WHAT DRUM MACHINE DO I BUY????

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pisces7378

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Can anyone tell me what drum machine to buy? Does the BOSS JS-5 Jam Station sound like real drums and can I program it completely to do whatever I want it to do when I want it. This includes MANY stops and starts, and MANY time changes. 120 Beats/min. to 60bpm and back. Anyway, Is it a good machine. Is the Roland TD-8 the BEST or only the most expensive? What is the best for around $500? Someone please help me. I am in Germany and can't speak German. I live here. No one can help me here. Someone tell me what to buy.

Thanks,
Mike
 
Zoom 234

I have the Zoom 234 drum machine. You can listen to it on my mp3's @ http://pages.xtn.net/~freebrd/Index.htm I really like it, it has authentic drum sounds and you can mix up to 3 kits at once plus put in the bass guitar track if you want. It has touch sensitive pads, so the harder you hit one the harder and/or louder the sound will be, though it isnt the kind you use drum sticks on. It also has the ability to mix tracks in any order.. So, you could make a track on say preset 5 and you can make another one on 6 and you decide to make a drum fill on 7. You can put them all togeather afterwards like 5,7,6,5,5,7,6,6... etc. Anyway, I think it costs under $300. So take a listen to my mp3's to see if you like how it sounds. I have two mp3's on that page. The "DaBluesSong" is just one really long drum track that is looped a couple of times, it is a standard bass, snare, hi-hats, cymbol set with a shaker or tam added too. All the sounds except for the guitar and bass guitar are from the Zoom 234 (on both mp3's.) The other mp3, "DaRap/Metal Mix" is a bit different. Unlike the other song, I used the Jam function on the 234 for this mp3 and the drum tracks use some of the effects that come with 234 not just standard drum kits like the other mp3. I cant really explain the Jam function but check out Zoom's web site for details on the 234, it has good descriptions. I hope this helps!
 
Luv my Boss DR202 DR Groove machine. Some of the
best "canned" drums I've ever heard. With over 200
preset drum and bass kits and 64 user kits. Each Drum kit has approx 128 different variations of which you can adjust the resonance and decay. Comes with 'Verbs and Flange.It's also really d@mn easy to produce your own drum kits with 'bout 8192 ways to adjust your user pattern.
Goes for 'bout US$350.00.
 
Yo Pisces 7378 BINGO:]

I use the Boss Dr770; a fabulous box. I don't think I've had time to cover more than 10 percent of the patches; some patches even have a roll to a transitional beat within the same patch.

It is programmable and it has several ambience choices.

It's hard to get to listen to drum machines; however, if you have an opportunity to visit a big dealer, let your ears decide. The 770 is not too expensive and you'll be jamming right out of the box.

Green Hornet
 
I like my Boss DR-770. It has 255 drum and percussion sounds, 400 presets, and 400 user patterns. Each pattern can be altered according to desired drum kit, EQ, and 'ambience', including reverb and flange. You can copy any other the presets to a user patch and set a specific tempo, add another pattern in the next patch space and switch between the two using a footswitch. A footswitch can also be used to stop and start the patterns. With the touch-sensitive pads containing single drum and percussion sounds you can make your own patterns, edit them, save them or whatever. It has MIDI in and out and a stereo out plus obne assignable out. I think the drum sounds record well. I usually send them straight to my recording deck but have also gotten great results by sending the signal to a 'bass' amp and micing that. Makes for a real full sound.
 
i got a question

for you dr770 users...i am currently using the alesis sr 16 and it's pretty cool...i like the big 80's sound. but..many years ago i had a roland tr505, and it had this really great way to program in beats in which it had a little chart of boxes, and you would just go through and fill in the boxes with the drums you wanted there...am i making sense? does the dr77o do anything like this? the alesis is all done while recording to a click track...too time consuming...
 
DR-770

First of all, sorry for the dopple posting. Didn't know how annoying it was. First and LAST time. Now with regards to the DR-770, do I have to physically play the drums with my fingers on little pads if I want a completely custom drum track. I am planing on running it straight into my Multi-track recorder. So do I have to PLAY the part and then hope that I was on tempo and then record it? Or can I some how measure by measure, program the part with "quarter note, 8th note, half rest, 8th note etc...." Or do I have to chose from many pre-set pattern and just find the one that closestly matches the ideas in my head? I can play the DRUMS pretty well, but I haven't ever tried to play little buttons like drums. I don't care if the drums sound so wonderful as much as I care that I can program it to play EXACTLY what I want it to when I want it to and have MANY tempo changes in one song. Is this a possibility with the DR-770?
Also does anyone know about Cakewalk software? Does it have a drum machine program? I am a dinosaur as far as computers are concerned. I HATE them. But I also hate to buy a $2,000 sequencer when I could just buy a box of software. What does Cakewalk cost? Is there a better one? Some German dude at the biggest music store in Munich has told me to use the Logic Magik (I think that was it). What is the best for DRUMS??? Thanks,
Mike

Once again, sorry for the double posts.
 
Yeah, if you want to customize your own pattern you actually play the little pads. I'm no drummer, but the DR770 is easy to work with. And yes, the machine allows you to play measure-by-measure by programming in whether you want to use whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, etc. You can use a 'real' pattern setting and just play the pads and get exactly what you play, or use the 'step' pattern which straightens it all out tempo-wise. Never tried programming several time changes within one pattern so I can't help you there. The recording procedure is pretty simple: pick a 'user' pattern number, hit 'record' (goes into standby mode), then pick whatever notation you want (beats per measure, etc.), pick out a drum kit to use (enormous selection and the pads themselves have different voices you can assign), set the tempo, then hit start. If you put in an instrument (hi-hat, snare, whatever) then decide you don't like it, you just hold down the edit button and that pad button while the pattern plays and it disappears and you can do it over. Even after its saved you can still alter the pattern. I too use the DR770 sending it directly to my multitracker. I think the only drawback of this unit that I've noticed from other posts is that the output doesn't allow you to separate out the instruments, like kick and snare which I think maybe the alesis does.
 
arent thos machines hell to program? I tried playing around with a older alesis sr16 and I lost patience with the thing in about 5 minutes.

Are these machines you mention more intuitive 9 or easier to use?

Reason I ask I have a full band but am intersted in doinf additional projects on my own.
 
Yo Enemy of Elcar and "Datoonine"

If you have FULL BAND, why would you need a drum machine?

For those who have drum machines,....if you want to do your own tracks, you need to take the learning curve to do that.

It's not all that tough; however, you can't do it in 5 minutes.

If you want that type of program, then, you want to speak into your computer and say, "Doo wah, boom boom boom, splash, crash, ping, a dink a dink a doo:]

If you can afford that!]

If not, then you'll have to learn to program your creative beats following the (UGG) manual.

Green Hornet
 
It depends on how much you want to spend. For $340 you can get a DR770. It has many sounds but only has two stereo and one individual out and only has a master eq. Also, when you use this ind. out, you cant use the effects. For serios studio recordings, Ive been told to get a used roland r-8 mkII. It has multiple individual outs and most of the same sounds as the new boss/roland machines. This means you can eq all of your drums to fit nicely in the mix. If you really want kickass sounds, however, youll eventually need to buy a decent sampler. Somebody please tell me I'm wrong as I am looking for good realistic drums for my recordings And there don't seem to be many out there!
 
i have a dr5 by roland. I like the versatility but the drum sounds are very....unrealistic. I have a buddy who has the sr16 by alesis and that thing has fooled me a couple of times. i programmed it once...without a manual and it took me about an hour.

My dr5 also doesn't have fills/rolls it can do to transition to another beat...that totally sucks...I am not a drummer so all my fills sound like....really dumb and corny.
The dr5 also has a feature where you can plug in your guitar and use the drum machine to convert your signal to a bass guitar,flute,organ,piano and alot more but the tracking of my notes when using this feature is pretty poor. It tends to trip itself up when playing upbeat bass lines or anything that has a moderate succession of notes. Also the pads are not touch sensitive. The sr16 are and that really adds to the realism.

Just my 2 cents...
 
gotta say im pretty happy with the sr16
you should be able to find for less than 200.00
sounds are pretty good
programing isnt so bad but you do need the manual close by
 
Yo green hornet guy!

To answer the first question, I want to play, write and record some super highspeed grind type music but my band is into oppressive sludge/hardcore. So a drum machine sounds like a good idea to me. Plus a drum machine can pull off speed and timing changes that a human can't and I would like to play with that concept. (an example of this would be a band called Agoraphobic Nosebleed)

To answer your second question I DID indeed want to figure it out in 5 minutes although I know thats not going to happen.. And talking into the computer like on star trek would be great.
 
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