Drum machines?

[BubbaVO]

 Which one are you using? What do you like / dislike about it?

[gorch]

Hardware: Boss Dr. Rhythm. Handy tool for takeaway. Lots of presets to choose from. Easy programming tool up to in depth programming. Includes many bass lines as well as guitar effects. Pretty much a band in a box if you want to. Midi programmable, midi clock. USB, line out, digital coax, and much more. Greatly integrates with the PC and DAW through asio4all. Technically, becomes somewhat out of age, but still great.

Software: free Sennheiser plugin for Native Instruments Kontakt5 player, VST3 integrating into any common DAW. Allows selection of many sampled original Sennheiser and Neumester microphone settings. Many features integrated like compressor, equalizer etc. Comes with hundreds of midi patterns for almost any musical style. Easy drag and drop of patterns into DAW to create tracks snd loops. Or use of Kontakt5 player in standalone option for an evening living room jam.

Love and use both.

[Armitage]

I have an Alesis HR‑16 that I've had for ages... I never used it much, sounds great though. Now a days people just use computer plug ins...

[Hbom]

I don't know anything about them but I just received a message from Massdrop for an Akai Rhythm Wolf Analog Drum Machine & Bass Synthesizer. Sounds like it does most everything, price isn't bad at the Massdrop price. Might be worth looking into if you are leaning that direction.

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/akai-rhythm-wolf-analog-drum-machine-synthesizer?utm_placement=0&referer=C9PXXC&mode=guest_open&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Automated%20Daily%20Promotional%202016-04-28&utm_term=Daily%20Promotional

[alantig]

Hardware: Alesis D4.  Love the Alesis stuff - I had one of their original drum machines.  The D4 is just a sound module, but it sounds really good.

Software:  EZ Drummer 2, Steven Slate Drums, and a couple Abbey Road kits.  The EZ Drummer stuff has a great interface for finding patterns and forming songs out of them.  Soundwise, they all have their advantages and disadvantages, and some are way more flexible than others.  The pattern stuff is great if you don't want to program everything.  I tend to use a mix of patterns and MIDI programming to get the job done.

[anotherfreak]

Alesis SR-16

Likes: two pedal options start stop, fills A/B patterns for each pattern

Boss DR-5

Likes: works like a mixer with Bass, Wind, Guitar, Keyboard parts for the drum patterns. Each can be removed/edited independently for the drum parts

 

[Teh]

Alesis SR-18.  Use a little for trying out progressions and practice, but mostly collects dust.  For recording, I use "Drums on Demand" loops.  DAW is Presonus Studio One.

[jaberwock]

Beatbuddy is the first drum machine I've used that sounds acceptable for live shows; it takes some practice, but you can add fills, cymbal accents, pauses, and move to different parts of a song with your foot. New drum kits can be downloaded, drum patterns are un-quantised, and some sound very natural.

  It's compact, sits on the floor, and with the optional foot switch , you can navigate through a set list to choose songs

 The cajon, and percussion kits are really good for coffee shop shows, so much so that people have sometimes asked where's the percussionist.

 The biggest compliment I can give it is that with practice, and judicious choice of drum kits, it doesn't sound like a drum machine  

      Jaberwock

[humfree]

I picked up a Boss DR-5 some years back to supplement and possibly replace my old Roland R-5.  While the Boss unit has a great number of presets with or without bass lines, the step writing process was pretty much opposite that of my Roland unit and I was never able to create original drum parts with the same ease of the Roland.  So, I still use my trusty R-5 for songwriting. 

I remember when I bought it, the difference between the R-5 and the legendary R-8 was $300.  I got my R-5 for $499 on sale.  It was a huge upgrade from my first machine - a Roland TR-626.  Although the R-5 didn't support memory cards like the R-8, or have nearly as many drum kits, it had one feature that was better - I could save all of my work on cassettes, and therefore have every single drum pattern and drum song I have ever written.  I have also gotten really good at writing drum parts and chaining them together, not limited by time changes, or even tempo changes.  It also has a cool little feature known as 'human feel' where I can assign different emphasis patches on each pattern, giving them a more natural feel when you have straight up metronome style beats.  Most of my individual patterns are at minimum 32 or even 48 beats depending on whether I'm doing a 4/4 or a 3/4 beat, and therefore tend to be more involved, and I think, more interesting and less repetitive.  I also use the step write function to put together tracks - adding sounds manually on a sequencer style 16 beat grid, then manipulating them further by using the touch sensitive pads to alter the urgency of each hit.  There is also a function known as 'scope', which breaks each beat into an extra six beat grid, actually giving you 96 (16x6) beats for a standard pattern.  It sounds convoluted and tedious and it actually was until I got good at it.  Now, I can get original drum parts that I can hear in my head onto the machine in minutes.  May be the best investment I ever made considering how much music my 30 year-old R-5 has supported. 

I know it's time to move to a computer based sequencer style machine, but this one is still going strong.  I wouldn't mind hearing recommendations from others who write drum parts from old style 16 beat sequencing grids.  I can still fool a drummer now and then with my R-5, which is all I really need, but having that Boss unit with so many presets also supports the development of new music, or even just jam sessions. 

Every guitar player should own and be able to program a drum machine - for me, there is nothing more inspiring than a good drum beat and it brings things to the surface things you would have never played without the backdrop.  It allows you write whatever you want, whenever you want, without being side-tracked. 

As for drummers, I love a great drummer as much as anyone else, but how many do you know?  And of those great drummers you know, how many are dedicated to one band?  How many just want to play covers?  So, just so drummers know, they can't be replaced, but you can supplement them to create - you almost have to considering the ratio of great drummers to above average guitar players.  A great drummer can lift even an average guitar band to his level - for me, they are the most important piece in any band.  A great guitar player with an average drummer - meh. 

I'm rambling all over the place now - caught me with spare time and something I'm into.. but there's always this:

Q - How many drummer's does it take to change a light bulb?

A - None, they have machines that do that now.

 

Peace

[diablo175]

I've got at least 4-  a Zoom Rhythmtrack, a Roland Dr Groove, a Jam Station and my trusty Dr. Rhythm with which I compose 90% of my original shit.  The Dr. Rhythm has it's obvious limitations along with some quirks in settings but overall some nice features like the bass lines and the pitch/key transpose.

 

 

[anotherfreak]

You are welcome to mine if you like, or just wanna play with one for a spell

[Jakeboy]

I bought an awesome Alesis SR16 right here on the HFC and it inspired me to pick up Abbey Road 70s Drums and play using a Korg PadKontrol for playing finger drums. I freaking love it!