Boss Drum Machines

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KingNothing

KingNothing

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Hey, have any of you guys used either the Boss Dr-5 Dr Rhythm or the DR-770? Are there any drum machines you guys would recommend? I need to get a pretty heavy kick drum sound, not really your standard kick sound.

Also, I have never used on of these before. I can run this into an Event Gina and record beats I make onto my HD right?

[This message has been edited by KingNothing (edited 04-06-2000).]
 
I bought a dr-770 a couple of months ago and I must say its some of the best money I have spent, I tried out the korg er-1 but felt a little limited soundwise but it was just so fun to play with I wish I could have kept it
the 770 has some great sounds, really clean and deep, 4 megs of rom onboard so you will never run out of space and the quantanize is pretty cool too, Im still learning it though but have made some wild tracks with it, I used to have a yamaha rx7 (80's piece of sh*t) so this one is a step waaaaay up any more ?'s about it?
 
Cool. Thanks for the reply.

I guess what im really wondering (keep in mind i have never used a drum machine before) is if it is possible to kind of set the levels of your individual drums? Can I crank up the kick drum and lower the hi hat taps right on the D-770 before sending it to the recorder? What about EQ?
 
of course, and also there is an individual output so u can apply effects or what not to that particular instrument, there is a 2 band eq onboard but that wouldnt be much help to u I dont think (dont do me a bit of good)you could record it into cooledit pro and apply eq there and any other effects u can think of.
It also has this thing called ambience which is basically just a reverb to kind of make the kit sound more together and its pretty cool if u dont overdo it. At this point in time I am trying to learn how to apply delay to individual instruments (snr , ohh, chh) to get this hell cool really stuttery beat
what kind of music are u making, is it a variety of sounds u are looking for? dance music? kind of industrial heavy ministry kind of thing?
 
Nice guess. You are correct, I probably wont be doing any dance music any time soon. That is one of the problems I am seeing while trying to research these drum machines. They all seem oriented toward rap and hip hop stuff. I want a machine that can lay down heavy rock drum tracks.

You guys seem to like the DR-770, I think i'll look into that one a little more. Thanks for your help.
 
HAS ANY-1 TAKEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO AUDITION
THE DR GROOVE BOSS DR-202? THIS BOX IS AWESOME!. FOR ITS PRICE RANGE ($350.00) IT HAS SOME
OF THE PHATTEST GROOVES AND BASS-LINES I'VE EVER HEARD. IT IS MIDI-CAPABLE ... THIS BOX
IS A MONSTER!!!!!!!!! :)
 
I use a DR-770 and love it. I've also programmed several songs for another guitarist and he's really happy with how his songs came out.

I decided on this one because a) it had far more memory than other units in this price range and b) I could get better rock-oriented patterns from it than the other lower-priced units I looked at. It seemed like most drum machines I saw were oriented to dance music (which this one can apparently do). Based on your username I'm guessing you won't be writing many dance patterns either. :D

You can edit the whole kit with the Ambience settings as well as do a lot of editing on individual instruments (Hi/Lo EQ, decay, pitch, level, reverb, flange, echo, etc). I did a lot of that at first but found I spent more time fiddling with controls than I did on the patterns themselves. After a lot of experimentation I eventually came up with 6 or 7 custom drum kits (you can create 64) that I like. Now I'm focusing more on the drum patterns themseleves and only tweak when I need something specific.

One thing I still tweak A LOT is the level of each individual beat in the pattern. Those slight variations in the volume of each individual "strike" gives a much more human-sounding pattern. It's a P-A-I-N I-N T-H-E A-S-S to program, but well worth it.

[This message has been edited by DaveO (edited 04-07-2000).]
 
I've owned the dr-5 for a few years and I love it! Many fat kicks to choose from my friend. The dr-5 has a control panel that is laid out like a fret board, super cool! It also has midi outs so you can run it to your pc to trigger all those sounds and you dont need to be a piano player. Idividual pieces of a set can be panned or have their levels changed. Onboard 4 track sequencer, sweet sound. Rock is super easy to get from this baby Boooom tat Boooom Boooom tat. Rum, where?, I mean run it into a Art dual mp and the warmth added is unreal. I use it for pro stuff and everyone loves the sound. Did I tell ya how sweet the bass sounds are? Alot of the horns and stuff are kinda cheesy I just use the bass and drums maybe 1 or 2 of the synth sounds.
Best bang for your buck.
Jas
 
Yup, I use a DR-5 and it ABSOLUTELY ROCKS! I can do anything with it from a piano solo of "Misty" to Peter Gabriel's "Your Eyes"...and I can't play chopsticks on a keyboard! The sequencing ability allows me to sound like a pro including drum rolls, and mass percussion. Try it, you'll like it!
 
Hellow Kingnothing
These guys aint bullshiting about the dr-5 its a band in a box. its a great drum machine with some great sounding kick drums you can edit to your taste. the other instruments sound fantastic also. unlike the dr-770 the dr-5 dosent have individual out puts, only L-R out and midi in and out.
 
Besides the great sounds the biggest advantage the Dr-5 has over other drum machines is its use as a compositional tool.
I have written tons of music with this thing.
Being a gutar player, the fretboard style interface is BIG with me. Bass line, no trouble, Piano, its in there.
Jas
 
I myself have a DR-660 (the pre-cursor to the 770) and I have found it most useful hooking it up to my computer to use via Cakewalk. I just use the midi out cords on my computer and hook the sound out cords to my stereo (or 4-track, or back into my computer via the sound in jack). I agree that trying to program the drum machine itself is not exactly fun. :)

[This message has been edited by Mr. Kristopher (edited 04-24-2000).]
 
Mr. Kristopher

I have a dr660 that someone gave me and I
don't have any instructions for it. I went
to boss.com (roland)but they have no on line
manuals for download, do you know where I might be able to get some instructions for it?
 
jason001

I feel like a deer staring into the headlighs
There isn't anyone around here who will give
you something for nothing. They don't even
want to talk to you unless they know you have
money in your pocket. If you can direct me
to one of these places I would appreciate it
mucho.
 
dragonworks

I meant if you call Boss they will either give you one or it will cost little.
A friend of mine just called Boss for an old effect manual and they sent him one for free.
 
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