Drum Machine

[Whyte Ice]

I'm looking to purchase a drum machine. What are the best sounding drum machines you can get for under $300 ??

What are some of the best sounding drum machines overall?

[HapiCmpur]

Bummer. I like your question, Ice, and was looking forward to learning new things from the discussion it generated. Looks like nobody's biting, though.

I've been playing around recently with a Boss DR-770, which sells for a little over 300 bucks. I'm pretty happy with the way it sounds, but I've been hearing recently that no drum machine can produce authentic drum sounds as well as a good soundcard. I've never made music on my PC before, though, so I'd have to invest a lot of time and money to test that theory.

I suppose if somebody made a good standalone product like Fruity Loops (standalone meaning that you don't need another expensive sequencing program to run it), I'd give that a try, but Fruity Loops is oriented toward techno sounds and what I'm really after is realistic acoustic drum sounds.

So I guess I'll just have to keep plugging away with my DR-770, in spite of its limitations.

[VOXVENDOR]

The Dr 770 Is great... I use it for bass drum and snare sounds....

It's on all my songs here:

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/...vendor/singles


I think it sounds pretty decent as long as you use live cymbals and hi hats along with it..

Joe

[Matt303]

What kind of drum sounds are you after?

Do you want to emulate a real drummer as close as possible or are you looking to the machine for some kind of effect or synthesis.
My band uses an SR 16 which is quit old technology but does a reasonable job. I sometimes use the keyboard (GEM Equinox) onboard sounds which are a bit better but tedious to program.

If you're interested have a listen, all tracks other than Josie are recorded with the SR16, Josie uses the GEM. We have used the drum sounds live on a DAT machine and mini disc when our drummers not available so our intention was to emulate the original patterns rather than do something new.
I agree with VOXVENDOR about the live hi-hats, the ones on our tunes (sweet thing is the worst) sound shite

www.nowhereradio.com/mobounce/singles

[rats]

I use an SR-16 and it sounds ver drum- machiney. If you're just looking to sketch out a song it works good, it's easy as all hell to program and because it's small it's very convienient to tote around with you and sequence on the go.

[Whyte Ice]

The sound i'm looking for is almost exactly like Voxvendor's, the pop-rock type.

I've played with a DR-770 for a long time and I never had it sound like voxvendors songs. How do you record the DR-770? Any Extra EQ, compression since the DR-770 samples sound compressed already.

BTW, great songs VoxVendor, got a CD?

[Gidge]

http://www.voxvendor.com/thecd.htm

[pratt]

Originally posted by HapiCmpur
...I suppose if somebody made a good standalone product like Fruity Loops (standalone meaning that you don't need another expensive sequencing program to run it), I'd give that a try, but Fruity Loops is oriented toward techno sounds and what I'm really after is realistic acoustic drum sounds...

you CAN load your own samples into Fruity Loops....so if you have some good sounding acoustic drum samples (which I think can be had on the 'net), you can load 'em in and sequence away

fruity loops is pretty robust...the big drawback, in my opinion, is the inability to program in odd-time sigs

[VOXVENDOR]

Originally posted by Whyte Ice
The sound i'm looking for is almost exactly like Voxvendor's, the pop-rock type.

I've played with a DR-770 for a long time and I never had it sound like voxvendors songs. How do you record the DR-770? Any Extra EQ, compression since the DR-770 samples sound compressed already.

BTW, great songs VoxVendor, got a CD?

Yeah, The one Gidge linked you is my old one.. it's ok, but the drums suck.... They were keyboard drums that I played by hand.... If you can wait about a year, my new one will be out..

Joe

[VOXVENDOR]

Originally posted by Whyte Ice
The sound i'm looking for is almost exactly like Voxvendor's, the pop-rock type.

I've played with a DR-770 for a long time and I never had it sound like voxvendors songs. How do you record the DR-770? Any Extra EQ, compression since the DR-770 samples sound compressed already.

BTW, great songs VoxVendor, got a CD?

Oh...

Yeah I add compression to them, still even though they are already compressed... my Snare is a combo of 2 snares.....

Just mess with it, and try different tunings (pitch) and different volumes......

You'll find a good set of sounds...

I record it direct.... With no direct box or anything in between.

[Whyte Ice]

When I tried the DR-770, I used the stereo outputs and connected them to my mixer, but if I get this, I'll try em direct.

Also, the last time I played around with it, I remember there being stereo outputs, are there anymore because I know the DR-660 has the stereo outputs plus 2 individual outputs.

What can you use the MIDI on the Dr Rhythm for?

[HapiCmpur]

The DR-770 has one independent output and one pair of stereo outputs.

I imagine the midi is there primarily for synching the machine to your recorder so that you can layer individual sounds to separate tracks using the independent output.