talk to me about drum machines

[xhavepatiencex]

I am very inexperienced with it comes to drum machines. I am starting a shoegaze'ish group and we are flirting with the idea of not having a real drummer.

Is it worth it to look into stand alone drum machines? vs using a laptop. Ease of use is important, I have made a few drum parts using my keyboard as a midi controller in reaper and it seems a tad cumbersome, though that may just be, because I never have to do that kind of stuff because I always record punk/rock bands.

Any insight on a setup that would be easy to use, in the studio as well as live would be great. thanks!

[Nick Sevilla]

I am very inexperienced with it comes to drum machines. I am starting a shoegaze'ish group and we are flirting with the idea of not having a real drummer.

Is it worth it to look into stand alone drum machines? vs using a laptop. Ease of use is important, I have made a few drum parts using my keyboard as a midi controller in reaper and it seems a tad cumbersome, though that may just be, because I never have to do that kind of stuff because I always record punk/rock bands.

Any insight on a setup that would be easy to use, in the studio as well as live would be great. thanks!

Akai MPC1000, 2000, 3000, or 4000 series samplers. That's what all the hip hop / rap dudes use, it has a great sound, are easy to learn, and if you get one with a SMPTE card you can sync it to anything. You have to use samples, but that means you can use ANYTHING to be the drums. It also can have up to 8 individual outputs, so if you're going to record the machine later, you can do so in multichannel form.

Cheers

[loudone]

hello, this is my first post on the forum.
Thank you guys for the wealth of info. I just started researching stuff on here recently, its is great.
But as to the topic, MPC's are great, and you can use them to control midi really well. Perfect for any midi needs really.
Or if you have a laptop and ableton, ableton will provide all you need with a little mpd controller maybe?

[xhavepatiencex]

thanks for the info, I will check out the mpc's I do have a laptop so that might be the most cost effective thing? Use that with a better midi controller?

[ashcat_lt]

I personally am not comfortable trusting my show to Microsoft. You'll here all the mouse clicks through the pa. If an error occurs you'll get that BONK alarm noise. And what if it decides to install an auto update and restart? Way too much to go wrong.

What I do is compose and render my drum tracks on the studio computer, bounce to high bit-rate .mp3 and load them to an iPod for playback onstage.

[wren]

I personally am not comfortable trusting my show to Microsoft. You'll here all the mouse clicks through the pa. If an error occurs you'll get that BONK alarm noise.

You can turn those noises off very easily.

And what if it decides to install an auto update and restart?

Turn off your internet adapter, and make sure your computer is set to ask you permission about updates. You can even turn the updates off entirely, or even have a computer that never touches the internet and will thus never have any updates that could be installed.

[citystate]

don't use a laptop!

you should use something like a 606 or better a 909 if you have the cash. it will be so much more fun.

or the mpc 500, that would work.

[Jeff White]

There is nothing wrong with using a laptop. I've used mine to record flawlessly for over 12 hour sessions without a restart, I've seen tons of bands use laptops on stage without a hiccup, etc. Instead of spending lots of cash, find a good drum sampler for the laptop and have at it.

Drum machines are going to be different to program than a computer based sampler. You can MIDI it into the computer, etc, but to be honest after working entirely in a DAW I can't go back to programming drum machines alone. YMMV. I like the ease of programming in Digital Performer or Live and knowing that all of my MIDI stuff is backed up within a project. If I had a hardware drum machine I would definitely pick it up for the sound of it, not ease of use, etc.

No matter what you go with, you have to check out the Goldbaby Tape 808 and Tape 909 stuff. Awesome sample sets. May not be the sound that you are after, but if you are doing any kind of electronica these are essential imho.

As far as live is concerned, there are so many options for flawless playback for backing tracks these days that it is ridiculous. iPod, old Roland VS boxes, laptop, etc. The MPC stuff is great and all, but if you already have a computer(s) for music production, to me it makes more sense to find something that integrates with your DAW. I happen to really like NI's Battery stuff for drum composition, and Kontakt is industry standard and really powerful. If you have a computer to run them, these are great tools. You can always reamp it, you can always convert the MIDI to audio tracks for live performance, etc. It really is a matter of personal preference.

Jeff

[sonocide6]

I have some hardware drum machines (including a 909 clone that I hand-built!) but for ease of use I would suggest that you go the software route. I have one of these http://www.akaipro.com/mpd24 for putting down drum parts at home while recording and also use the MIDI out on stage to control other drum machines. These MPD's use MPC pads and have programmable soft knobs too. There's a few other control pads (and sizes) like this out there if you're not thrilled about Akai.

You should be able to find some software drum machines/samplers that are easy to use. I like Battery for customization, but a lot of people are nuts over BFD and all of the expansion libraries. The MPD makes it pretty easy to lay down some good MIDI tracks in your DAW that you can playback onstage. You could even bring the MPD onstage too to do live fills, etc.

Like the previous posts have said - make sure you get your laptop in check before you bring it onstage with the windows sounds/updates/etc. You have to make sure that you control it instead of it controlling you!