in some wierd basslines... but i don't know if anything similar happens with the drum machines... will have to investigate....

it would be a great feature in a modern machine, although, gven that most modern drum machines are totaly shite. (elektron machine drum excluded) it wouldn't matter, cuz i don't really want crummy PCM drum sounds...

jd

[doctor phd]

I will never need another drum machine since I got an mpc 2000xl. As far as sounds go its all up to you. which is what I love about it. The pads on this thing rule with velocity and aftertouch. The filters are ok but you can manipulate tons of paramaters. And syncing this thing is no problem it even generates and recieves smpte.

might not be what youre after but if you want sampled drums any mpc will do the trick.

I also have a sequencial circuits drumtraks that has 8-bit samples. This thing sounds rad and the midi implementation is pretty good. the toms are straight off a prince album.

[Meriphew]

[doctor phd]

although prince did have the first linn drum. He also used the drumtraks on early stuff and the later sequencial circuits tom on when doves cry.

[justinf]

I'm right with Toaster on this one. . well, more or less:

Roland TR606 and TR707, great across the board--I love the interface, always have.
Reason, see above, also very flexible. I export drum wavs to Logic/etc, no Rewire thanks.
Alesis SR16 for generic drum machine sounds destined to be fucked up by some device.

my favorite though, Ensoniq ASR-X Pro. Bad ass resampling and MPC-style pads = nice beats. Check it out; I had 2 but gave one to a good buddy.

[analogcabin]

On the Econo end.........the Alesis HR-16 is no slouch. And easy as can be to use. Almost free on eBay.

e.maynard

[inverseroom]

Opinions:

Yamaha RX5?
Yamaha RY30?
Yamaha QY70 (mostly for drums, bass, and monosynth)?
Boss DR-770? (newfangled)
Boss DR-110? (oldschoolwise)
Electribe ER-1?

This is good, keep it comin'--I started (musical) life with a Six-Trak and know a Drumtraks is somewhere in my future...
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New album out now! clicky

[doctor phd]

another thing about the sequential drumtraks. If you got an eprom burner you can make more samples. try the oberhiem prommer.

Ebay has a couple of drumtraks right now. This one looks good.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2569846593&category=38069

[Randall]

I got an SR 16 midi'd up to a D5 it aaaannnhhh, so so, but it sucks, got triggers on my drums, but they are just frustrating to try and work with, nothing sounds like a real kit
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