Drum machines - What's your favourites and why?

I left Reason to learn Logic and record my band like 7 or 8 years ago. I get people’s adverse feelings towards the OT, but the AR? So far it’s been a dream come true for me. Applying the DT and DN logic to the AR was so smooth and easy.

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Alesis SR16.
Served me well for 20, or more, years till the AR1. If I didn’t use the AR for Bass guitar samples (all the time) I’d go straight back to the SR16.

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I love the AR as a sequenced 8 track synth & sample machine with analog filters - rather than as a mere drum machine.
The filters, samples, (drum) synths and lush fx together allow you go far beyond just drum tracks. It’s a true one stop shop

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Currently, I’m liking the Tempest alongside MPC Live combination.

Yamaha QY-700 and any drum sound module. The programmability and swing options are on a whole new level.

But choosing from purely drum machines I’d say that the Digitakt is my absolute favourite. Sounds great, can sound like any of the classics providing you feed it the proper samples and has so many cool tricks up it’s sleeve.

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agreed, the Digitakt is a kick ass drum machine if you’re good with using samples rather than analogue circuits.

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AR sounds fabulous for sure, but in the end I just couldn’t justify the luxury

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I would say it depends how many time and effort we are ready to invest. Let’s compare a TR-8 like machine with the AR (which are both here in the studio).

TR-8: switch it on, a kit is already loaded, the kit could be changed and personalized, the instruments have a certain character and some flexibility, but tweaking is somehow limited, and the machine is ready to rock. Just hit the buttons and listen to the beat, twiddle the knobs and there we go …

AR: switch it on, now we need a kit, maybe the factory sounds don’t be, what we want, since we know about the features, we start to make patches, search the sample or sound library, swap this for that, and have so many options to get lost. At least that happended to me the first time :wink: UNTIL I created my standard kit, which is a nice starter for many projects.

Conclusion would be that the TR-8 is much more immidate, and the AR offers much more options. I use the TR-8 for doing a beat very quick and dirty and the AR, if I want a much more complex and sophisticated beat.

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Currently doing this with an old mpc2000

Would also recommend a used tr8, very simple and fun, Chuck a cheap distortion pedal on outputs

I’d love a tempest though you hear such variable feedback about them

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I like the octatrack as drumsampler more than the digitakt.
I will try the tr-8s now, because those faders. That is something i miss on all elektron boxes, no matter how cool sounding they are.
Soundwise, i like the sounds of the 606 and the 808 rimshot…
I dont know why, but hell yeah.
I plan my new fiddle set as a combination of tr-8s, digitone (with my future 4-modwheel selfbuilt controller), and octatrack for live mangling.

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tried it in a shop last week and had great fun immediately. The faders are pretty awesome, as well as the sound.
I had watched an overview some while ago, and that was everything I needed to immediately create beats and jam with performance features.
Hard to let it go after half an hour. Really an experience of immediacy after using elektron boxes for so long. I don’t know how far you can go beyond drums and do sound design. I’d have to take it on a longer ride :slight_smile: But for drums only, it seems very nice. Sounds punchy

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mine is Electribe 2 (synth).
i bought it for drum machine job and satisfied with it.
the only downside i can think of is no built-in reverb with per-track send amount — but i can live without that.
i also did not like any of stock toms, but it was easy to synthesize my own.

what is super cool about Electribe — you can super easily use any percussive instrument in chromatic manner, moreover — always in scale (scale mode rocks!).

and polymeters, of course! it is polymeter-capable!

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The thing with the Tempest, which I believe is true for many of Dave Smith’s creations, is that it doesn’t have a safety belt on its sound design. You can totally wreck it and be in all kinds of trouble because there’s shit you just shouldn’t try, which it allows you to do all the same.

Once you learn its boundaries, you can figure out how to break them. That’s when it starts to shine.

It’s really not that hard to get there, but since the Tempest isn’t one of those kits the more prominent youtubers have embraced, there’s not much coherence on tutorials, basics and just sharing the knowledge on how it works. It comes off as much more difficult and obtuse than it really is.

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Second the Acidlab Drumatix for the sheer simplicity of it , the superb sound and funky swing features. It’s not only my favourite drumcomputer but together with the DFAM my two favourite machines of all time .

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I’ve found myself very happy with the Octatrack sequencing a Vermona DRM Mkiii. I find the sounds of the Vermona to be really satisfying; deep kicks, nice toms, crisp hats. The fact there’s a knob for everything is great, and individual outs works well for separate processing.
I compliments it with samples from the Octatrack and also my DFAM. The DN also adds percussive stuff from time to time.
I’ve had a Machinedrum. Great machine - my gateway drug for Elektron machines. Sold it and moved into Octatracks. Wouldn’t mind one again now that I’m deeper into drum synthesis. It’s a great machine.
Tried the TR8S. Wasn’t for me. Sounded okay but I don’t need a built in sequencer - the Octatrack is central in my setup; I just need something that makes noises and takes orders from the OT.
Oh, had a MFB Tanzbar 2. Great sound bit I found the interface to be really too quirky. I think I’m too Elektron engrained! :wink: Also, the MFB felt like it had been built in someone’s shed.
So, for me, Vermona DRM Mkiii and Octatrack with a sprinkle of DFAM.

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true for all of daves stuff… pro2 is (or better was) the best digital/analog thing i ever used… yet you see only a few videos of it… but you hear it in tons of cool productions… strange :slight_smile:

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I never owned a real drum machine…
But from my setup

regarding workflow:
OT with samplechains

regarding sound:
Analog four

Digitone drums sound also great
DFAM sounds awesome, but workflow is far away from a drummachine - hard to achieve a specific result - but great for happy accidents

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MPC LIVE…
cos the pads are foo king lush :facepunch:

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AR MK1 was awesome while I owned it and ironically the machine I made the most music on. I regret selling it and the OT but that’s life.

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Interesting to hear the thoughts. Think I might give the Machinedrum a try. Whats an acceptable price for the latest releases?

Wish I had the brain power to work the OT but it just sits there collecting dust… :zipper_mouth_face:

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