Drum machine recommendations, please

[douglas baldwin]

I started out on an Alesis HR-16 back in the mid-to-late 80s.
That unit s-l-o-w-l-y disintegrated by about 2000. So, like Goldilocks, I bought:
* Alesis HR-18. Pads suck - no dynamic range.
* Boss DR-880. Too slow to work with - menus within menus within menus, and the "save" step takes ten freakin' seconds to complete. Not to mention almost no memory, or a place for a memory card.
* Zoom RT-223. Wowie kazow. So easy to use. FUN! And super portable. But... the sounds are kinda mid-fi at times. Cymbals have that "haze of static" texture. Some limitations in programming, and it only has MIDI in.

So...

Mashine?
Akai MPC500?
Korg Electribe something-or-other?
Something else?

Stand-alone, nice decent pads, under $500, please.

I like to create everything from fairly "real" drum set grooves to gamelan to south Asian hand drums to electro click-hop.

Thanx in advance!

[Jim Williams]

I suggess the technique I learned from Leon Russell back in the early 1970's.

He would have a real kit in the studio. Then he would hit one at a time, then overdub the rest. Sure, it was mechanical like a drum machine, but the sonics were much better.

[snatchman]

I got a Yamaha RX-5 for sale in good shape if you are into that kinda thing..

[w4gon]

i'm totally obsessed with my korg es-1 mkII

[germaniac]

Hi!

As a drum machine freak, I have a varied assortment of machines (won't bore you with a list) for different things, but I do appreciate the idea of a do-it-all solution. Disappointed to hear the DR-880 doesn't cut it. I've been thinking of trading up from my DR-660, which I find easy to use but somewhat lacking in sonic "realism" these days. I've heard good about the MPC1000, provided you get a newer one with upgraded pads and OS. The only other thing I might recommend, again on good advice, is the iZotope idrum:

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/idrum/

Very flexible, easy to use, load your own samples, and best of all cheap. Only downside IMO is, I still like hardware. . . .

Joe

[sears]

I like my MPC1000. Make sure it has the new pads.

[calaverasgrandes]

MPCs are great. There are a lot of different models out there to choose from. Akai also made a straight up drum machine that seems rare. I've only seen it twice. But it sounded killer. The Korg electribe boxes are great too.
But honestly, just get another HR16b. They are dirt cheap since they arent analog, nor vintage 8bit/12bit. I still use my HR16b all the time when I just want a drum beat to play against while I work out song ideas. I have beats on there I wrote 15 years ago that I still really like. I also love the hihat and ride on those.

[douglas baldwin]

Thanks for the recommendations and re-thinkings. It looks like an MPC 2000 is in my near future. I'm surprised nobody weighed in on the Mashine. No users out there?

[Jaybezus]

It looks like an MPC 2000 is in my near future. I'm surprised nobody weighed in on the Mashine. No users out there?

Don't forget a zip drive and a box of zip disks.... nothing like obsolete mediaand an extra wall wart, not to mention all the inherent joys of the placentia-like zip drive.. might be worth it just for the pitch slider and the pads though. You can get em modded but it is expensive and sketchy

I personally am boycotting Native Instruments until they stop making EVERY plug-in a stand-alone app also. Dang resource hogs... The pads on the Mashine are also hard as frozen now and laters.

If you find a software/controller setup like the Mashine acceptable, I recommend a nice sampler plug-in and the M-Audio Axiom family of controllers, those pads are second only to the MPC 2000 or 3000 and are nearly identical.

[kuene]

i'd be wary of the mpc 2000. I used one for around 4 years, and then sold mine 10 years ago because of the annoying external zip drive (or handy 3.5 inch drive

unless someone has somehow modified them to work with a usb connection right to your comp, or at least a usb flash drive of some sort - its just a damn pain - and backing up, etc. even worse.

there is no way to get your beats out of the thing unless you want them as midi, or a stereo 2 track....or you could perhaps have the 8 outs upgrade, which is rare and hard to come by in used models.

they are incredible hardware drum machines - sequencing patterns and songs was great, but they don't play well with DAWs.