Your favorite drum machine and how you use it.

[rhythm ranch]

I need some new beats and some new ways to make them. What do you use, and how do you use it?

One thing I've always loved about the Roland machines is the ease of programming them. The 606, 707, 808 and 909 are all great fun to play with. I feel like I come up with more interesting beats on my 606 or 808 because of the ease of experimenting with changes to the beat and the simple, but effective user interface. The 707 added the little programming matrix window that only enhanced programming, although the sounds of the 707 sound more "dated" than "old school" to me right now.

Boss DR-110?

Another fun box and cheaper, but not as controllable as the other Rolands. No mixing or separate outs, just a "balance" knob that's basically a tone control. The sounds are OK. They sound a little better with some distortion.

Electribe ER-1?

I think these are pretty cool boxes. A similar interface to the Roland units with much more control over the sounds. Yes, it is virtual analog, but I think the creative possibilities with this box far outweigh any concern that it's not analog. The ER-1 also has two inputs that you can program into your sequence with controllable gate time. You can feed any line level signal to the input and chop it up as part of your beat. That's a fun trick.

Regarding the rest of your list, I haven't used them. Not sure why, but the Yamaha machines have never interested me.
Marko

[wardshorsehead]

i'm currently using a 606, oberheim dx, and an akai sampler (s3000xl) with one of those mpc controller pads that akai makes. on the used market, you can pick up an akai s2000 or 3000 for a couple hundred bucks, and an akai mpc controller pad for the same new. if you already have a sequencer, it's like having a poor mans mpc (in my case with spdif ins and outs, scsi, 8 outs, and 32mb of ram, and a decent hardware sequencer, a bit more powerful than a maxed out mpc2000xl for a whole lot less money). look around. you could get an akai setup like i mentioned with an older sequencer (mmt8, microcomposer) all together for about $500-600.

good luck!

frank

[A.L.]

Right now I am all about the 606 (which I procured via this board) in combination with these two old, wicked boss units I scored recently... the PC-2 and HC-2. Percussion synth (though truth be told george bush will turn democrat before I'll ever get a nomal drum sound out of it) and handclapper in boss pedal format. You can trigger them with anything. Plug in a guitar, drum trigger, drum machine, mic, whatever. The hand clapper is pretty limited use but the percussion synth is the real deal, you can twiddle for days and it sounds great (though it more or lees needs to be amped). Squelch, warble and drone city. None of these sound like the real thing but damnit they have character.

edit: Here's a sample of the PC-2 from a track I'm working on, triggered by the 606:http://ttdoma.com/board/PC2.mp3. doesn't even remotely show its range but it's a taste.

[I'm Painting Again]

Samples triggerd with pads/keys or sequenced with an Atari or a Roland MC-50

[jayrope]

Jomox Xbase 09 (analog - way cooler than 909 or 808)
Jomox Mbase (only one analog bassdrum, you can't get it fatter)
MFB 502 analogue drummachine
Roland TR-606-808-909

apart from that i usually program the beats in logic, although that hinders me using microgrooves from the built-in sequencers in the drummachines. they wobble you know. the built in sequencers are oftenly nicer to program with, but only for 4/4 beats. i use a lot of weird metrums, therefore logic is more versatile for the programming. the elektron thing, i have to check that one out.

i use drummachines of any kind for live and studio worx in contexts between pop, club stuff, classical music and impro.

[vvv]

SR16 and Boss DR660 allow a good chance at faking some real drums.

The 660 probably sounds better; I prefer the interface on the SR16, maybe because I've had it forever; actually dropped a monitor on one and replaced it.

[bitdump]

I believe Price was using an LM1, this predates the LinnDrum (LM2) and the Drumtraks, but he used them all.

Personally I have, a Linndrum, Drumtraks, DX, Prommer (can burn for all of them) and a DR110. I also use every thing else in the synth DAW department for drums, Tauregs, Fruityloops, Logic, drum synths, Csound, my Kurzweils and all the other synths. Oh and then there is the drum set.

They yeild different results, so depending on what you need can help ya to decide. Drum machinish or natural, who knows. I've done some decent emulations with the soundblaster in my puter, of course helps to make some better soundfont samples and programs.

Overall the most flexible I've used is an MPC3000.

Drums, yeah, there's some option for you

[kavish]

Here's another vote for the Roland R-8. Great realistic sounding samples, well built pads, nuance and human feel features, highly editable sounds, 10(!) analog outs: 8 assignable and a 7 position assignable stereo pair. Great drum machine!
There are a few cheesy 80s samples onboard, but mostly lots of well recorded fairly dry drums. If you're looking for realistic drum samples, you can't go wrong with an R-8.

[zoetrope]

Boss DR 202 is mighty nice.

[aurelialuz]

we've had a lot of drum machines through the years, but i just can't top the 606 for ease of use and portability. it's small and if the batteries are good, it's perfect for scratch beats, click tracks, or sync'ed to a midi clock and just running kicks. only problem is i'm super burnt out on the sounds of it. i had a 707 for awhile, easy to program but i couldn't really use the sounds.

another cool machine we use a lot is the DX. clunky, won't save patterns, but fuck, it was the machine used on run-dmc's "it's tricky", how can you not love it? great claps too. and the fact that is has buttons is rad for overdubbing, especially since it doesn't seem to have any form of sync.

used to have an EMU SP-12 and a drumulator. i always used to think the drumulator was kinda dumb, but in retrospect, it actually had some really realistic and usable sounds in it. the SP-12 is full on rad, one of the only pieces of gear i wish i hadn't sold. analog filters and 12 bit sampling, excellent.

we also have an MTI auto-orchestra which we used on a comp track we just finished. real nice analog machine but preset patterns. clunky to use but sometimes sounds ab-fab.

best sounding drum machine i've ever owned was the EH drm-16, another machine i wish i hadn't sold. there used to be sound samples at the drum machine museum that i did but he took the samples down, who knows if they'll return. also clunky, stop and start with a bear trap of a footswitch, but the sounds...OH THE SOUNDS...

how do i use them? mostly, we're migrating to using real drums and weird percussion, but sometimes we'll lay down a DM track and overdub the drums. the comp track i mentioned got a track of the MTI and then the DX OD'ed, supplementing the snare hits and adding clap. sometimes i'll get a little techno bug and sync the 606 to a sequencer, but i don't let that stuff see the light of day.

alex

[uqbar]

I've moved away from drum machines and towards using samplers and synths controlled by sequencer software (Logic). For real sounds I make my own samples, for vintage sounds I use canned samples, and for artificial sounds I've got a bunch of synths that can make cool, and original, percussive sounds. I like using the sequencer better for creating beats - it is just more flexible to program and can handle more complex "feels" than old drum machines.

[Mark]

I hate drum machines. I'm seriously considering going down the singer-songwriter with acoustic guitar route just so I NEVER have to use a fucking drum machine (or soft drums, or a sequencer) AGAIN.

[xonlocust]

Boss DR 202 is mighty nice.

i also use one of these. it has a pretty huge library of sounds included 606/808 - as well as a whole bunch of worthless presets. it weathered being plugged into the wrong power supply, emmitted smoke, and is now back in commision with my fingers crossed.

[inverseroom]

I hate drum machines. I'm seriously considering going down the singer-songwriter with acoustic guitar route just so I NEVER have to use a fucking drum machine (or soft drums, or a sequencer) AGAIN.

Hmm...I think I hear a story...

[apropos of nothing]

I'm currently using my Kat DK-10 (hardware drum trigger) to trigger LM-4mk2 (a VSTi drum machine) in Cubase. Nice thing is that since LM-4 supports multiple VST outputs, I can process kicks, snares, and what have you each on its own channel. My drums have never been so happy. I also use Fruityloops.