I need a recommendation for a good quality drum machine/module. I purchased an Alesis DM5 and thought the sounds were killer, but am looking for another unit. I've heard some sounds from a Zoom 234 RhythmTrak and liked what heard. Basically, I need something programmable such as the Zoom or Boss or Yamaha's machines - and something offering good quality drum samples. Thanks.
It might depend on what you want to spend or can spend. When I first started looking at drum machines I was trying to keep it around $250 and I narrowed it down to the ZOOM 234 and Alesis SR-16. I don't rememebr seeing the Alesis DM5. Just for kicks I looked at the Boss DR-770 and ended up buying it.
It was an $100 more but now I'm glad I spent the extra money. The Boss can't do as much with bass lines as the ZOOM, but I wasn't going to use that so it didn't matter to me. I thought the instruments on the Boss sounded better, it has A LOT more memory, and has both MIDI in AND out (which I'm not using, yet). Since I'm not using MIDI and do all my programming on the machine the memory was the biggest factor.
If you want to spend more then you have even more choices, but I think I got a lot of bang for the buck with my Boss ($349 last October). If you won't need the bass programs then you might want to check out the Alesis. It was more of a meat-and-potaotes machine but I liked the way it sounded. If you're limited to about $250 I think the ZOOM and Alesis had their own strengths and weaknesses but were decent machines for the money.
