Which Drum Machine?

[Marinblues]

Hi,

I seeking recommendations for a drum machine. I basically need something to jam over and to home record. I have seen that some evolved models like the Boss Dr-880 have bass lines as well and so does the Zoom RT-323.

I was also considering the Yamaha Qy-100 which does other instruments as well (brass, synth, woodwind, etc).

Has anyone had any experience with these (or other drum machines)? Any samples? Any general recommendations?

I am not looking for a SW drum machine/sequencer.

thanks


Marin

 

[y2stevo]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

I have the Boss Dr-670

This is the one with the same Samples as Boss' former flagship model the Dr-770 (I think the 880 is the new flagship, but I couldn't imagine samples much better then these )but seems to have a little less functionality (or at the very least has 1 less wheel on it :laugh2: but im not certain whats different functionally) and has a "Bass machine"
I find its great and the samples are awesome,The Bass is very handy if you dont want to bother messing around with a real bass, although I think it would be much much handier to record bass parts yourself.Very handy tool for Jamming by yourself, but if your planning on mostly jamming with a band or even another bassist then I think the 770 may be more convienient as you wouldn't have to delete all the preset bass parts..You could simply stick on a patch and play anything over it.My only gripe with the 670 is you cannot change the bass volume on the fly with say some kind of slider(in which case you Could use it in a band situation if it had that, Thats my only gripe with it)

Hope this helps and wasn't too confusing :laugh2:

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

I have the DR-770 and I am very happy with it. The samples sound very nice, it's easy to use and you can midi sinc it to your recording medium to line it up with time based formats. This feature is nice because you don't have to re-program or guess to get your tempos right if you want to re-record something in a different tempo. Its also very helpful for grid editing.

 

[Marinblues]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

I find its great and the samples are awesome,The Bass is very handy if you dont want to bother messing around with a real bass, although I think it would be much much handier to record bass parts yourself.

Actually, I was counting on the bass feature. Why don't you recommend it? Does it not sound good? thanks.

I'd be playing on my own

Are these things easy to programme?

 

[y2stevo]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

Oh :smack: Forgot about the Midi sync.Thats a GREAT feature,It's great if you want to re-record a drum part that you already have a song built on, that way you dont have to guess when to press play while re-recording.

The Bass sounds good,Nothing very special but good.It's very convienient if you dont have a bass on hand (like me) but it means that you'd have to use mabye say 3 patches of the same drum loop for a progression, then another few more for the verse and chorus.If you had a bass on hand you could use 1 or 2 or mabye a few more patchs for drum fills and such but you wouldnt have to have 3 specific different patches for the verse.thats really all,if it had some kind of slider for the drum l/r and bass it'd be perfect IMO.

Apart from that as an actual DRUM machine it's fantastic..

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

Alesis SR-16

 

[Marinblues]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

Alesis SR-16

I've heard it's done it's job well in the past but has been superseeded by the newer stuff. Also, it has no bass?

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

I have a DR-770, and even feel like I haven't scraped the surface of what it's really capable of. As for drum machines with bass included.....the bass always sounds too synth-like IMO. I guess if one were to sound real good, it may make demoing easier, since you wouldn't have to setup a good bass tone with a compressor, and everything.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

Word up t9o what Roberto said. I have a Boss Dr-770 as well and I couldn't be happier. Listen to my clips if ya want. They're all done with that drum machine.

 

[Marinblues]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

Robert, Jolly and GJ - thanks.

I presume that the Dr-880 is only better than the Dr-770? It claims 40 bass tones.

Is the bass THAT bad? :|

Jolly, I'll listen to you clips, thanks.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

I've heard it's done it's job well in the past but has been superseeded by the newer stuff. Also, it has no bass?

I've been using the Alesis SR-16 for the last 14 years. I haven't found anything that does the job better. I don't understand your question about "no bass", though. It's a drum machine and sequencer, which is what you said you don't want. If you're looking for something to jam with, you might look at a Dr Rhythm by Boss.

 

[Marinblues]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

I don't understand your question about "no bass", though.

The Boss, Yamaha and Zoom models I mentioned above have the possibility to generate bass (guitar) lines.

 

[Marinblues]

Re: Which Drum Machine?

bump.