Drum Machines...

[paulbag]

what are some of the best drum machines out there, without spending TOO much?

[ApeDosMil]

Re: Drum Machines...

I use fruity loops, its a pc based program, but with your own drum samples and some reverb, they can sound really good.

[hgsmith]

Re: Drum Machines...

Has anyone used drums on demand? I just ordered vl.1 to check out. I bet drum machines as we know it are on the way out. Sample editing is the way to go.

[Newc]

Re: Drum Machines...

Sample editing is indeed the new way to go, which drives the cost of older hardware units down, but you also won't get as good sounds with the older units.

In all honesty, if you've got a sound card with at least 64 MB RAM on it, you can get better MIDI drums than an Alesis SR16 or BOSS unit, because those had probably 16MB at most, but the samples were probably only 16K each.

MIDI sound files (Sound Fonts for Creative Labs cards) can be found online and installed into your sound card's RAM, and though I haven't looked for any in a couple of years, they can be found in very large Megs. Not sure if anyone's done a 32 MB Sound Font, but back when all I had was a 4MB card, I found tons of MIDI stuff that was 4 Megs and sounded way better than the 256K package that came with the card.

Anyhoo, if you still want a standalone drum unit that you can carry around and program wherever, get a BOSS Dr Rhythm or something with headphone outs and is battery-powered. The Alesis SR16 is ok for home use, but can't run on batteries, and doesn't have a headphone out. Plus there are a few things missing from its library (like a Pedal Hi-Hat) and you can't tweak the sounds enough IMO.

[Cuthroat]

Re: Drum Machines...

I just checked out drums on demand samples on their website. They sound killer. My vamp should be here this week and im gonna need drums pretty soon too. Hey oysterflight, let me know how DOD is, I may give it a shot too if its good

[hgsmith]

Re: Drum Machines...

Yeah, I'll get my DOD sometime this week. I'll let you know. [img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[hgsmith]

Re: Drum Machines...

Thumbs up for the Drums on Demand Volume 1 (875 Loops!!). These are great for sample editing. Easy to use and they sound great with my Cubase system. Read the web site and make sure you get the correct format for your recording platform. I'm ordering the rest of the volumes and maybe their bass loops.

[rEs]

Re: Drum Machines...

unfortunately, no china cymbal on DOD vol 2...:-(

[mstraughen]

Re: Drum Machines...

Fruity Loops here... it's all I've ever used and I love it, nice and easy to use and like Michael said if you have good samples you can get great results.

[mpigott]

Re: Drum Machines...

I just use garage band, and although some of the samples are kinda wierd it works great. I would suggest any reasonable sequencing program with midi capabilities. Also, using a midi controller can add a more "human" feel to the drums. Then add a little reverb. Sometimes ill go through one drum at a time with seperate tracks for each type of drum and pan them so that the fills have more dimension. Seems to sound real enough.

[paulbag]

Re: Drum Machines...

"Opinions are like U2 cds.......Everyone's got one and they all suck"

thats funny dude [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Nuclear Vampire]

Re: Drum Machines...

I got a Boss DR-670. Decent machine. They go for @ $300 new.

Once I get me a better PC for recording and a midi keyboard, I will be switching to Drum Kit From Hell. I just love the way it sounds and the amount of control you have over velocity, quantizing, etc.

[rjohnstone]

Re: Drum Machines...

I just use the drum machine in my GNX-1... not really progammable, but all I need is something to help me with my timing.