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Drum beats/ Drum machines...

THCTHC Posts: 525
edited February 2007 in Musicians and Gearheads
Does anyone know the best way to get into working w/ drum beats?
I'd like to be able to program my own beats...and i'm looking for a machine or program that can do that.

Ideally...i'd like to be able to use it live and say use one beat...switch to another for the chorus...then switch back to the initial drum beat again (and so forth).

Anyone know any good places to look? or products? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Peace,
Andrew
“Kept in a small bowl, the goldfish will remain small. With more space, the fish can grow double, triple, or quadruple its size.”
-Big Fish
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    for standalone hardware, i liked the alesis SR16.

    for programming on a computer, i liked fruityloops though i hear garageband has great loops.
  • IDgotIIDgotI Posts: 262
    There are actually two aspects to what you've written about. Drum sounds, and Sequencing.

    A drum machine is basically a sequencer optimized for sequencing drum sounds.

    When you write about wanting to switch from one drum beat to another from verse to chorus, you are talking about having two drum beats follow each other... in sequence... hence sequencer.

    There are tons of ways to tackle this, and it's all about finding the one that works best for you.

    Generally you'll probably want one of these.

    - A stand alone drum machine.
    - A computer based sequencer
    - A stand alone sequencer and sound library / sound module

    The most powerful and flexible solution would be to go the computer route. Personally I'd recommend this most of all because from there you can get into hard drive audio recording, and also manage the widest variety of sounds.

    The draw back to a computer is it's expensive and the steepest learning curve.

    The cheapest and fastest solution would be a dum machine. I like drum machines by Yamaha... but you should try some machines out before buying. Roland makes some great ones too.

    Most drum machines work with samples, snippet recordings of actual drums being hit, that you can then "sequence" into beats. The way the sequencing works depends on that machine's interface.

    A stand alone sampler would be a little complicated and require some midi knowledge. By this set up I mean you find the sequencer you like... either in a stand alone machine, or computer software, and then you link it up to a different stand alone machine or software with the drum sounds you like.

    For example you might love the interface of one of those roland or yamaha drum machines, but you might want to hook it up to an old analogue drum module and trigger your sounds from there.

    Anyway... that's a thumbnail of some of your choices. Again cheapest and fastest if you don't already have a computer would probably be a roland or yamaha drum machine.

    Enjoy!
  • pnjguypnjguy Posts: 28
    How does Radiohead make their beats? Thats something i would want to be able to sound like.
  • THCTHC Posts: 525
    I really appreciate all the help peeps!!! thank you soo much!

    as far as my needs. well...i need something transportable...and that can be used for live shows. So...that basically rules out the computer.

    If i get one of the drum machines listed...can they switch from one beat to another (sequencing i suppose?) during the same song for example?

    also...how much do these machines go for? say..a yamaha drum machine...or that alesis one mentioned?
    “Kept in a small bowl, the goldfish will remain small. With more space, the fish can grow double, triple, or quadruple its size.”
    -Big Fish
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    the alesis lets you program a few different patterns into one "song".

    costs $150US new but they're probably all over ebay for less.
  • IDgotIIDgotI Posts: 262
    The SR16 is a solid all rounder that I should have mentioned too. Just make sure you get one of the black box ones with the screen. The older grey ones are pretty out of date.

    If you are checking Ebay... and a drum machine is a great thing to get on ebay (no moving parts etc.) check out the Alesis SR16, The Yamaha RY20 and the Roland R 70. Personally I'd cast my vote for the R 70. But before buying check some drum machines out at a music store to see what you think.
  • THCTHC Posts: 525
    IDgotI wrote:
    The SR16 is a solid all rounder that I should have mentioned too. Just make sure you get one of the black box ones with the screen. The older grey ones are pretty out of date.

    If you are checking Ebay... and a drum machine is a great thing to get on ebay (no moving parts etc.) check out the Alesis SR16, The Yamaha RY20 and the Roland R 70. Personally I'd cast my vote for the R 70. But before buying check some drum machines out at a music store to see what you think.

    Both you two ROCK!!! this thread has really been BEST CASE SCENARIO for me
    :)

    very much appreciated.....gracias!
    “Kept in a small bowl, the goldfish will remain small. With more space, the fish can grow double, triple, or quadruple its size.”
    -Big Fish
  • IDgotIIDgotI Posts: 262
    pnjguy wrote:
    How does Radiohead make their beats? Thats something i would want to be able to sound like.

    Trying to keep up with Radiohead gearwise is like trying to keep up with the US Army gearwise. As a rule of thumb they tend to be afficionados of analogue synthesis and sounds. But they do really quirky things like use walls worth of moog modular synths to generate a beat controlled by a slowly cycling LFO (low frequency oscilator) and then they play along with that beat using a real drum kit, that in turn gets passed thru a string of analog filters until it sounds like a crazy drum machine.

    To try and get their sound one approach would be to choose the 'analogue kit' sounds on a drum machine. Another would be to try and get an old analogue drum machine (a Linn Drum module for example or a JoMox) another would be to realize that the only way to get their range of sonic colors would be to have their budget for gear. Absent that budget worry less about getting their specific 'sound', and more about trying to get in touch with what it is about the 'feel' of their beats that inspires you.
  • pnjguypnjguy Posts: 28
    IDgotI wrote:
    Trying to keep up with Radiohead gearwise is like trying to keep up with the US Army gearwise. As a rule of thumb they tend to be afficionados of analogue synthesis and sounds. But they do really quirky things like use walls worth of moog modular synths to generate a beat controlled by a slowly cycling LFO (low frequency oscilator) and then they play along with that beat using a real drum kit, that in turn gets passed thru a string of analog filters until it sounds like a crazy drum machine.

    To try and get their sound one approach would be to choose the 'analogue kit' sounds on a drum machine. Another would be to try and get an old analogue drum machine (a Linn Drum module for example or a JoMox) another would be to realize that the only way to get their range of sonic colors would be to have their budget for gear. Absent that budget worry less about getting their specific 'sound', and more about trying to get in touch with what it is about the 'feel' of their beats that inspires you.

    Yeah i dont want to sound exactly like them but i want to get a "electrobeat" kind of sound and not your normal drum kit sound. Im using a midi keyboard right now and modifying that using some software and my delay pedal.
  • xtremehardy388xtremehardy388 Posts: 2,759
    All right, I know Stone uses a drum machine on 'You Are'. Can I use a drum machine as a delay effect in my chain? If so, how?
    Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
    JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
    "Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
  • IDgotIIDgotI Posts: 262
    xtremehardy388 wrote:
    All right, I know Stone uses a drum machine on 'You Are'. Can I use a drum machine as a delay effect in my chain? If so, how?

    Hmmm... you got me. I love that sound... Never researched how he got it. It sounded to be like a zvex seek wah. If a drum machine was used, my guess is he used it in conjunction with a reverse noise gate. Meaning that he programmed a beat in the machine, and set it up so that whenever a drum "note" was present the noise gate his guitar signal was going through would 'open' and let guitar sound play for the duration of the phantom drum note.

    Interesting... I just thought that up... but that would make sense in terms of describing that (awesomely funky) sound.

    I guess the trick would be to find a noise gate or filter with an external sound input trigger, and then just use the drum machine as the trigger.

    Wow. That's so cool. Try a MAM Warp 9 or something like that. Gee... I'm glad I stoped to answer this post now... I'm going to try that out myself.
  • xtremehardy388xtremehardy388 Posts: 2,759
    I know he used a sansamp with it but that's to get the distortion. You can see the drum machine next to Matt's kit in some photos.
    Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
    JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
    "Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
  • BrinkofForeverBrinkofForever Posts: 373
    THC wrote:
    I really appreciate all the help peeps!!! thank you soo much!

    as far as my needs. well...i need something transportable...and that can be used for live shows. So...that basically rules out the computer.

    If i get one of the drum machines listed...can they switch from one beat to another (sequencing i suppose?) during the same song for example?

    also...how much do these machines go for? say..a yamaha drum machine...or that alesis one mentioned?
    That Alesis machine can be found for $50-$100. The sampled drum sounds are cheesy but probably okay for playing guitar along with. It's def. more live sound oriented than say a Roland TR-909 or something like that.
    Plus they are unimaginably easy to program...and fairly compact.
    Make your life a mission - not an intermission. - Arnold Gasglow
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