my first drum machine

ok, I play piano, guitar, and love electronic music. I want to buy a drum machine to play/learn. I have funds. where should I start? a 303? 808? please give me your thoughts...

read about it to know the 303 aint a drum machine.

i recommend volca beats. its fun and easy to use to get going. then move to bigger things. like tr606. or something.

Get a TR-8. Not really worth spending a ton on vintage equipment

depends on your funds i suppose...

get either a used mpc 1000 (not really a drum machine but can function in a similar way) or a machinedrum.

the mpc is more flexible / approachable / cheaper / easier to learn.

the machinedrum is more powerful & has deeper sound design possibilities.

how bout a tr-8 and a tb-3? sounds like a good little combo to start with.

imo get a sampler (SP-404sx, MPC1000), a turntable and $50 worth of funk records

you will have an endless amount of sounds

and your creativity will be the only limit

if you get a 606 or whatever

it'll be awesome

but you will have a very narrow range of sounds to work with

(unless you get some guitar pedals or a kaoss pad or something)

what kinda choons you wanna make?

because that kinda makes all the difference

How much you're looking to spend would help. But if you're eyeing an 808, must mean you're willing to spend some cash.

Based on the cash requirement being met I'd recommend, as did someone else, the Elektron Machinedrum. I'd go that way over a sampler because it's instantly useable straight out of the box and very user friendly.

However being as you don't even know if you're going to like the thing I'm also inclined to recommend a cheaper option like something from Korg just to get your feet wet.

Good thing though about that Elektron Box is it holds it's value really well. So, if you hate it, just toss it on eBay and you won't lose much at all.

thanks for the suggestions, everyone. kind of an impulse purchase, but after watching/hearing a lot of demos I bought the Roland AIRA series of machines.

  On 9/21/2014 at 8:38 AM, mrgerbik said:

thanks for the suggestions, everyone. kind of an impulse purchase, but after watching/hearing a lot of demos I bought the Roland AIRA series of machines.

all of them? The 8-faux-8, 3-faux-3 and the polysynth?

  On 9/21/2014 at 8:53 AM, LimpyLoo said:

 

  On 9/21/2014 at 8:38 AM, mrgerbik said:

thanks for the suggestions, everyone. kind of an impulse purchase, but after watching/hearing a lot of demos I bought the Roland AIRA series of machines.

 

all of them? The 8-faux-8, 3-faux-3 and the polysynth?

 

everything but the voice box

i think that's a great choice, you'll have a lot of fun.

  On 9/21/2014 at 10:45 AM, mrgerbik said:

everything but the voice box

also, this should be your artist name.

I hope so. for the first time in a while I'm excited

get an electribe er-1 for the price of a volca and you can do a lot more (it's digital though if you care)

go to a music store and check the shit out - that's important because people are so different. even the most creative looking device can be a pain if it doesn't suit you

depends if you want to synthesize / analogue model your drum sounds or are happy with samples. After going through loads of different drum machines now. im currently quite happy with my akai mpc.

a good cheap alternative maybe go for an old korg electribe or something

guys, he's already bought stuff...

anyway, how are you thinking of recording and sequencing? DAW, standalone hard disc recorder, 4 track tape? sequencing on each individual machine or use a master sequencer to control all?

  On 9/21/2014 at 12:45 PM, BCM said:

how are you thinking of recording and sequencing? DAW, standalone hard disc recorder, 4 track tape? sequencing on each individual machine or use a master sequencer to control all?

thinking of a standalone recorder, something like this: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DP32

a master sequencer would be nice... recommendations?

searched for analogue midi sequencer and this came up http://www.doepfer.de/maq.htm

im assuming you are aware of software sequencers already :)

also, modular synths and filters would be my next move on this route.

for flexible hardware sequencing I'd definitely consider the arturia beatstep - works completely standalone (but can also hook up to a computer) and is only 90. if you want something a bit more comprehensive how about the yamaha QY-700 - incredibly powerful, full featured midi sequencer...go for about 200 second hand.

I don't really want to be staring at a monitor screen all day while recording. what about something like the Tascam DP-32?

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DP32

Honestly that whole "I don't want to be staring at a monitor" line of thinking, to me, is a very narrow minded approach.

What does it matter really if you're using a computer as your master recorder/ sequencer? You could still use the hardware for composition. Were you to buy a hardware sequencer and / or recorder you'd be sacrificing a mass amount of functionality / versatility; and for what? The ability to be able to say you don't use a computer?

Anyway, thats just my two, and many will disagree. But I've been down both the hardware and software road(s) and these days I see the hybrid setup as the optimal way to go.

Roland MC-505?

That and others from that era are solid in terms of learning the ins and outs of synths and drum machines, sequencing, etc. -plus, you can save by buying used. The MC-505 is a good all-arounder for getting into hardware.

Other all-in-ones from that era:

Yamaha RM1x

Quasimidi Rave-O-Lution 309

Korg ElecTribe MX

But if you want a full keyboard, the Roland JX-305 is basically an MC-505 with a keyboard. And compared to the others I listed, the MC-505 seemed to be geared towards more musician types (due to numbers of tracks, types of presets, and cuz it was basically a JX-305), while the others were geared towards specifically dance music (like the RM1x has a cool re-sampling type feature, where it can loop parts of loops, so in a jungle track, you could have just one loop, then trigger the beginning a few times for that "dugunta, dugunta, dugun, dugun-ta-tukakatu-ta").

Yamaha and Korg released a few small fun machines around that ~2000 era, which are prolly super cheap now, if you just want simplicity (as noted, like the ElecTribe R (aka ER-1)).

Oh, yah- vintagesynth.com has a shitload of random shit to checkout. But the above is my recommendation from having used those machines at that time and owning an MC-505 (and MC-303, which is a PHAT sounding barebones kind of drum machine).

  On 9/22/2014 at 5:15 AM, RFJ said:

Honestly that whole "I don't want to be staring at a monitor" line of thinking, to me, is a very narrow minded approach.

 

What does it matter really if you're using a computer as your master recorder/ sequencer? You could still use the hardware for composition. Were you to buy a hardware sequencer and / or recorder you'd be sacrificing a mass amount of functionality / versatility; and for what? The ability to be able to say you don't use a computer?

 

Anyway, thats just my two, and many will disagree. But I've been down both the hardware and software road(s) and these days I see the hybrid setup as the optimal way to go.

I'm just getting into a first-time setup here and wanted to keep it simple software-wise. there's lots of things I need to learn. I have nothing against using my computer to record and wouldn't mind a hybrid setup if I knew how I could benefit from it.

  On 9/22/2014 at 6:07 AM, mrgerbik said:

 

  On 9/22/2014 at 5:15 AM, RFJ said:

Honestly that whole "I don't want to be staring at a monitor" line of thinking, to me, is a very narrow minded approach.

 

What does it matter really if you're using a computer as your master recorder/ sequencer? You could still use the hardware for composition. Were you to buy a hardware sequencer and / or recorder you'd be sacrificing a mass amount of functionality / versatility; and for what? The ability to be able to say you don't use a computer?

 

Anyway, thats just my two, and many will disagree. But I've been down both the hardware and software road(s) and these days I see the hybrid setup as the optimal way to go.

 

I'm just getting into a first-time setup here and wanted to keep it simple software-wise. there's lots of things I need to learn. I have nothing against using my computer to record and wouldn't mind a hybrid setup if I knew how I could benefit from it.

 

In most cases a software sequencer would be easiest to use because everything is visible and easily editable. It depends on the complexity of the compositions that you want to make though; if you're just doing ambient/minimal techno you could probably get away with using TR-style sequencers for the drums and something like the Arturia Beatstep for melodic content.

if I was using a software sequencer what would you recommend (considering the equipment I have - roland aira series)? what else would I need for connectivity?

I use Reaper for my MIDI sequencing and multitrack recording; that's probably a good place to start. It can be as simple or as complex as you like. It's not quite as much geared to live electronic music as say, Ableton or whatever, but it's pretty good if you've got a bunch of synths and want to sequence them via piano roll and automation.

Other than that, maybe Numerology if you're on a mac. That's pretty good for cool rhythmic stuff, like minimal acid or something.

As for connectivity, any old USB to MIDI interface would work (unless your gear can be controlled via USB?). I use a cheap shitty one that loses notes every now and then but I don't mind that