Drum Machine Advice Needed

jkelly222 · Post by **jkelly222** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:02 am

Hey guys,

I am looking into buying a drum machine to record album demo's with.
I would like to find a drum machine that I can easily program without prior experince.
The songs are extremely dynamic and at times the drums need to be extremely soft.

The songs I have thus far are very Pete Dello, Roy Wood, Kinks, 13th Floor Elevators, kinda vibe.

I've got about $200 bucks, and it can be new or used. Any advice? I'm open to software suggestions as well!

I would very much appreciate any help!

markjazzbassist · Post by **markjazzbassist** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:38 am

for vintage analog hardware machines try roland tr-606 or boss dr-55.

for a newer machine that's analog try the mfb-522 (used).

software try Boom, it comes with all versions of pro tools, you just need a midi controller to trigger it.

i own a acidlab miami, which is a clone of the classic analog roland tr-808, i love mine

jkelly222 · Post by **jkelly222** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 12:07 pm

Thanks for the tip! Know of anything cheaper? I might could swing the Boss but that's an $100 or more than I wanted to spend.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 12:37 pm

Used Alesis HR16 or SR16 can be found all day for around $50-75 (don't pay more). Not great but a classic sound and pretty simple pads based machine.

Brian Brock · Post by **Brian Brock** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 1:31 pm

i like a tr 505. these days i mostly use a set of samples of it and a couple dozen other machines, loaded into battery software sampler. i loved the step sequencer on the hardware 505.

eeldip · Post by **eeldip** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:19 pm

assuming you have a computer, there are a million free drum machines out there. mac or PC? do you already have a DAW?

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 5:03 am

"not for hip hop" is a weird thing to say.

But if you DO have a computer, something like reason can be very useful to manipulate sounds you feel are more what you are looking for. You can also tweak the feel of the samples much easier (if at all) compared to a lot of dedicated drum machine type boxes.
I would just use this:

http://goodrecordingstuff.blogspot.com/ ... deman.html

Such an amazing contraption, and most certainly: not for hip hop.

jkelly222 · Post by **jkelly222** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:43 am

Awesome! Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it! I thought "not for hip hop" was kind of weird too so I fixed it! Now it's Ebay/Craigslist time!
-Jason

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Drum Machine Advice Needed

Drum Machine Advice Needed

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