what's the best and cheapest drum machine out there? i'm a rythym guy who needs to have a drummer that likes and wants to play my stuff! and actually shows up for sessions!
I'm a pretty big fan of the Korg Electribe ES-1. Originally they went for like $400, but I'm pretty sure you can find a used one for like half that now.
It's a "rhythm production sampler", so basically you put your own drum sounds in it. I usually fill the sample library using the drum presets on my various synths through an EQ, compression and various other effects, depending on how subtle or wacky I want it to sound.
Of course, you can put samples of anything into it to use for parts, thus you can make loops of much more than just drum sounds.