Drum machines - what are you using?

[Beedster]

Now selling my MPC and moving back to live drums for those sessions where it works (I now have a kit that fits in my booth) and software for those where it doesn't. As new MPC + case for sale here at bargain price folks 

 

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Have a boss dr grooove , which I still need to  get to the bottom of .

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a moog dfam . Not sure if it counts , but very easy to get something going .

GarageBand has lots of good stuff also 

I have to read all of this thread ...

Edited April 23, 2021 by RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

[Al Krow]

On 23/04/2021 at 08:41, Beedster said:

Now selling my MPC and moving back to live drums for those sessions where it works (I now have a kit that fits in my booth) and software for those where it doesn't. As new MPC + case for sale here at bargain price folks 

 

Well that didn't hang about for long (can't think why 😁) but has directly resulted in this becoming available, if anyone is interested in an almost as new condition RD-8:

Behringer RD-8 - Accessories & Other Musically Related Items For Sale - Basschat

[Cuzzie]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Well that didn't hang about for long (can't think why 😁) but has directly resulted in this becoming available, if anyone is interested in an almost as new condition RD-8:

Behringer RD-8 - Accessories & Other Musically Related Items For Sale - Basschat

@Al Krow if you have bought this I am expecting nothing less than to call you Al ‘Fingers’ Krow in no time at all like this dude

 

[sammybee]

On 24/04/2021 at 10:28, Al Krow said:

Well that didn't hang about for long (can't think why 😁) but has directly resulted in this becoming available, if anyone is interested in an almost as new condition RD-8:

Behringer RD-8 - Accessories & Other Musically Related Items For Sale - Basschat

Welcome to the MPC club! Hope you'll stay around a bit longer than the previous owner!

 

[Al Krow]

16 minutes ago, sammybee said:

Welcome to the MPC club! Hope you'll stay around a bit longer than the previous owner!

Cheers! Would you recommend me holding on to the RD-8 or no real point now that I have the Akai heading my way? 

[sammybee]

8 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Cheers! Would you recommend me holding on to the RD-8 or no real point now that I have the Akai heading my way? 

If it were me, I'd keep it. They are both very different machines, different workflow and different vibes

[Al Krow]

35 minutes ago, sammybee said:

If it were me, I'd keep it. They are both very different machines, different workflow and different vibes

Ok cheers, that's a helpful steer. In which case I won't try too hard to sell the RD-8, so if it doesn't shift for close to what I listed it for I'll maybe get a bit more out if down the line. 

PS @sammybee  if there are any YT tutorials on the Akai MPC that you particularly rate, I'd be all ears!

Edited April 25, 2021 by Al Krow

[BigRedX]

@Al Krow Let me know when you want to move the Akai on 😉

[sammybee]

20 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

PS @sammybee  if there are any YT tutorials on the Akai MPC that you particularly rate, I'd be all ears!

I don't really rate YouTube videos for getting to know the AkaiMPC. 99.9% of them are all about teaching non-musicians how to make the next trap/rap/drill 'beat' by some 16yo kid who wears his trousers round his knees!!!!  The videos from AkaiPro are probably the best on you tube if you want a more 'vanilla' intro. This 'MPC Bible' used to be quite highly rated https://www.mpc-samples.com/product.php/268/mpc-bible/ and comes with sounds & plenty of tutorials.

[SumOne]

 

I've used DAWs a lot over they years (Reason, Logic, Cubase, Ableton, Reaper, Cakewalk), they are definitely the best value for money (some are free, or free trials)  but I'm not finding them very inspiring for the earlier stages of developing tunes/jamming/creating rhythms/editing and playing along to with Bass so am looking to go back to hardware - years ago I had an MC505 which was good for making electronic stuff but now I'm more keen on live sounding drums for Funk and Dub/Reggae so want something that can play sampled drum hits. 

An MPC looks ideal but is about double my budget so I've gone and bought the Elektron Model:Samples (£251) so will be able to let you know what I think of that in a few days.

Edited May 13, 2021 by SumOne

[Kiwi]

22 minutes ago, SumOne said:

 

I've used DAWs a lot over they years (Reason, Logic, Cubase, Ableton, Reaper, Cakewalk), they are definitely the best value for money (some are free, or free trials)  but I'm not finding them very inspiring for the earlier stages of developing tunes/jamming/creating rhythms/editing and playing along to with Bass so am looking to go back to hardware - years ago I had an MC505 which was good for making electronic stuff but now I'm more keen on live sounding drums for Funk and Dub/Reggae so want something that can play sampled drum hits. 

An MPC looks ideal but is about double my budget so I've gone and bought the Elektron Model:Samples (£251) so will be able to let you know what I think of that in a few days.

I'm thinking something similar.  By the time everything's set up and trouble shot, I've lost the inspiration. Tascam digital workstations are interesting me atm too but a drum box that can play slightly ahead and behind the best would be great. 

[SumOne]

4 minutes ago, Kiwi said:

I'm thinking something similar.  By the time everything's set up and trouble shot, I've lost the inspiration. Tascam digital workstations are interesting me atmatm too but a drum box that can play slightly ahead and behind the best would be great too. 

Yeah, I spend all day working on a Laptop, it's not very inspiring to then go back to using a Laptop to make music.....always seems to need an update or some other faff and even if it all works fine it's just not much of a fun/hands-on way of making tunes.

I 'm hoping that a hardware drum machine/sequencer with strike pads will be a good starting point for a bit of inspiration in making tunes- quite hands-on and easily editable while playing Bass along to it to make the foundation of a tune, then use DAWs just for the boring bits at the end to finish things off.

[Al Krow]

17 hours ago, SumOne said:

Yeah, I spend all day working on a Laptop, it's not very inspiring to then go back to using a Laptop to make music.....always seems to need an update or some other faff and even if it all works fine it's just not much of a fun/hands-on way of making tunes.

I 'm hoping that a hardware drum machine/sequencer with strike pads will be a good starting point for a bit of inspiration in making tunes- quite hands-on and easily editable while playing Bass along to it to make the foundation of a tune, then use DAWs just for the boring bits at the end to finish things off.

Completely with your thinking on this!!

Out of interest, you considered going even more budget with something like a Korg Volca unit? They do seem to punch (literally) well above their weight and also above their price point. What is the best Korg Volca? Every drum machine and synth ranked | MusicRadar

I've recently got a Korg Volca Fm (which is compatible with the Yamaha DX7). It will likely go toe to toe with any bass synth pedal that's currently on the market and frankly something that size is not going to be a faff to take along to a gig, particularly if it's on a little pedal board and connected to a DI out via an XY pedal. 

On 26/04/2021 at 16:25, BigRedX said:

@Al Krow Let me know when you want to move the Akai on 😉

Hah! You should have jumped in when Chris moved his on, although tbf I didn't hang about when I saw that he was effectively letting me have it at B-stock price and condition! Soz, you could be waiting a while now for mine - however, if you (or anyone) fancies a Behringer RD-8 then there's one in the FS...

Edited May 14, 2021 by Al Krow

[SumOne]

8 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

Out of interest, you considered going even more budget with something like a Korg Volca unit. They do seem to punch (literally) well above their weight and also above their price point. What is the best Korg Volca? Every drum machine and synth ranked | MusicRadar

I've recently got a Korg Volca Fm (which is compatible with the Yamaha DX7). It will likely go toe to toe with any bass synth pedal that's currently on the market and frankly something that size is not going to be a faff to take along to a gig, particularly if it's on a little pedal board and connected to a DI out via an XY pedal. 

The Korgs look good, I had a Korg monotron that was fun (although the headphone output didn't last long). Also had a Teenage Engineering PO-12 which was decent for electronic sounding stuff.

I've got an  Elektron Samples arriving this morning, looking forward to it! 

[BigRedX]

9 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Hah! You should have jumped in when Chris moved his on, although tbf I didn't hang about when I saw that he was effectively letting me have it at B-stock price and condition! Soz, you could be waiting a while now for mine - however, if you (or anyone) fancies a Behringer RD-8 then there's one in the FS...

You must have grabbed it in the hour between me seeing it was for sale and deciding I wanted to buy it.

[carlitos71]

19 hours ago, SumOne said:

 

I've used DAWs a lot over they years (Reason, Logic, Cubase, Ableton, Reaper, Cakewalk), they are definitely the best value for money (some are free, or free trials)  but I'm not finding them very inspiring for the earlier stages of developing tunes/jamming/creating rhythms/editing and playing along to with Bass so am looking to go back to hardware - years ago I had an MC505 which was good for making electronic stuff but now I'm more keen on live sounding drums for Funk and Dub/Reggae so want something that can play sampled drum hits. 

An MPC looks ideal but is about double my budget so I've gone and bought the Elektron Model:Samples (£251) so will be able to let you know what I think of that in a few days.

Would be great to hear what you make of the Elektron samples

[carlitos71]

6 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

You must have grabbed it in the hour between me seeing it was for sale and deciding I wanted to buy it.

Same here!

[BigRedX]

Just now, carlitos71 said:

Would be great to hear what you make of the Elektron samples

I would as well. The features appear to be decent, but I'm a little worried about how flimsy it looks especially for live use, and the fact that it uses non-standard connectors for MIDI.

IMO DIN connectors are pretty terrible for gigging applications (last time I used a lot of MIDI gear live they were all replaced with XLRs) but still preferable to mini-jacks.

[Al Krow]

10 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

You must have grabbed it in the hour between me seeing it was for sale and deciding I wanted to buy it.

 

3 minutes ago, carlitos71 said:

Same here!

I guess I got lucky this time then! I'd best make sure to put it to good use! 😊👍

[SumOne]

 

I'm impressed with the Elektron Samples so far.

Played about for a couple of hours and it's intuitive enough that I made the attached loop without needing to look up any instructions (it doesn't come with any). All good quality built-in sounds and it's a fairly straight-forward work flow but I'll need to look up on the online manual how to do more complex things and still need to figure out how to import samples.

Although it's plastic I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing nowadays- this thick type of plastic is  probably nearly as strong as metal. All the knobs and buttons seem well made, the whole thing feels well built and fairly strong, I reckon it could take a drop on the floor. Nowhere near as rugged as something like a Boss stompbox but I'd trust it at a gig if it was somewhere off the floor. It's smaller than an A4 piece of paper and about an inch thick.

Negatives I've found:

• 6 Channels is okay for drum loops, but is limited for doing full tunes. (e.g. Kick, toms, snare, hi-hat, cymbal, clap...and you're done, no room to add anything else).
• The effects are fine and they are intuitive to use - amounts can are applied per channel but reverb size/tone and delay time/feedback are global so it's just the amount of it you apply per channel chat can be altered individually. There aren't loads of effects and they are relatively limited if you're used to using DAWs and having things like 5 different types of Reverbs to fine-tune.  Chorus and Echo would be nice to have.
• The pressure sensitive finger-drumming pads aren't sensitive enough- they need quite a hard whack to get full amount (perhaps there is a way to adjust that, all I've found though is that they can be set on full velocity for all hits - no adjustment to sensitivity) and they are small if you want to do two hand drum rolls. 
• Screen could do with being bigger.
• Midi in/out come with adapters from mini jack to midi, probably not an issue but it's a bit more flimsy and an extra connection than if they'd just put in midi connectors.
• I'm pretty sure you can't sample directly  (e.g. via a line-in or USB in) need to import from a computer, which is fine but breaks up the spontaneity a bit. 

That all sounds a bit negative, but overall for £250 I think this is a good fun piece of kit for creating drum patterns (and hopefully for importing/triggering samples) and I'm pretty sure I'll keep it.  The restrictions are actually probably good for fast workflow and not getting too bogged down in things. Can also buy a battery handle that could be useful for times like flights and train journeys, and a protective cover.

Will report back in a couple of weeks once I've used it more.

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by SumOne

[Stub Mandrel]

21 hours ago, SumOne said:

6 Channels is okay for drum loops, but is limited for doing full tunes. (e.g. Kick, toms, snare, hi-hat, cymbal, clap...and you're done, no room to add anything else).

No, any self-respecting drum machine gives up in disgust if you add a clap track.

[BigRedX]

8 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

No, any self-respecting drum machine gives up in disgust if you add a clap track.

Really?

The clap sound (along with the "cowbell") was the sound that made the Roland TR 808

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Really?

The clap sound (along with the "cowbell") was the sound that made the Roland TR 808

Clap sounds can spoil any track (except a Crazy little Thing Called Love & We Will Rock You).

 

[PaulThePlug]

Got a Boss Handclapper HC2 and a Percussion Synth PS2 left over from the 80's...