NWB - Community Blog

14 May 2012

Drum machine question

Filed Under : Rants , Hello

Posted By : Stonecycle | Comments : 10

I know its a naughty word....

One of us has started moonlighting on the odd occassion with his girlfriend in an acoustic based duo. I say one of us. Its me.

So Amy plays guitar and sings (rather beautifully) and at the minute I'm playing some guitar, some bass and some cajon. The problem is I can't do this all at once. I can use a loop station to set some guitar going and then throw some bass / percussion over it etc etc but I can't hit the full textured sound I'd like.

So after hours on google trying to figure out how to manage feet only percussion (through pedals and sideways snare drums) I gave up and googled the dreaded drum machine. Within minutes it was clear that an Alesis SR-16 seems to be the way to go. Its programmable and seems to give a decent sound and is compatible with a footswitch so i can operate it hands free.

Does anybody use one of these and / or a different one? Are they worth the effort for light rythmic backing? And does anybody know what footwitch I'd need to go with it?

I realise I could have asked that question in fewer words.

Comments

# Posted by Synthy Mike - 14/05/2012, 12:42 (GMT)

The SR16 is a really good basic drum machine and has been around for what seems like ages but I think it's a bit limited for live use and the programming of songs into drum machines of that era is a bit tedious to say the least unless it's really simple, repetitive beats. It's got banks of useful sounds though.

For duo use, I'd recommend the other dreaded words on here.... Backing tracks (ARGHHHHHH !!!) For a cheap and cheerful solution, I'd recommend arranging drum patterns to your songs in your choice of sequencing software and make use of one of the many brilliant free VSTi drum machines out there to provide some decent sounds, export a mixdown of that and make a playlist on your MP3 player with the backing tracks on and bob's yer uncle. No faffing between songs, no tedious programming, just done and dusted!

You could even use a variety of different drum machine plugins so you can mix and match the different sounds they specialise in. If you're doing a few covers, you could be really cheeky and download the MIDI files for them off the web and then you've got the drum patterns sorted - you just have to decide which plugin(s) to use.

# Posted by Stonecycle - 14/05/2012, 13:22 (GMT)

Cheers Mike for the advice. I think I'll stay away from backing tracks as such. I'm more in the market for just simple drum loops on a few tracks here and there to just augment a sound. Thinking about it I'm after a more electronic / sampled sound. Think Teardrop by Massive Attack for instance. A backbone for a more intimate arrangement.

# Posted by Synthy Mike - 14/05/2012, 13:51 (GMT)

Ahhh, I see! The only downside with the SR16 is the sounds are a bit cliched, dare I say a bit dull, and you can't do much cool stuff with them.

If you're going down that route, check out the old Korg Electribe ER1, that's capable of some really cool stuff. It's like a conventional drum machine on steroids and lets you mix and mashup the built in drum sounds in real time as well as adding a rhythm part if you so wish. If you fancy having total control of your drum sounds - the Korg Electribe ES1, which is a simple sampler/sequencer. Both Electribes have a much nicer interface to work with than the SR16 too - much more hands on and intuitive. You can get the pair of them, particularly the ES1 for next to nothing.

# Posted by Howard - Sound and Light Produ... - 14/05/2012, 14:19 (GMT)

plus one for the alesis - used to use one for recording at home and want one again - great samples but never tried it through a PA

# Posted by Jason Smith guitar - 14/05/2012, 16:30 (GMT)

Boss Dr 880 is a good machine.

# Posted by Glyn H - 14/05/2012, 22:11 (GMT)

is it too much to take a laptop to gigs and use a program such as fruity loops? or some other sample triggering software.... if you have a laptop hanging about, there isn't much point in buying more hardware?
..... even better a touch screen device like ipad?

# Posted by Stonecycle - 14/05/2012, 22:43 (GMT)

@ glyn - I thought of using a laptop and it would maybe do as an interim solution but what I really need is something with as versatile a footswitch control as possible. Ie pressing play and stop and also a function to throw in a fill or two here and there. I like being able to be a touch impromptu live and have a jam about if I feel like it and the laptop presents the same problem as backing tracks in that I would be restricted to a pre-prepared track. Playing (and often swapping between) guitar, bass etc leaves no time with my hands free enough to operate a laptop based drum machine on the fly.

And for what I'd spend on an ipad I could more than manage a dedicated unit. Plus I refuse to buy apple shit. Theres no point in computers that are only compatible with themselves ;)

# Posted by Guy - 14/05/2012, 22:49 (GMT)

You considered a multi-channel looper like http://www.digitech.com/en/products/jamman-stereo ?

# Posted by Stonecycle - 14/05/2012, 23:32 (GMT)

@ Guy - that looks quite tidy and may be an idea. It'll all boil down to price really. I'm familiar with loopers as I use a boss loopstation as part of my setup with both acts. I'll keep this option in mind.

Cheers everyone for your thoughts :)

# Posted by Glyn H - 15/05/2012, 19:25 (GMT)

www.play.com/.../Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518%7Ccat:12920861%7Cprd:12920861

I was thinking of something like this with Ableton Live.

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