I wondered why buy a drum machine? There are alternatives like Sampling CDs (real drummers play and you cut it up in your computer), or ReCycling existing drum tracks, synthesizing drum sounds with your modular synth, using the existing drum sounds in your workstation or soundcard, or even colaborating with a real drummer. Drum machines are OK, but you only ever get out of them what you put in. As a non-drummer, I find it hard to program stuff that sounds natural.
Hi Brian
Interesting comments., thanks.
For me though, there are several reasons why I wanted to use a dedicated drum machine to handle all my percussion sounds.
1 - Though I can create sounds from Init Patches for certain genres, of the percussion/drum sounds I attempt, well... lets simply say that they have all fallen well short of the 'quality' mark - I am not yet skilled enough to create
any sound. Pads, Leads and Arp related sounds & patterns - yes, percussion, real and complex sounds - no!
2 - Though I can create sounds from scratch on two of my synths, and the third has many built in kits, I don't want to use a timbre from these for percussion.
3 - When you use a synth for percussion, you need to use certain Master and Insert effects. This then limits the use of these effects for other timbres. I forget exactly what the numbers are, but it is something like 7 Insert effects and 3 Master effects across all timbres. If I used several of these for a percussion timbre, I am then limited for however many timbres remain. I prefer to use s synth for creating synth sounds!! and besides, when you have so many timbres available - it can become a little restrictive.
4 - (
probably the main reason too!!) - I am lazy
the DR-880 is velocity sensitive, has a sort of 'human' mode, and contains literally hundreds of sounds - with built in effects that can be easily applied to those sounds; and is a breeze to programme. One is able to design and build a new bespoke kit, complete with full effects, different bar patterns & fills in only 10 or 15 minutes.
5 - I can upload riffs I have found on the net (
or from my existing synths drum patches) directly to the DR-880 in MIDI format thus allowing me to utilise the sounds in the DR-880 with rhythms from anywhere and (
though I do) not
have to sequence these in a software DAW.
I guess in the end, as with everything else, it simply comes down to personal preference and how to get to a position to be able to create ones music in whatever manner best fits what it is that one does. This is the way I produce music, which most certainly would not be right for someone else, nor perhaps is the best way to accomplish it, but it works for me.
