[Goport]

I have never particularly wanted a drum machine but recently I found my drum mixing, production and VST's were getting too processor intensive. A friend of mine had a Boss DR-3 and lent it to me on tuesday. Now I hand code my drums so I thought I would try outputting my midi drums straight to the drum machine...

Well first things first - it ISN'T as good as NI battery in terms of the wealth of sounds available but I can't deny it sounds very good. what I don't like is I cannot get the tonality that I can from Battery (ie harder hits just sound louder rather than louder with a different voice) but the automatic panning for rolls and gating and eq'ing is a godsend. but it does seem able to overcome some of the obvious shortfallings with custom kits. One of the things I love about battery is the ability to use 2 snares (one slightly more prominent than the other) it allows you to construct realistic snare rolls (right hand leading and left slightly less defined) and it seems that the DR-3 can do this. Cymbals seem to be slightly harder to program but in all it does offer an easy solution with realistic drum sounds.

The long and short of it is I want a drum machine. So please, tell me which one is the best for realistic drum sounds. and I know the Dr-880 is brilliant but what about Alesis and Zoom? Suggestions would be most gratefully received :thumb:

 

[Fateswebb]

can you get one with midi out? seems like then you can replace the sounds with drum samples. that would be sweet. or am I totally stupid for even suggesting that?

FW

 

[stingx]

Porty, my friend loves his Alesis SR-16.

http://www.alesis.com/products/sr16/

Here's the price at musicians friend. Pretty cheap if it can do the job you want. It has full midi implimentation too.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/search/detail/base_id/57775/src=00631

 

[Splonky]

Yea the sr-16 is a classic. I know a guy who does jingles for major companies like Mcdonalds, and he uses the sr-16 on all of his tracks. Even though it has been around for years, it still stands on it's own and the drum sounds are good. That is why it has been able to stick around and not be discontinued. If you want to stay in the $200-300 dollar range then the sr-16 is a good way to go.

 

[Goport]

the sr-16 is getting a great many recommends to be at the moment. Seems like it is the way to go. thanks for your advice :thumb:

 

[sweeps]

THis may sound stupid but why not output the drums to an audio track and close Battery? Now it will be a regular wav file your DAW is playing.

 

[VHF]

That DR-880 is a serious machine. And it will do the velocity changes you want. I have a Boss DR-670 that has about everything you could want...but on a budget. You can creat custom kits forever, detune drums, and tons of other things.

You can buy it on E-bay for less than $100US.

 

[Goport]

THis may sound stupid but why not output the drums to an audio track and close Battery? Now it will be a regular wav file your DAW is playing.

I do this already but I always finalise the drums last so it means going back in and redoing the midi. Then the process becomes more protracted and involved. things like snare emphasis and humanising the hi hats can take ages and I like to do this with the whole song present. My current methods leave me with about 20 versions of each song with some parts rough mixed just so I can work on other bits. It all gets a little confusing and therefore I have decided to get a drum machine.

 

[Chris_76]

That DR-880 is a serious machine. And it will do the velocity changes you want. I have a Boss DR-670 that has about everything you could want...but on a budget. You can creat custom kits forever, detune drums, and tons of other things.

You can buy it on E-bay for less than $100US.

I also have the DR-670 and its a great machine even though its the low budget version from Roland. Considering the DR-880 is a more expensive and newer model im sure it is right up there with the best ones.

I love my DR-670 and I havent even learnt half of what it can do yet...highly recommended.

 

[VHF]

I also have the DR-670 and its a great machine even though its the low budget version from Roland. Considering the DR-880 is a more expensive and newer model im sure it is right up there with the best ones.

I love my DR-670 and I havent even learnt half of what it can do yet...highly recommended.

76-The best thing you can do for that machine is get a midi interface and program it that way.......it will save you hours of work.:toothless

 

[Fateswebb]

yeah, since you can edit the velocity of each beat with midi, and not have to effect the overall production, seems that would be the way to go. heck with midi you can use any samples you have as well, or use soundfonts too.

I am still learning as well but I would go with using that interface to create midi tracks for drums, adjusting for velocity and sound. use soundfonts or samples to make the "set" you want..

If you have to change something you can in the midi file, then just re-render it and then put it back into your DAW and mix again. if you did it right the mix again is minimal.

Now if I can only perfect my attempt at drums.

FW

 

[bluesplayer]

Roland TR-66 Rock you baby

Just a bit of trivia really , but this was the first pop single to feature a Drum Machine , way back in 1974 , sung by George Mcrae .featuring this machine .The origin of Drum Machines go back even further , mainly installed on home Organs etc .

 

[prostreeter]

That DR-880 is a serious machine. And it will do the velocity changes you want.

I have the DR 880 and I love it. I am not much of a programmer, but the sounds are so realistic. Listen to any of my original tunes, and I am using the 880. They are pricey, but you won't regret spending the money on it!!! Good Luck, George

 

[joeydahlia]

Goport

Here Happy Birthday

http://65.254.79.230/bfdtest.mp3

My new little gizmo...BFD...

This is 16bit with an Xt patch..I had the drive up all the way...(not good)

24 bit is bigger and my drums are sounding better than a real drummer... :icon_thum

JoeyDahlia

I guess around 8 months I will put out a pro song..

 

[VHF]

My new little gizmo...BFD...


24 bit is bigger and my drums are sounding better than a real drummer... :icon_thum

I'm not sure what your point is....is this clip using the popular drum program BFD?

If so it is a real drummer.....BFD is samples of real drum kits.

 

[joeydahlia]

I'm not sure what your point is....is this clip using the popular drum program BFD?

If so it is a real drummer.....BFD is samples of real drum kits.

:icon_thum

JoeyDahlia

 

[stingx]

:scratch:

 

[VHF]

:scratch:

I'm with you on this one X.:scratch:

 

[Goport]

well I have had the dm-5 for a month and I must say that it is a bit of a disappointment overall. NI Battery is far better and more versitile and convincing. Nothing wrong with the Alesis but the samples really don't measure up to the ones in battery. I think I am going to beef up my pc to handle the processing and sell the DM5 on. At least I gave it a try :lol:

 

[Vance MacLOUD]

I use the ZOOM RT123. Drum and Bass programmer.

Works very nicely. I use the backing tracks made with that, recorded onto my Yamaha AW16G where I mix and master, then off we go.

The pads give a nice feel. I mostly use the Step Program to get the basiscs of the song. Then later I do real time with pad sensitivity on to get some dynamics.

With this one, where, and how hard you tap the pads will give you a variation of timbre, tone, or whatever from the instrument.