Everytime the subject comes up I almost always have to add that the A4 and Digitone are my favorite gear to pair up.
They’re similar enough to not have disruptive workflows, but different enough to cover a lot of ground between them.
Plocking and Sound locking 8 tracks and 12 voices, along with all the different oscillators gives you a lot of sound to work with.
The only issue is that 8 tracks could still be a bit restrictive if you want to do 16th high hats or similarly complex drum patterns that require a lot of repetitive triggers. I don’t run into often myself, but it does happen so it’s worth considering if this will be an issue for what you do.
That said, they are an excellent combination and would encourage anyone to try them out together.
I’d suggest the Model:Cycles. It sounds different from other machines, has quite a lot of sound design flexibility with easy controls, and it also has the sequencing capability that you want.
Volca Drum sounds cool, but the user interface is a bit painful.
I think that the Digitakt is just way too expensive for what you’re looking for. It’s also not as immediate for sound design as the Cycles.
Model:Samples would probably be a very good option. I don’t have one and use Digitakt myself but if you like the A4 Drum sounds (which I think are awesome) then you can effectively sample your faves and still use them to free up your A4. Plus a whole lot more flexibility and immediacy with a Model: (I also have Cycles and that’s been suggested a few times here but I don’t think it’s good enough as a drum machine only - some of the percussion sounds for hats / claps even snare just won’t get you where you want to go - the only real brilliant engine for drums on that thing is the kick imo - though all round it is very unique sounding and that’s what makes it special :))
I use the Electribe 2 Sampler as my hardware drum machine, first with the A4 and now with the DN. You should be able to pick one up second hand for about £250.
I think it makes a really good hands-on drum machine, just the first 3 insert FX (Punch, Overdrive and Distortion) are perfect for drum sounds plus you can easily liven up patterns using the groove per track feature .
An added bonus is that feeding an analogue sound into some of the E2’s master FX (notably Mod Delay and Wet Reverb) is also surprisingly pleasing and you can use its key/scales and chords features to play the A4.
Thank you all for the responses! Definitely a lot to think about. Now I’m starting to think more about leaning into the a4 for its drum capabilities, specifically with sound locks etc. and maybe checking out this minibrute 2s for its synth/sequencing/semimodular (potentially drums too) capabilities. Pretty up in the air right now. Regardless I think if I go for a drum specific product, itll probably be the digitakt in the next couple months. I both love and hate these sorts of crises.
Besides the many great options above, I would look at the Yamaha RY30/RM50… both have modern editors out there that make them much less tedious to program. Serious sound design potential… Autechre did a whole EP with just the RY, and the RM (rack) version has even more parameters to tweak.
It might be stating the obvious, but you can get just an A4 as a dedicated drum workstation for not much more than 400 these days and have enough sound/sequencing options to last you the rest of your lifetime
While somewhat limited in terms of sound design, the TR-8s is a great drum machine. You get a wide variety of classic ACB sounds that are very tweakable live. There is also a wide variety of FM sounds that have a fair amount of range, given the morph function, as well as decay and tune, plus the additional fx. Plus, load any sample you want. Not too pricey.
Yes, 6s is also a good option.
An OT MKi, might be a possibility as well. Make some P-Locked A4 drum sequences and record and slice a quantized loop to make sample chains that are super useful. Mangling possibilities are infinite.
Yes, maybe you’ve already got your sound designy drum machine and now you just need a sampler.
edit I suppose the above suggestions may push the budget a little too much. But yes, do consider possible upcoming Holiday sales. I seem to recall the 8s was going for $450 US last year. Seems often the used market drops a bit too, with ppl wanting to dump gear to fund buying new gear on sale.
Considering your budget and desire for synthesis based architecture rather than sample based it seems like model cycles, volca drum, or maybe an er1 would be best? None of them do much in the way of polyrhythm but the cycles easily does polymeter. Also, a thoroughly modded/ circuit bent drum machine can be awesome, hr16 is a classic for that, sr16 with a patchbay is surprisingly good too.
Anything with a sequencer can be a drum machine if you’re brave.
Actually, spent some time playing my girlfriends Electribe 2 this weekend. She has the sampler one. There is no noisy hum or anything. The sound quality is cleaner than the old ESX too. I enjoyed jamming around on it. Very different workflow to elektron stuff, but still legit groovebox!
