+1
and the performance features set it apart from many more complete machines
I guess it would have been more popular if it had been more expensive 
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Apologies, it was a b it of a joke. I was referencing an old Comic Relief bit where the answer to every question was ‘The Belgians’ (from some dusty old Euro-sceptic in the 1980’s). Also it seemed a bit mad, when asking for £100000.00 for a 909 (imagine the import duties on that!).
Sorry for the actual, real life issues caused by Brexit!
Analog Rytm mk2 plus Nord Drum 3p
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I always layer a crunchy 707 sample (re-sampled with a HPF) with my AR kicks. Lovely thing.
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Hands down the DT! Had a TR-8, TR8S and played with an AR but the DT is the one I get the best sounding drums .
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It’s got all the same sounds, but it loses a lot of the playability. With all the channels sharing the same 3 knobs, all the controls are at least an extra button press away. It could still be a good option for a compact setup, but the extra controls are what make the 8s so fun for me.
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Same sound engine but less tracks, less connectivity and less direct controls. I don’t care too much for less tracks or even less connectivity (there’s plenty of effects onboard), but less knobs is the deal breaker IMO.
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In a lot of ways I feel like the Machinedrum is the only true answer for me, although reluctantly.
No other drum machine comes close to the Machinedrum in terms of vision and scope; no one has succeeded in making anything as futuristic or capable since. The ambition and execution is simply amazing for its time and place. However, it’s far from perfect, sonically and culturally I think it’s been showing its age for a while now.
My main gripe might be the sound itself; while the sound engines are plentiful and interesting, few of them really appeal to me. In fact, a lot of them feel superfluous. I feel like less quantity and more quality in the engines would have improved the experience and usefulness (and longevity) greatly. I realize it’s perhaps unfair to say this in hindsight, and to some extent I think its success comes from this excess of depth to explore– but…
Perhaps my issue is not really with the Machinedrum itself, more so that it never got a true successor or competitor. Neither from Elektron nor anyone else.
So, for now it will have to unfortunately remain my favorite.
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I’ve never used a TR-8S, but I bought the TR-6S specifically for its size, and because it had enough of the 8S for my purposes. But it’s not my only drum machine.
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I’ve never even seen an SP1200 … but I really want a go.
The Roland TR909 will keep the throne warm.
As someone who’s nuts about drum machines it’s an impossible question to answer definitively. It’s like trying to name my favorite band or food. However, if for some terrible reason I could only have one it would probably have to be the armk2. There are plenty of things it doesn’t do but for my purposes nothing can dethrone it for the happy medium of utility, workflow, and sound.
That being said, whenever I hear this question posed my knee jerk answer is always the korg er1. It’s like directly manipulating a cartoon. It just doesn’t have the features to be the one and only across whatever genre I might meander into on a given day. If korg had made an erx it might have been the one.
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You should check out the LXR-02 thread here on Elektronauts
https://www.elektronauts.com/t/erica-synths-lxr-02-desktop-digital-drum-synthesizer/
i would say Pulsar 23.
but the thing is i equally hate it as much as i love it… it can really be a pain in the ass sometimes and im not a fan of the “pre routed” sounds, for me i really have to use a lot of clips to get something that blows my mind… but then again, not a lot of stuff blows my mind these days.
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I own both, and the LXR really feels like a tiny MD, with distortion, and with less useless synths engines.
You’ll love it !
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i think the LXR-2 is really interesting, but i havent seen a compelling demo of it. everything is just harsh over saturated hardcore tracks.
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I think my seriously honest answer would probably be any drum machine run through an Analog Heat.
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Struggling to see a problem here…
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The only problem with the LXR is that now I want a Perkons.
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Alesis HR-16. Or was it SR-16? I forget.
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2 grand tho…