Drum Machines?? help

Posted on

Member Since: Mar 06, 2004

hi, im new to hrc..im looking to buy a drum machine.ive been looking at various models,like the boss dr-770 and alesis sr-16 but i suppose i should stop and get some answers before i even continue my search. can drum machines actually play a full progammable song, or are they just fancy metronomes? im a drummer myself, so im pretty used to hearing real drums, how realistic are the samples on drum machines?...any feedback would be really really helpful to me! oh yeah..im running a mac, are there any good mac based drum programs out there? computers really give me a headache, but i know that there are plenty of programs that are useful..someone help!

[ Back to Top ]


The fat one always watches us.
Member
Since: Nov 08, 2002


Mar 06, 2004 07:54 am

Hey hey, welcome josh. I'm the worst one to answer your question, but i do have an sr-16. it is fully programable, but to me its darn complicated. Ive had it 6 years-and still dont know how to use it right. As a drummer you may have much better luck. Also i dont use midi in anything i do.... if you did youd be able to really use it. Hopefully flametheband or noise2u will provide some feedback here. what i can say about the sr16 is-it works great, 6 years and counting- all the pads work as well as the day i got it. if you read the manual and learn to use it, it might be really great. but there is no replacement for live drums-
also most keyboards have drum kits in them (i have a low end keyboard psr-gx76(350 bucks) and it has several kits in it.
thats all i got, good luck!

sloppy dice, drinks twice
Member
Since: Aug 05, 2003


Mar 06, 2004 08:41 am

Welcome to HRC, josh...

"can drum machines actually play a full progammable song, or are they just fancy metronomes?"

They can play full songs, or you can set them to be a metronome. They typically come with full sequencers built in, and most of the same drum sounds you'd expect from a real set. You can program some pretty comlicated stuff - you can play beats that no human drummer could reproduce, in fact, but that's not always a good thing. Oh, quality of the snare drum roll sounds vary from machine to machine, though.


"how realistic are the samples on drum machines?"

Well, they are not real drums, but they are samples of real drums. They are very good quality samples, of course they vary from unit to unit. But just about every drum machine is going to come with lots of drum kits to pick from. In my experience, they sound pretty damn good. It's more in the way they are used/programmed by the users that folks can tell that they are drum machines.

I don't have a mac, but I know they make a software drum machine called Fruity Loops that a lot of folks seem to like... they probably have it for mac. I have the SR16 and have used the Boss (rythymn section was the name, I think). I left comments in the Gear Bag section for both.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Mar 06, 2004 12:17 pm

YEs the SR-16 is a great littel machine. It has been around for awhiler and looks like it will be around for awhile longer. It can be programed to play any style you wish, you simply tap in the beat you want for each drum and away you go. It can also hear midi notes from a sequance on your computer so it will play back a complicated drum line or riff that you worked out in your PC in your recording application.

The sounds on the SR-16 are the standard drum sounds, a large array to choose from. There are bigger and better machines out there with many more bells and whistles, on them but the Alesis is a good starting point and will do the job for years to come.

It really depends on the type of music you are going to use it for. let me know what exactly you would be using it for and we can try and steer you one way or the other.

As far as software for the Mac, I am not sure but I think there are a few drum loopers out the for Mac but I cant recall any names at present.

Member
Since: Mar 06, 2004


Mar 06, 2004 02:39 pm

wow..thanks a lot, you guys are really helpful.
I hear that the sr-16 has cheesy reverb that lies over all the drum kits and cannot be removed, thats one thing that really turned me off when i heard about it...but im hearing a lot of positive feedback for the machine, so im gonna go check it out. thanks again.

Member
Since: Mar 06, 2004


Mar 06, 2004 02:42 pm

as for type of music play,ive played in an indie/alt/rock rock style group for a few years. im pursuing my own endeavors as a songwriter now..so i need a nice drum machine

Member
Since: Jul 02, 2003


Mar 06, 2004 03:01 pm

The weakest part of drum machines are the cymbals. I think it's due to the fact cymbals like other instruments have such a wide range of sound based on how hard they hit and a cymbal sample usually has it's tail cut a bit too short because on most if not all samples it must fit into a measure. But you can still get very good results and since your are a drummer it will probably be much easier for you to program them to sound natural. :)

You might also want to check out something like the Yamaha DD55 www.musiciansfriend.com/s...ase_pid/404135/

It's not programmable but you can record an entire song on it, supports midi and is a pretty dang good unit for it's price. A friend of my son who is a drummer absolutely loves the one I have and recently used it to do the drums on one of my son's songs. Check the link below if you want to see how it sounds. www.soundclick.com/util/s...970271&q=Hi

Dan





Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Mar 06, 2004 04:50 pm

Josh, no there is no reverb except on a few select samples in the SR-16. And for most rock stuff, the SR-16 sould work just fine. And it will probly save you a few bucks as well.

The DR-770 is also a good choice but it may be more then you really need, at least it sounds that way. You can always go check them out at a local music store if they have them both.

I will add to check out the tune that olddog posted, the drum sounds of that machine as well as the SR-16 and they have comparable sounds.

sloppy dice, drinks twice
Member
Since: Aug 05, 2003


Mar 06, 2004 08:29 pm

If you're doing indie/alt/rock style stuff, I'd say the SR16 will probably meet your needs. If you are doing more complicated stuff like along the lines of Phish or another uber-rocker, I'd go with one of the those big bad Bosses. The Boss I had my hands on for a couple of weeks once was the one that has a "keyboard" laid out like a guitar fretboard - that was a phenomonal little unit. But the SR16 is no slouch, it just doesn't have the potential for the complexity that the Boss unit has.

Related Forum Topics:



If you would like to participate in the forum discussions, feel free to register for your free membership.