Which is better, drum machines or Real Drummer ?

Assuming competence on the part of the person programming the drums and the other person playing the real drums, real drummer every time. I'm so sick of loop based drums, and for that matter click tracks and grid mode in general. There's something hard and sterile about it that just bugs me after a while. Randomizing helps a little, but a real player's variations aren't actually random, they're his interaction with the other musicians.
 
A good drummer with really good timing changes the groove by pushing or lagging the kick and snare against the hat/ride (or whatever is keeping the time).

You can program that I to a drum machine, if you know what you're doing, but a drummer will do it instinctively.
 
A drum machine is better when the drum kit won't fit on the stage. A real drummer is better when the drum machine is broke.
 
Somebody was looking to watch a thread explode with rage and war. Heck! I'm watching expectantly. Don't you know that this is a REALLY controversial topic here? You're gonna make everybody hate everybody.

If you really wanna just know my opinion though, real drums every single time. Hands down. No exceptions. even if the drummer stinks.
 
Drum machines are only as good as their operator, but so are real performances. Drum samples are so good these days, they are indistinguishable from real performances. Well, they are real performances, but you know what I mean.

Programming drums has the potential to save a lot of time and headache. It eliminates the need for rehearsal, setup and teardown, tracking, extensive editing and mixing. Most bands prefer playing with a live drummer though.

A good drummer may not be a good programmer. Drummers often do things when playing drums that they don't realize--subtle dynamics, rhythmic and tempo nuances, bounces and buzzes--that make a performance sound natural and musical. As a drum instructor, I'm more aware of these things than many drummers. I've become a good programmer because of it.

A drawback of drum machines is that popular drum samples are used on many recordings, which means you'll hear "your drums" on other records. When you record your own drums, you'll have your sound, for better or for worse.
 
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