Recording guitar with MR8

[mekkab]

Reminds me of the old story about Alex Van Halen putting his digital drum pads inside regular drum shells, so his fans would not know he'd gone that route - or Keith Richards using a Parker Fly in the studio, but not wanting to be seen with one in public.

Kind of ties into the guy who said the only way to record guitar is to put your head next to a speaker to find the sweet spot for the mic.

Might be shocking to find out how some "real" records were actually made...

Not exactly. I'm not ashamed of my drum machine- infact, I'm quite proud of it. I just don't want to pretend that its a drummer. Its different than a drummer, and I want to "celebrate" that difference. (which is the politically correct thing to do in the percussion world!)

mekka- can't we all just get along?! -B

 

[mrx]

Its different than a drummer, and I want to "celebrate" that difference. (which is the politically correct thing to do in the percussion world!)

True - as a guitarist I tend to forget how passionate percussionists get about these things. I worked with a drummer who would program amazing stuff into a machine, then look horrified when I asked why she was setting up a ride cymbal.

I guess it depends on what you're doing - in my Ministry phase (the band) the goal was to make the drums sound like factory equipment, but other times there was real satisfaction in making a machine sound like the Replacements.

 

[cellardweller]

Whoa!

I had no idea! I have scrapped so many beats because they just didn't quite fit the exact rhythm I had pre-conceived...

Now I gotta buy a midi cable, any suggestions?

BTW, Mekka, did you say that you had an RT 323?

How exactly does the drum machine "do it"? Does it find the best/closest pattern in its' own memory, or is it somehow otherwise manipulated (act of god)?

Sounds too good to be true! So many questions come to mind, I'll try not to inundate you...

 

[dyuob]

A long time ago, we used to take a small portable cassette recorder, plug the guitar into the record in, and mic the speaker. Talk about distortion....

 

[mekkab]

Re: Whoa!

I had no idea! I have scrapped so many beats because they just didn't quite fit the exact rhythm I had pre-conceived...

Now I gotta buy a midi cable, any suggestions?

BTW, Mekka, did you say that you had an RT 323?

How exactly does the drum machine "do it"? Does it find the best/closest pattern in its' own memory, or is it somehow otherwise manipulated (act of god)?

Sounds too good to be true! So many questions come to mind, I'll try not to inundate you...

Yeah, for a midi cable, I suggest you buy one with two ends
Seriously- whatever they have, should be like 10 bucks. Your only limit, is how far apart you want your devices (since you aren't doing this on stage, you can get a 5 -7 footer)

I Don't have an RT-323. I only have experience with my DR-550. When I hit PLAY-RECORD on the MR8, after the pre-roll the DR-550 just starts drumming.
The Dr550 has 2 modes- Song mode, and pattern mode. SOng mode is a collection of patterns, and pattern mode is like a 4/4 measure (or 3/4, or 5/6...) of beats. So if I want I can start playing one pattern, stop, start, switch up, etc. and its all in time.


How does the drum machine do it? Midi Sysex (system exclusive) messages. Regular messages are "Note X, at Velocity Y". THe MR8 says "Start the show!" and then says " beat1" "beat2" 'beat3" "beat4" etc. (actually, its a tad more involved than that, I think it divides measures into 30 time frames, and says "okay, measure 2, part 15" "Measure 2, part 16" etc.)
So even if your TR 323 ignores the "START!" command (our you hit the stop button on the TR 323), the next time you hit play, it waits for that first beat and snaps into time. If you quickly unplugged the midi cable, your drum machine would stop- it would sit and wait (patiently!) for that next clock signal.

SO yeah- get a midi cable (you only need 1 for now (mr8->tr323)) and start messing around- if you need help I can try to decipher the TR323 manual (its so cool that companies have their manuals online as pdf's!) and help you out.

Most importantly- DON'T GET DISCOURAGED. My drum machine is from 1990!!! And it works great. Yours is far more modern- so it WILL WORK. Don't be afraid to mess around with the settings- you aren't going to break anything (and really, there are only like 5 settings to mess with!).

GOod luck, and if you run into problems, write down what all your settings are (Cuz that's the first think we'll ask!)