Feel free to Kerble me on this one - I've got caffeine jitters and was too impatient to really search on this, since I'm sure there are loads of threads about this. anyway.y...

I want to record myself sometime, and I kind of want to do everything myself. Basically, what are some good, cheap drum machines out there that don't sound canned, clean, and modern? I don't have much money to spend and I'd want one that was good but which didn't take too sizable of a chunk out of my wallet.

Of course, I'd also need to get a four-track, but right now I just want to know what some good drum machines are. Can you tell I got the caffeiene jitters? I shouldn;t have drank so much tea this morning...

Not too much experience on these, but Alesis HR-16 (the hr might be wrong, but its __-16) sounded alright. My friend has a Roland TR-808 (again with the letters) that sounds really good. I couldn't ever figure out how to program either. I also didn't try very hard. Both of these were bought at pawn shops for under $100.

I have a Casio keyboard that has drum sounds assigned to certain keys. Maybe record directly like that? Fruity Loops has a free demo or something. It was easy to use and had a few older drum machine sounds in it.

You gonna get kerbled but I got caffeine jitters too.

the alesis sr-16 is a kind of standard drum machine. it sounds ok. it´s used all over 'darklands' of the jesus and mary chain. it can sound excellent for 80s power ballads.
i think that any cheap drum machine can sound good with some manipulation and thru tape and some slight delay and eq. try the boss dr-550 or dr-660. good, simple and affordable machine. really easy to find used, i´m pretty sure.
do you want some 'acoustic-like' sounds or some analog electronic sounds (like a tr-808)?

I've been able to get a lot of interesting noises out of my SR-16 with the right combination of custom kits and stompboxes (sounds really cool through my Valve Jr.). If you want a drum machine that sounds like a drum machine, look no further. Cheap and easy to find.

Unless you're making purely electronica I'd say the SR-16 is the way to go. Dirt cheap these days, and the sounds are about as good as you're gonna get for the price. No drum machine is going to sound like a real drummer, if you want that then your best bet is using loops, but with some intelligent programming you can get pretty good results. It does sound a little clean, (I think it's all close-mic'd drum samples) but it's quite versatile, you can stick it through guitar fx for dirty/ industrial sounds, or put it through a speaker then mic it for some room/depth or for adding "lo-fi" grit.

chrisc wrote: My friend has a Roland TR-808 (again with the letters) that sounds really good. I couldn't ever figure out how to program either. I also didn't try very hard. Both of these were bought at pawn shops for under $100.

No chance of getting one of those for that price! They go for silly money, think about £700-800 pounds and that is closer to it.

I have a Roland Tr-707, which i got for about £80 which is a decent drum kit, not amazing. The Alesis SR16 is supposed to be one of the best drum machines for the price though, so it'd be another vote for that machine there...

chrisc wrote:My friend has a Roland TR-808 (again with the letters) that sounds really good. I couldn't ever figure out how to program either. I also didn't try very hard. Both of these were bought at pawn shops for under $100.

Ugh.

Ugh.

Damn you.

Lucky bastard.

To confirm: I think that trying to "fool" people that a drum machine's actually a drummer is an ultimately futile and worthless waste of time, and I'd want it to sound like a drum machine. Artificial and ugly, but in a good way.

This is all great advice, and thanks a million - I was so high on caffeine earlier today that I'm amazed it made sense...

Roland TR-707. End of thread.

i've used the alesis.

it's alright. not rocket surgery to program, but tedious. which i'm sure will be the same with whatever machine you pick.