Drum Machines for idiots

[Fran]

After listening to dezb's demo and struggling in the past with a casio keyboard drum machine (lol i know) i'm after some suggestions.
I'm looking for something cheap and easy to use for ambient/trance ideas. Anyone know anything about the Boss Dr Rhythm jobbies? They seem to sell for well under £100.
Thanks.

[stewart]

you want a yamaha RM1X.

[plaidbeer]

I have a Boss DR-660. It's from the early 90s and has 808/909 sounds (along with a lot of crappy, cliche'd, processed "big rock" sounds). I haven't really spent any time programming it, but the pads are decent. Got it for $60.

Are you wanting to stay under 100 pounds?

You might want to consider the Korg Electribe series. They have a sample-based unit (ESX) as well as a music production unit (EMX). They have a lot of fans on synth forums because they're considered to be very user-friendly. There are older versions of each, too.

[Fran]

Thanks for the replies. I'd really like to stay under £100 at this point, cheaper the better in fact as its just an idea at the moment.
I've messed around with this kind of music on and off for years but would like to take it to another level this time. After looking at a Yamaha RM1X demo, the sequencer and synth sounds make it very appealing i must say..

[youtube][/youtube]

[plaidbeer]

Are you wanting purely drum sounds or things like effects, synth sounds, etc. along with the drum sounds?

[Fran]

Drums but for decent extras i'd consider against price.
Just looking at the Electribe EA1 demos, none seem to have any drums on them.

[stewart]

those yamahas are a piece of piss to program too. i borrowed one off a mate for a couple of months and did loads of stuff on it. (i was actually using it when the twin towers came down, fact fans)

[lorez]

what about something similar for mac or pc? I would be interested in peoples thoughts in something similar to what Fran is looking for

[Fran]

Yeah, we've got various stuff on the Mac but when Kathie is teaching (most nights lately) i'm upstairs with the Laptop. This is essentially when i plan to get this stuff started.

[plaidbeer]

Drums but for decent extras i'd consider against price.
Just looking at the Electribe EA1 demos, none seem to have any drums on them.

The EA-1 is a synth, so that's not what you're after. Look at the ER-1, ES-1, Em-1 and their descendants like the Mk II series. The S models and M models have the extra bits besides the drum sounds and the "S" designation stands for sampler ("R" is for rhythm and "M" is for music production).

The Yamaha RMX series is a direct competitor of the Electribe series as is Roland's MC-series.

I would list some demo vids, but honestly, the ones I saw today were such crap that I could find any worth posting. I know that people do covers with them and some can be good, but there are just so many out there.

If you ever want opinions on them, you could do a search over at Vintage Synth Explorer and post a question in the Buyer's Guide section. Just let them know you're new to this, your budget, and most people over there will be pretty helpful.

[Fran]

Drums but for decent extras i'd consider against price.
Just looking at the Electribe EA1 demos, none seem to have any drums on them.

The EA-1 is a synth, so that's not what you're after. Look at the ER-1, ES-1, Em-1 and their descendants like the Mk II series. The S models and M models have the extra bits besides the drum sounds and the "S" designation stands for sampler ("R" is for rhythm and "M" is for music production).

The Yamaha RMX series is a direct competitor of the Electribe series as is Roland's MC-series.

I would list some demo vids, but honestly, the ones I saw today were such crap that I could find any worth posting. I know that people do covers with them and some can be good, but there are just so many out there.

If you ever want opinions on them, you could do a search over at Vintage Synth Explorer and post a question in the Buyer's Guide section. Just let them know you're new to this, your budget, and most people over there will be pretty helpful.

Thanks for taking the time
I checked the ER-1 after my last post, seems good but a lot of the demo's are drum n bass (which i haet) guys but i'm keeping open minded on this. Watching a few on ebay and reading up a bit, if one of them stays in the right price range i'll probably go for it.

[stewart]

yeah, you could probably get a roland MC303 for under £100. i don't really like them though.

[ac88]

One of the easiest drum machines to use is on garageband. The stock sound is pretty sterile so I like run it through an amp simulator just to get a more lo-fi sound that blends better with the type of demos I make on garageband. Programming the beats with a midi keyboard is very easy and the quantize settings make everything a snap. Slap a real shaker or other percussion over yr midi-beat and you almost seem like a musician .

I also have one of these laying around,



I do use it from time to time, but I have been having some problems with the thing fucking up and having "memory overload" while programming (this is what appears on the display... how cute). I suppose I just need to give it a factory reset or something.

[kim]

i love my roland R5, could get R8 for more 'fancy' retro, for such old things i like how they sound, not that 'realistic' bit of an 80's vibe on your drums (i used it on my birthyear compilation song with do re mi idiot grin on the most 'natural sounding' samples)
but for electro it can be fantastic, some fx on it, sounds hott.

[Johno]

I'd go for either Alesis SR-16 or Zoom Rythm Track, although you should check out EZdrummer too.