Non-techie drum machine. Any advice?

[Jonboy]

I'm looking for a 'least-techie, user friendly, sounding good, quick 'n easy, versatile, in-expensive, lip-smacking, thirst-quenchin' drum machine. Any ideas???

[Gag]

jonboy i recommend the alesis sr16 has a good manual and its very diverse or can be very simple

[Jonboy]

thanks Gag. Will look into it. Meantime I've got a loan of a Roland TR-626 which is not too bad. I think the problem with me is patience. Having to program drum machines slows up the creative juices flowing. However the 'real thing' costs equipment and studio time!
Cheers

[GT]

I'm thinking of upgrading from my SR-16. As crazy as this may sound, I'm considering a Zoom 123.

What sold me was a song I downloaded from the mp3 clinic by Dabluesman. He used a 123, and to my ears I have never heard a drum machine sound so real. If he hadn't said it was a drum machine, I'm not sure I would have known. To me this is by far the most important criteria.

The problem with the SR-16 is the toms don't sound real at all, and neither does the crash, so your kind of stuck with snare, hi hat, kick, and ride.

What's weird is this is the only Zoom product that I would even consider.

[Jonboy]

Thanks GT,
Take your point about Zoom. If only they would concentrate on quality rather than quantity. I own a 505 II guitar pedal and while there are some nice sounds on it, there is a lot of stuff I know I will never use.
Regarding the 123, do you know if any effects were used on the 'Dabluesman' track as this could have a bearing.
I'm persevering with the Roland for the time being and while some of the tones are a bit thin you can still post-effect them to obtain better sounds.
I will look into the 123 though.
Thanks again.
Jonboy (Scotland)

[GT]

Hey Jonboy,

I'm with you realism over quanity. You can hear a demo of the Zoom 123 & 234.

http://www.samsontech.com

Try to listen past the phoney sounds, if you can, let me know what you think.

Scotland, cool.

Florida, here.

[Jonboy]

Hi GT,
Am ahead of you on this one. Following your original advice I went and downloaded the demo already. Seems ok although I wasn't too keen on the snare sound they've used. I'm sure they could have beefed it up a bit. Suppose I'd like to hear it 'live'. The TR-626 I'm using seems to have the snare I want but not the bass drums (toms are good as well when you fiddle about with the pitch). God I'm a fussy git!Thanks again.
Scotland bloody freezin'. Wish I was there!
Jonboy

"There once a note pure and easy"

[GT]

Yeah,

I'm getting fussy too, I think that's good though, keep me posted if you find the Holly Grail of drum machines. I will have to take a look at the TR-626, thanks for the advice.

I'm hoping to find a machine that's a big improvement over my Alesis SR-16. Maybe it hasn't been invented yet. Have you seen the Roland Hand Sonic, I played one at Sam Ash, pretty awesome, but $1000.00 bucks The salesman wasn't very knowledgeable, he didn't seem to know if it could be used as a drum machine, I think he may have been stoned.

It uses V-drum technology, I listened to it through phones. Sounded damn good. You may want to take a look at it also.

GT

[GT]

Hey Jonboy,

Check out the user reviews of the Zoom machines at:

http://www.harmony-central.com

Looks like sound for money, it's hard to beat.

[Jonboy]

Thanks again GT,
Will visit the site you recommend.
My understanding of the V-tech system is limited other than you can get that "I've had a couple of gins and I'm loose and hip-to-the-coast" feel aka the real drummer touch!
But yeah you will have to pay for it and at the moment £600 quid is out of my bracket.
My shopping list at the moment prioritises a MD recorder and a couple of quality mikes. I've got a "as long as you need it" deal on the Roland, so I'll get by with that and the onboard effects on my Fostex multitracker.
Try out the Roland - its not the worst machine I've heard. Plus they did have a handle on drum sounds before a lot of the newies arrived on the market!
I've also got a Yamaha Rex 50 effects package which I haven't really experimented with. So all in all I may still be able to produce a reasonable drum sound with a wee bit of hard work and perseverence. I will say that the price of the Zoom is attractive though - I'd still like to hear it 'live'.
Jonboy

[SteveMcB]

Jonboy,
I have the zoom RT123, and I gotta say, some of the sounds are good, but a hell of a lot of them suck. Easy to program, velocity-sensitive keys (although these are nearly useless in truth, because there seem to only be three levels, loud, quiet and really quiet and nothing in between. It also suffers from awful tom sounds (as do most drum machines I have used) but a few of the kits have ok ones. You can use 2 kits at once, so I tend to use one for bass/toms and the other for snare, and split the cymbals between the 2 kits (more available that way). Try before you buy is my advice.

As for effects, I like using a vox guitar amp sim from my roland vs-840 recorder in the effects loop to dirty and analogify things up a bit. Makes it sound less digital, and able to blend in with a real snare/toms if I use them (when I need brushes-type sounds)

Hope that's helpful,
Steve

[GT]

Thanks Steve,

Maybe it would be best to wait till the next gerneration of drum machines come out. Seems like this generation needs a lot of improvement.

[Jonboy]

Yeah thanks Steve,
Its good to hear from people who actually use the equipment and as a result I seem to be getting more convinced that what I have isn't all that damn bad!
GT has been very helpful too and I think if I can master the Roland before investigating anything else then that might be the best course.
Thanks again guys.
Jonboy

"There once was a note pure and easy"

[pglewis]

If you have a decent computer, why not look into Fruityloops or some other software based setup. Why pay all that cash for a hardware drum machine, only to be limited by the kits that come with it?

[Jonboy]

Fruityloops eh! In this country thats a confection. Must investigate, however my PC is so old it runs on gas!!!
Thanks for the tip anyway.
Jonboy