good drum machine/sampler? Boss 770 Dr. Rhythm?

[ruebarb]

Hi guys. I'm a songwriter who pretty much lost his band. I'm working on demos/recording for future songs, and I'm wondering about drum machines. I'm mostly wanting something like the kind you find in trip-hop groups like the Folk Implosion. Maybe it'll hold a bit of a sample or two, but mostly I need some good beats. Trouble is, I've never worked with them much before. I've read about the Boss 770 Dr. Rhythm, but I'm not sure this is what I want or is any good. If you have any recommendations, please drop me a line or a link to reviews. Thanks. Ruebarb

[alu]

Try to get hold of a used Roland R-8 with a few extra sound-cards. It´s a bit dated, I know, but gives you enormous possibilities to control your sounds. The Boss is more modern and will probably be fine,too. Don´t forget there´s a lot of sound modules with good, modern drum-sounds in them, like the Korg o5/w. Listen before you buy. Also consider things like dedicated outputs, i.e more than one stereo-pair. Good Luck!

[The Green Hornet]

Hey Ruebarb:

I'm on my third drum machine; the first was a Yamaha -- not bad at that time. I still have an Alesis SR-16 but have the Boss 770 right beside it. I haven't had time to explore all of the sounds in the 770 but about the first one I punched in inspired me to play around with a latin riff. Thus far, the sounds are great. Price was about 361.00, plus shipping, from Full Compass.

The 770 has all the features you would need; you can create and store your own meters; it has an array of drum and percussion sounds.

You might want to rent one for two/three months and see if you like it. I just bought the box because I got a demo tape from Roland and I liked the sounds. It has a gaggle of pre-sets and 400 spaces to store your own drum patterns. Like all other boxes, there is a learning curve but getting started is pretty straight forward.

Good luck and it's the beat that does it.

Green Hornet

[Even]

I found that the Boss DR-5 machine was a great tool. For a solo dude it really fills the gap. It has a ga-zillion sounds. I agree, rent one or nab one from a pal to see. But for the price these things are sweet. Several amp simulations, assorted simulated environments, Bass, keys piano and guitar sounds can all be emulated. Point being, it's not just a drum machine. I will mention on the downside, that it is not a velocity sensitive drummer. Ya ya.. you can hold down an extra button or two to get the drum stike louder or softer, but for all intents and purposes what you tag is what you get.

[Suntag]

Alu said to "consider things like dedicated outputs, i.e more than one stereo-pair". Anyone care to explain that to TheIgnorantOne? (I find I ask alot more than I advise - things will no doubt change, but meanwhile, it's a little intimidating)

What and why would I want multiple dedicated outputs? How does that come in to play while recording, etc, etc.

[Suntag]

Oh, and Ruebarb? We're in the same boat. I'm looking for a virtual percussion section also. Lorddiagram suggested the following to me (in another post). To quote his reply to my querry:

"For drums, I highly recoomend, the Alesis D4, DM5 or DMpro drum module. You can use it as the brains for a midi drum set and also use it with a keyboard and sequencer. I own the D4 and have a website dedicated to it and other drum modules. Check it at http://homepages.go.com/~drumcage - It lists alot of links which will explain the features of the drum modules to you.
Ld"

I did check it out, and to be quite honest - it looks pretty good! Which make me think of another question:

How can I try out sound modules if there is no store around that carries them? Should I just blindly purchase online (I shudder at the thought) or do I have to drive 6 hours to the next big city and hope there are better shops there?

-Tag-

[ledhed]

I don't know exactly what you're looking for...but I've had good luck with my Zoom RhythmTrak 234 unit. It has a good selection of drums, percussion, and bass. It has 99 presets and 99 user-programmables, pattern recording, and song recording where you can paste together up to 99 patterns to form a complete song of different percussion sections. The price is right on these things too...about $280 through the catalog guys (Musician's Friend, AMS, etc.)

[Monkeyspunk]

I use a DR 5 for some of the bands rhythem. I love it. Although, you dont get a complete range of drums (I could use more crashes), it does offer my the "Band in a Box" outlet which allows me to create a nice wall of noise. I also also run my drum machine through multiple of effects. It works for me.

Monkeyspunk

[alu]

With multiple outputs you can send one of the drum voices, for example the snare to a separate input of a mixer. This means you can control the eq and effects settings much better and more easily than in the drum machine.In my opinion, this has helped me get a much better drum sound from a machine.
Hope this helped.

[alu]

The above message is an answer to Suntag´s question.

[rj]

This is what I do with my dr groove...
Pan the foot hard left (inside the boss)
Pan the Snare hard right (inside the boss)
pan the hi hat center.
record the left and right on 2 seperate channels. There the most important isolation you need. Foot/snare.
Thhen add the crashes/ride/toms live through the pads. Thatll take that 'drum machine sound' out of your recordings for sure since you probably tap pads about like do.. (not perfect as a drum machine)
It works for me.