Drum Machine

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Go_Blue80

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I have a tascam tape recorder, and want to get a drum machine, i've never used or actually even seen a drum machine, will it just plug in to my recorder and use a track? any advice is appreciated! thanks
 
Yes. Maybe into as many as eight channels depending on the model.

Mine has six outs.
 
Yo Blue of 80:

You are a bit ambiguous about your Tascam. If it is only a "tape" recorder, you won't be doing "tracks."

If it is a multitrack recorder, then you can be doing drum tracks a plenty. Most drum machines have a left/right out. My 770 has an "Individual" out which I haven't used since I'm not sure what it is for -- [Senn. what is that out for?] I'm too lazy to dig up the manual.

Most modern drum boxes are programmable; you can write your own drum score measure for measure -- this is somewhat time consuming but it all depends what you are after and how patient you are.

Three major drum box makers are: Roland, Yamaha, and Alesis.

It would help you greatly if you could demo a drum box before you drop the cash. As I've recommended before, if a demo isn't possible, rent the box for three months. Many vendors have returns that they will rent for a short term.

Have fun with the drums as many modern boxes will give you great samples and many, many patterns.










Green Hornet :D :cool: :D
 
I'm not sure, but it may mean that you can assign a particular percussion instrument to that one out, say the kick or the snare to give you more control. I really don't know that machine.

Most modern drum boxes are programmable; you can write your own drum score measure for measure -- this is somewhat time consuming but it all depends what you are after and how patient you are.
Sometimes days if you can only work on it part-time like me. It can depend on how many fills, transitions, ect., you are doing.

It's worth it though, beats the hell out of "thump ch-ch thump ch-ch..." throughout the entire song.
 
That's exactly what the individual outs are for. Mine has two individual outs and two stereo outs. I put the snare and kick through the individual outs into two channels on the mixer, and the stereo outs go to the other two channels. This allows me to control and process the kick and snare separately, which makes mixing much easier.

Also, keep in mind that you don't HAVE to record the drums on a multitrack unit. Try just recording the SMPTE and synching up the drums with all your other pre-recorded tracks when mixing. This frees up track space and you are taking away another piece of the audio chain..

Cy
 
I too have a DR-770, and use the individual output extensively. Sometimes, if I have a song with many dynamics, I not only use various drum kits, but duplicate each pattern I created, recording the track via MIDI about 20 times, each with a different sound coming out of the indiviudal. Then, I apply the desired effects, and bounce them down to two tracks.

As far a drum machine goes, selection depends on what you are looking for it to do. I've been happy with mine, but a friend of mine hates it. He swears by the DM-PRO, using his 770 just for the touch pads.

Your best bet is to spend some time in the music shop playing with them. If the guys who work there won't let you do that, fine; just find another music store to deal with from then on.
 
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