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Listening to Godflesh and The Austerity Program, I'm interested in picking up an old drum machine with MIDI so I can get some similar drum sounds. What are the drum machines that can be had for less than $100?

I had a Yamaha RX-7 that just sounded awesome. Once I had all the sounds sampled, I sold it pretty quick, but it has some neat effects that you can sequence too.

My favourite machine is the Alesis HR-16. If you don't like the sounds, there are a few places online that sell custom chipsets. It can be modded pretty easily as well. Mine has a glitchy patch bay and manual pitch shift knobs. Been meaning to add an LFO to do pitch sweeps, but haven't gotten around to it.

BOSS DR-202 is a lot of fun too for a really lo-fi feel, but it's probably not as aggressive and punchy as the other two.

Alesis SR16 is the Godflesh/Jesu drum machine. It's like 60 bucks and has MIDI

Yea, SR16 is the one a lot of band use. I think that is what Cress uses too. Actually a ton of bands use that thing.

HR16 is awesome though. Love that (but sometimes hard to find under 100 but it is always around that price). Kawai R5 sounded alright.

dr550 mk2. the two kicks are DEEP

BoatRich wrote:Alesis SR16 is the Godflesh/Jesu drum machine. It's like 60 bucks and has MIDI

How do you guys use a drum machine and why would you use midi if they have builtin pads and everything right there? Midi clock and using a fancy controller are the only 2 reasons I can think of right now.

Are those things capable of storing presets or patterns where you just hit a switch or send a Program Change to trigger such preset/pattern?

Sorry for the noob questions, I'm having a hard time finding a drummer for a band and I might get one of those machines instead. I used to play drums for almost 10 years in a row and I don't want to go back, fuck.

yea midi is handy when u have more than 1 device that u want to communicate together. the level of midi implementation usually varies for each device, some are deep, some are not. so it all depends on your setup & what u have. u definitely can do stuff like that w/ Program Changes, and other types of messages.
like i guess an example would be if u have a drum machine or sequencer w/ midi, u could hook the midi up to a synth or another device that doesn't have a sequencer, and get your sequence on w/ both.

honestly while there are some cool things u can do w/ midi, it can also be unnecessary. some ppl love it tho.

Yeah, the real question is what's the midi for, do you need it to send or just receive. If it's to send tempo-synced sequences out to an external synth, you can do it with an Alesis, but Electribes, MPCs, and Roland grooveboxes all make it much easier to get in there and mess around.

I was going to make a discussion on drum machines too, I have been trying for a while to research what I want but I am an idiot with these machines. I right now have the iElectribe app on my 1st gen iPad, but I think Apple is trying to kill my tablet, and it shuts down almost always now. Also, an actual piece of dedictated hardware is funner to use and get inspired by.

ramonovski wrote:How do you guys use a drum machine and why would you use midi if they have builtin pads and everything right there? Midi clock and using a fancy controller are the only 2 reasons I can think of right now.

Are those things capable of storing presets or patterns where you just hit a switch or send a Program Change to trigger such preset/pattern?

Sorry for the noob questions, I'm having a hard time finding a drummer for a band and I might get one of those machines instead. I used to play drums for almost 10 years in a row and I don't want to go back, fuck.

I'm sure someone could make the argument that using a drum machine's pads and internal sequencer is good cause it forces to learn or work within it's limits/parameters and thus it may shape how you create with it.

For me, I use Live and its just easier to program midi clips and send it via midi to the machine versus learning how to record and sequence parts in the machine.

The Alesis SR16 and HR16 are pretty much the same if I recall right. Except the HR16 looks way cooler.

Yamaha RX-5 has nice sounds cant remember if it had MIDI. TR-505 can be had for cheap and sounds similar to the TR-707.

TR505 is super punchy. thats a good one.

rolands are fun to use. i find the alesis, kawaii menu styled operation less fun but prob a lil more deep.

the akai xr20 is also an updated sr16.

TR505 seek mode activated. I find the SR16 menu styled operation to be beat frenzy icewater.

Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D. wrote:TR505 is super punchy. thats a good one.

rolands are fun to use. i find the alesis, kawaii menu styled operation less fun but prob a lil more deep.

the akai xr20 is also an updated sr16.

The alesis hr-16 clicked with me for some reason. Don't know why I understood it so well when other things piss me off. The Kawai R-50 was real weird to get used to with the little dash over a note symbol. I didn't like it.