Drum Machine

[Powelly]

Hi all
Just wanting some suggestions for a good drum machine, thats relatively cheap?
Cheers
Powelly

[Z]

So how about following a few of these tips....

1- What is the MOST you could spend?

2- Is there a more powerful choice just over your budget? If so, save a little more!

3- What type of music are you going to make?

Here's a few to get you started:
Akai XR-20
Alesis HR-16, HR-16:B, SR-16
Boss DR-550, DR-550mkII, DR-660
Korg ER-1

[infrared72]

The Yamaha ry30 is pretty cool, and they're not too expensive used. You can get lots of weird noises stacking different voices, detuning, filtering, and using the envelope generator on them. Not a lot of outputs - just 1 stereo pair, and 2 extra assignable outs. Maybe slightly more expensive that some of the others listed. The ry30 is (i think) the only drum machine out there with a pitch bend wheel assignable to pitch, filter cutoff, decay, pan, and balance. I've made some great noises with that pitch bender wheel. Some of the boss drum machines listed are pretty cool, and super cheap used. I've heard some great tracks with the DR550.

-PT

[Powelly]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I'm just looking for an easy-to-use drum machine for a beginner.
Price, well, im not really sure, maybe around the ~$150 mark? Asking for it for christmas so im not sure.

[space6oy]

pretty sure you can land any of those Z mentioned for $150 or less, except maybe the XR-20, that one does go for a bit more. could also go for a roland TR-505 or 626. would take a lot of luck to find any other TR for that little.

[th0mas]

Boss DR-550 is a great choice: super cheap, and lots of sounds in it.

Alternately an Korg Electribe ES-1 is about that price and has effects and you can load your own drum sounds into it via the smartmedia card.

Or if you can find one the Korg Electribe EM-1 is a great drum machine and also has 2 synth parts with FX.

[meatballfulton]

I vote against the DR-550. No MIDI out!!! Means there's no way to back up your programming, plus it can't be a MIDI clock master.

On a tight budget, Alesis SR-16 hands down.

[balma]

Electribes EMX1, ESX1
Quasimidi gear
Roland MC909
Yamaha RS7000

[th0mas]

I vote against the DR-550. No MIDI out!!! Means there's no way to back up your programming, plus it can't be a MIDI clock master.

I did not use mine long enough to realize that, but that's definitely a big limitation if you plan on growing your setup (and who doesn't)

[wiss]

Roland R-5, R-8, or R-70

[space6oy]

Electribes EMX1, ESX1
Quasimidi gear
Roland MC909
Yamaha RS7000

apparently you didn't catch that he's looking for something for around $150...

[jeeroj]

how about my favourite, the roland mc-303?

it's got samples of all the famous roland drum machines and also some synth sounds.

[gcoudert]

Roland R-5, R-8, or R-70

Yep. Got an R8 recently. Love it to bits.

[Powelly]

Ahh! So many suggestions!
Any of these that really stands out for a beginner? Like, easy to use and has plenty of sounds.
And cheap, of course

[balma]

Roland D2 can be get on $150.

I had one, that LCD screen is a piece of s**t, but with an editor can be handled very easy. Anyway, is bigger than the fizmo screen.

The D2 has exactly the same features than all the Roland Groovebox series, with some practice, can be a very cool piece of gear on stage. It has a touchpad that can be programmed in multiple ways.

It has an extra patch bank compared with the MC 505, and it kicks the a*s of the 303.

Maybe is the coolest piece of gear on that price, along with the old Electribes. The ER 1 is cool too. However, the ER1 is very, very, VERY focused on a few sounds is ag reat companion for other mini machines. The D2 has a full implemented sequencer, and 640 presets sounds, plus a bank ofd 128 user sounds. Roll, bridges, fades, there are multiple ways to play that touchpad.

Take a look to the 12 buttons at his left, that says FIELD, press a button and the function of the touchpad changes. This is a very underrated and unknown Roland child, it's fully implemented with features, and mmmm, well let's say it's intuititve,.