What drum machine to buy?

T

Tonekat

New member
OK, here's the situation: my bass player has funds for a new drum machine. We already use an Alesis SR-16, but we want something that will allow us to assign every percussion sound (kick, snare, each tom, each cymbal/hi-hat, floor tom, etc) to a different track.
I know Yamaha and at least one other company make such a thing, if you folks have any suggestions, I welcome them!
 
What are you recording with? If you use a PC, then ACID is a great tool for Drum Loop Creation. You can place each Sample sound (i.e. Bass Drum, Snare, Toms, etc. onto a single track. I assume you want to do this to control ammounst of EQ and FX on each component. Let me know if I am missing something in the meaning of the post.

Fangar
 
analog/ADAT studio drum machine

Fangar, I should have been more specific:
Our setup is not PC based, but consists of two ADATs, with a 16 channel inline mixing console, and various outboard compressors, reverbs, etc.
Ideally, we would like to have maximum control over EQ and FX for each drum sound by giving it its' own track, just as if we were micing a kit.
This would be for rock music.
I think the old Roland TR-707 had individual outs for each drum sound, up to a certain number, but the sounds are probably not exactly state of the art these days.
 
Tonekat,

Thanks for the further info. If you are not set on the External Dum machine, I would still recommend ACID PRO. At 199.00 you would be amazed at the samples that you can use. The great thing is that it has built in FX that are clean and easy to use. You can record your SR-16 samples if you like, and use them in the software. Often, I build Drum tracks from scratch, using individual samples. You can reverb the snare only if you like, and add any number of other effects to each individual component. Once you have completed the Track, then Dumo it stereo to 2 tracks of the ADAT. That saves some serios room. I use it the way you described, then Lightpipe the drum .wavs to ADAT. Record the backing tracks and then send it back to ADAT. It works well for me. If you would like to hear a drum track that I have created with ACID, let me know. Hope that helps.

If you go with a DRUM machine, I think that you would be limiting yourself. Especially once you started working with ACID.

Fangar
 
Thanks Fangar, I wouldn't mind hearing that track if you can shoot me a link.
We have a Pentium 4 Dell for the studio, but we havent' been using it. We kinda ran into a dead end with our ADAT Edit card, and I've been starting to look at the MOTU interfaces that can transfer more than eight tracks at a time to the PC. We were hoping to maybe add some sort of automation to our setup by having the ability to play with the mixes on the computer.
 
Kat,

Here is a couple minute sample of some programming that I have done in acid, for a song in the works. The Loop is dry, but FX can be added to each of the individual compnents if desired. Also, it has been converted to an MP3 so some of the clarity has been squashed. Hope it helps.

Also, you said that you have an Alesis PCR Card. You could create the Drum Tracks with all of the FX that you desire. Then just lightpipe it to one of the ADATS on two tracks. That is what I do. Then I record the other tracks and dump it all back down to the PC. If I need more than 8 tracks (I only have 1 adat) I just track over one of the existing tracks and then dump the new track or tracks down to the PC again. It works well without any noticeable quality loss. Because the PCR card uses the ADAT as a slave unit, it syncs everything and the .wavs all line up. Pretty simple.

Then I mix and add FX to everything in Vegas or Acid.



Fangar
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top