What's your all-time favourite DRUM Machine?

+1 for alpha base

and Octatrack

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hearing in records - probably the 909, basic answer but if you love techno love the 909.
using - RYTM, its my only machine, i used logics ultrabeat and iphones DM1 app previously so not much qualtity to compare

classic: TR-606
current: A4
sound quality: DFAM

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Analog Rytm for sure :slight_smile:

Itā€™s the most capable and under appreciated drum machine ever created.

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cańt afford the alphabase, but the DT with my good old airbase works fine.

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Huh ? Iā€™ve always felt it had a massive reputation.

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Thatā€™s what I thought before I got the MD. But letā€™s not start an apple and oranges, etc. argument :slight_smile:

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The reason the market can carry so many drum machines, and the whole reason this topic exists, is because anyone claiming their choice is ā€˜theā€™ best is nearly stating an opinion and it has no claim in truth.
Show me a music making world where every category of machine can be distilled down to only one of each category and that world would be unappealing to me and many others.

I have a few pieces of gear that can either create or play drum sounds and samples. They are all my favorites. some cost the same as a decent dinner on date night, others cost the same as a months mortgage.

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And I enjoyed the AR MK2 that a friend loaned me some time ago. The drum pads are nicer and it is easier to use than my OT. I may pick one up in the future or perhaps a Jomox Alphabase or Soma Pulsar 23 unless I splurge on an Erica Synths Techno System as Iā€™m loving modular drums the most of drum synth sounds thus far. But no gear for at least another year for me since I need to fund home improvement costs and property taxes.

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Itā€™s just another thread to list (almost) every Drum Machines.
Did I see the Tempest listed yet?

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EDIT: Bakewell, every time!

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Since Itā€™s an opinion thread (or a list of most drum machines), no need to argue. Ultimately itā€™s whichever one clicks with you the best.

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CR-78, for analog originality and timelessness-- 808 cowbell precursor, tambourine, guiro, and metal beat sounds are unsurpassed imo. No other analog drum machine iā€™ve tried has such distinctively wrong and totally original approximations of acoustic instruments. Timeless stuff. Could have only happened when it did due to the technological limitations, and yet here we are years later listening to it but not creating nearly as distinctive new original analog drum circuits. For an all arounder, a sampling machine like MPC, Rytm, Octa or SP1200/S2400 is the obvious choice to me.

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I think my ideal would be a mashup of a Nord Drum 2, Soma Pulsar, and Sly Dunbar.

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Syntakt

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I havenā€™t posted yet, cause Iā€™m not sure.

Out of the selection that Iā€™ve had (Volca Beat, Circuit, DT, DN, OTmk2, Nord Drum, RytmMk2, and arguably A4) my choice goes to Rytm Mk2.

But I struggle with its muffled muddyness sometimes. Iā€™m sure Iā€™m at the heart of that, but still, its also something that comes with the Rytm. Sometimes I wonder if I should try a LXR-02 cause I think the digital drums might be less muddy - or an alphabase, which rhetorically is unfounded. But it looks and sounds ace;)

Anyways, for now: Rytm mk2!

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For the sweet trolley maybe.

Get thyself down Melton Mowbray during Piefest, itā€™s
basically Glastonbury for fat fuckers like me.

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Luckily this thread is not for best. But instead for ā€˜your favouriteā€™ so all is good.

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Mine is Syntakt obvs

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Iā€™ve owned AR, AK, OT, DT, DN, M:S, M:C, TR-08, Tracker, Live and Bitwig at various points in my life. Out of all those, the AR should be the obvious choice, but I really didnā€™t get along with the analog engines. They were far too limited in many respects, and as others have said, the hats are garbage imo, so the noise generator was my preferred option for hats (and snares actually). But I found myself having to rely on the band-pass filter too much because one filter is just not enough for shaping drums ā€” if there was a base/width filter on another page it would open the box up completely. Therefore, I feel DN was the best beat maker Iā€™ve owned (it can really out punch many dedicated drum machines!), though I was making trip-/hip-hop at the time. Iā€™m more into techno nowadays and I think the A4 would be the best for designing drums for that. Although, if money was no object, Iā€™d be getting myself a Pulsar-23 in a heartbeat. That thing looks truly wild and @trytykeeā€™s minimalist beats on that glorious box should be officially sponsored by Soma imho :yellow_heart:

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