What is the best drum machine??

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rfeber

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Hey, I use a cheap YAMAHA keyboard to do home recording drums right now for myself. I use Cool Edit Pro and have the output on this go into my line-in on my soundcard and it records the drums that way. But I need something that sounds more real, has lots of good sets that I will actually USE, not just a bunch of 'out there' sets that sound good but aren't practical for recording, and that has a stereo out (it also spreads the drums from L to R channels for recording automatically).

Tell me your opinion - I have about $250-$325 to spend, so hopefully they will be in that range.

Again, thanks so much!

-Ryan
 
For $250.00 I'll come over a play drums live. I won't use any electricity or frustate you with my infinate number of tympani samples. (If it's not too far, I'm in Houston) I do reserve the right to break meter (I'm only human)
 
rfeber - here's and idea - there are some virtual keyboards available. i.e you have another keyboard like your Yamaha in your computer that you can play from your Yamaha. They have multiple kits of drums in them.

Cheers
john
 
No, not MIDI

I am looking for a drum machine tho, like that Dr. Groove (i forget the name), made by ROLAND or KORG or ALESIS...any ideas? One that I can hit the keys live on the drum machine and hear a playback..i essentially play the beat on the keypad live and can record it in to my computer for my music.

And wumpsey, sorry, I am just a college kid and i am actually a drummer who (without a drumset) took up guitar last year and am recording music for myself.. thanks tho :D

So any ideas (for a drum machine - there have to be some of you who own a good one).

Regards,

-Ryan
 
The only good drum machine is a dead drum machine. :)

--Lee
 
No room for drumset

Well, flier, I *am* a drummer, and the only reason I am usin a drum machine is cause I am at college and don't have room for a drumset. That is why I took up guitar in the first place last year...and now that I am recording stuff, I can come up wtih killer beats...I don't need a drum machine for the BEATS and PATTERNS, I just want a cheap one (below 200 actually) that has lots of drum kits with very realistic sounds to them, so that my music is convincing.

Thanks!!! Any suggestions for ones that are like that (less beats/more samples/cheaper prices?)

-Ryan
 
I understand your situation, wish I could help you out on the drum machine suggestions, but since I feel they are evil incarnate, I can't. :)

However, here's another suggestion which is what I used to do when I lived in a place where I couldn't have a drum kit. It's more fun than a barrel of monkeys, will yield you a lot of really unique, big sounds, and you can't beat the price (free).

You're probably familiar with the adage that smaller is bigger when it comes to recording. For example a tiny practice guitar amp cranked all the way up with its little speaker fully overdriven and the recording level cranked up is going to sound bigger than a Marshall stack on a recording.

Well, you can apply the same principle to drum sounds. A lot of everyday objects, if you close mic them and possibly apply compression, EQ, or reverb as necessary, will sound like drums or something like drums, only bigger. For example beating on a cardboard box with a kick drum beater can sound like a kick drum. Flicking a paper bag with your finger can be a snare. Crumpling cellophane between your fingers sounds like a shaker. Tiny splash cymbals tapped lightly can become a big sounding ride. Etc.

Note that for this to work, you really have to get into a completely different head space from what you're used to as a drummer. Chances are, anything that would work in this context would NEVER work in a live stage setting, and it probably won't sound good if you hit it hard. To fully appreciate what it really sounds like, you just have to get up close and personal to a good condensor mic, put on a pair of headphones, get creative with the effects and see what happens. Almost anything - a pen, a couple of paper clips, a notebook - can become a drum.

When I was doing this we only had a 4-track, so we'd have 4 or 5 people each on a different piece of the "kit" and record it live. Nowadays you could just record a single beat or a few different sounding beats into Cool Edit, copy and paste up the beats you want, and voila! Totally weird, huge sounding percussion. Sure it won't sound exactly like a drum kit, but you might really like what it does sound like, and it won't sound like what everyone else is doing, that's for sure! And it really is fun and can be very inspiring.

--Lee
 
The Boss DR-770 has 64 preset kits,64 user kits (editable) and 50 kicks and 67 snares.You can play it in real time from the pads or from a MIDI keyboard or drum pads,and you can either record into it's internal memory or feed it data from a sequencer.It has the most modern sounds in this category of product.$339 street.
 
Is there a cheaper one out there??

I really don't have that much to spend...I mean, I would like to spend a MAX of two hundred...any suggestions? Anyone know where I could get one *used* or anyone want to sell theirs to me (if they don't want it anymore)?

regards,

-Ryan
 
Just to clear things up.

Rfebe, you don't really need a drum machine for what you want to do, since you only need the sounds. A drum machine is not only sounds, but also a rythm sequencer. Therefore, a synth or synth module with drum-kits as sounds would work just as well, since you won't use the sequencer anyway. BUT it might be cheaper with a drum-machine.
The one I'm using is the Roland MC-303. It's very good, but the drumkits are not made to sound overly realistic, so it would probably not suit you, so I don't have any recommendations there.
 
About virtual drumsets on my cpu...

Okay, someone said that I have virtual drumsets on my computer? So I could have the MIDI out on my keyboard go into the computer and then play back through a software synthesizer? How do I do this and what are some good places to get good drumsets/midi drumbanks (i guess that is what they are called).

Thanks,

-Ryan
 
I bought DATA BECKER Music Center software for $10 at a garage sale and it has all kinds of drum sounds and really killer keyboard sounds.I know that it is about the cheesiest software but it fit my budget at the time.Get something like that and plug your keyboard in and you should be all set.
Ginzoo
 
There is software called "fruity loops" that acts as a virtual drum machine. I've been using it for awhile now and it's pretty awesome. Instead of lame sounding midi you can use actual wav files of real drums. Of course as with all drum machines fills are next to impossible to pull off without sounding cheesy. The best part about it is it's $35 for the basic version (Which is all you'll probably need).

You can buy other useful garbage with the money you save.

-valgrim
 
Put up a link

Thanks, can you put a link to the 'fruity loops' page so I can check it out (maybe buy it)?

Regards,

-Ryan
 
The great thing about Fruity Loops is that you can use real recorded drum sounds... the problem is finding good quality samples as most of us here use it have found... there are a number of CD's that can be bought from places off the net that contain many high quality drum samples... it's just that we are too cheap to buy them :D
 
hi, you should definetly check out friutyloops. i have tried a bunch of the virtual drum machines, and it is by far the best i have come across. the samples that are included are kind of geared towards electronic music, but you can always find more acoustic sounding drums if you search for them on the net, samplenet, etc...
unlimited patterns and sounds. also, if you can't find any good acoustic samples, i have a lot of alesis d4 drum waves that i have sampled from my drum machine. they are very realistic. let me know.
 
The best drum machine is Frank Beard from ZZ Top.
But it only has one beat programmed.
 
try the pawn shops.i recently ran across a boss dr5 in a pawn shop.just make sure they will take it back if it's faulty.
jim
 
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