Drum Machine recommendation

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 9:45 am

I'm looking to get a decent drum machine for some home recording. I've been considering the Boss DR 880 and DR 670, and was wondering if anyone has opinions about these or other drum machines.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 2:17 pm

Hi, Steve.

We in North of Maibu have one called "Rick", but he's chained to the floor in George's garage, eating scraps of Honey-Baked Ham®.

You want the address?

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 2:36 pm

Sounds interesting Paul - what's you opinion of this "Rick"? Dependable? Steady? Shares his ham?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 2:40 pm

Dependable + steady. But his ham is his and his alone.

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 4:11 pm

I have a Boss DR-880, Steve, and it's brilliant! Once I've learnt how to programme it it will be even better.

The 440 inbuilt patterns provide plenty of variation and you can drop the accompanying bass out if you don't want it. You'll need an amp that can handle plenty of bottom end, though. I use a Roland 120 watt KCW-350 keyboard amp with a 200 watt KCW-1 subwoofer - it all works extremely well.

I understand that there are some pretty good Alesis and Zoom machines around as well.

jps · Post by **jps** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 7:26 pm

A friend recently gave me an Alesis SR-16; I haven't tried it yet, but I am familiar with it's sound as Rare Blend has one for demo work.

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 11:16 pm

Steve, you might consider a sampler instead. If you have a sequencing programme, a sampler will deliver the goods big time & there are some superb drum samples to be had. Even an old Akai S1000, with multi outs will do a great job & those can be picked up for bargain prices at the moment. Not much memory, but enough for drums & great quality sound with 10 outs.

steverok · Post by **steverok** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 1:19 am

Just say "NO" to drum machines !

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 3:00 am

At least a drum machine doesn't come over and drink all my beer!

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:38 am

They never show up late, either! Or borrow money for beer & smokes.

lyle_from_minneapolis · Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:06 am

I'm making moves to connect my drum machine through MIDI to the excellent soundbanks in the Reason 3.0 program. From what I hear, I will be able to use the drum machine for the beats, but assign the individual drums of my choice to those beats.

Here's hoping!

hoptownbass · Post by **hoptownbass** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:13 am

I purchased a Boss DR-880 a month or so ago and I absolutely love it. I have done a little recording with it and worked out great.

steve_hershberger · Post by **steve_hershberger** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:41 am

I've got an Alesis SR-16 and it's pretty good for what I want - just something simple, like a good sounding metronome.

Basically, I just use the presets (adjusting the speed accordingly) and switch between the main parts and fills with a footswitch.

It's capable of doing a LOT more, but I'm an idiot and can't fathom the manual's instructions for programming anything specific, so I never tried that stuff. I also don't understand MIDI and don't really see a need for me to learn it.

A lot of people say the SR-16 tones are pretty much "'80's drum set sounding" but I don't care about that too much. There are ways to "tune" the various drum sounds (somehow - read the manual) but I never tried that out either.

For my purposes, I'd have to say it's a pretty good unit - provides a decent drum sound, and you can vary a lot of things on it. I bought it because it was relatively cheap and I didn't want to deal with (or pay extra for) stuff like "auto bass" etc. that I'd never use.

I will say that I've got a friend who has a Boss DR-880 and it sounds GREAT to me. No idea how it works, but everything I've read indicates that it'd be a great buy too. I just got the Alesis because it was inexpensive (4-5 years ago) and it suited my needs. Plus, it's a LOT more than I'll ever learn how to implement to its fullest capability.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 5:46 am

I have a couple Oberheims from the '80's - get that righteous Prince sound - totally, dudes!

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 10:44 am

Well I bit the bullet and went out and got the Boss DR-880. I demoed it against the Boss DR-670 and DR-3 as well as the Alesis and a model by Zoom. There was no contest - the DR-880 blew them all away, (and was of course, the most expensive). Now I just have to learn how to use the damn thing!

Thanks for everyones input!