Hello All

I have had 3-4 drum machines in total, and I am starting to realize drum machines are not for me. I have had a DR 660, Volca Beats, MPC1000 and now recently a Roland TR 8. I am starting to see too many disadvantages by using hardware drum machines:

1) Sequencing - this is by far the most important element I find limited in hardware drum machines. x0x programming is fun and easy for an afternoon jam, but for serious programming in a whole arrangement you quickly realize you are limited to one or a few bars. No velocity control, no triplets, no pitch change, no complex rhythms etc.
DAW sequencing samples is in my opinion by far superior to hardware based sequencing (UNLESS you have something like a Elektron machine or a Cirklon)

2) The sounds become boring too fast. Obviously a lot of older drum machines are sample based, while others have analog voices. While I do find the grit of low grade bit machines interesting, samples are just as good and can be sequenced in more modern method by using a DAW.
The sound of an analog drum machine - I love it, but again now a days you can find thousands of different 808 kicks and snares, tweaked in various settings on the net, so having an original 808 to sample seems also a bit waste of time and money.

3) Lets be honest, some of the best complex rhythms out there by names such as AFX, Autechre, BOC, Squarepusher etc. are made with a computer based sequencer + samples. Yeah I know they probably sampled their real 808s and 909s machines and sequenced the sounds from a computer, but again now a days with the abundant amount 808 kicks and claps available online.... hit

So what do you guys think? Are drum machines worth the hassle anymore?

And here is a track most likely not made with a drum machine:

Because they are fun. Hands on. Tweak able. Don't need a computer. Create patterns that you would have not created yourself due to restrictions and constrictions.

Did I mention fun to play with?

Oh and of course. Blinky lights. Can't forget those...

I think sometimes a drum machine is restricted by the sequencer attached to it but then, limitations drive creativity so....

I'm a little confused why you mentioned the MPC1000, because your criticisms don't apply to it. It's a sampler with no built in sounds and very sophisticated sequencing...

That said, these kinds of questions almost always come down to:
"because it's more inspiring for some people than using a DAW."

Fun and blinky lights vote here. My Spectralis is just way more fun than human drummers.

My band is all hardware, the gear sounds good, is very hands on, and has way more blinky lights than my computer. If your rhythms are getting stale, use your part mutes and write several patterns to change between. You should really be PLAYING the drum machine like an instrument, not just hitting play

You clearly like complex. Not everyone does.

And yes an Elektron is most likely to please you, but make sure to try it first.

If the drums are not the centerpiece of the song, all the added complexity and programmability isn't needed. Sometimes drums are just there to maintain a rhythm and drive a song and not be the star of the composition.

For stuff like that, drum machines work perfectly well.

Amen! A drum machine/groovebox is every bit as much of an instrument to be performed with as our synths and sometimes has both inside. Just hitting the play button is exactly why a good majority of pop music is craptastic today.

Drum machines are instruments. Why do people use instruments?

Oh, if the OP thinks Aphex Twin does not use drum machines, well, I have some Florida swampland that happens to have the Brooklyn Bridge on it for sale

A lot of hit records have been made with drum machines. I can probably think of 10 right off the top of my head just using the Oberheim DMX. Limitations often bring out the best in you. Too many choices can be paralyzing.

I can continue but this thread honestly makes me want to go record a track right now with my TR-707.

Simple. Because they have no soul.

Exactly. MPC1000 does all of the things OP complains about. For me, the MPC 1000 is a lot quicker to sequence different instruments into something, play things off the grid, sequence interesting entire songs than in a DAW.

Some of the Elektron stuff, as someone else mentioned, may do the trick for you as well.

But I'm much more apt to "play" a drum machine than I am drum samples in my DAW.

For me drum machines aren't very useful for a finished recording(which is all I do at the moment) but I do love them and would actually like a few more. My songs need more dynamics from the drums than drum machines can offer. So I use samples within the DAW's sequencer. I guess it totally depends on the style of music you do. I'd still love a DMX and a 909 though.

Pretty sure autechre used the Yamaha RY-30 for some pretty tasty tunes

there used to be a good video of it knocking about but i can't seem to find it :(

Having an MPC and octatrack ^this!

Wow!

because this

IMO analog drum machines have a bit more variability and dynamics in comparison to sequencing samples in a DAW because of how their envelopes, choke groups and sometimes free running oscillators work.

I see less of a point in using hardware digital drum machines but some really like the particular bit depths, D/A conversion or analog amps bcause they have for a particular sound.

You could also just midi sequence the external gear from a DAW if you wanted.

FTR I was speaking about the machines themselves, rather than those who use them lol

I use them as soundmodules, tweak and sequence with Push...except my vermona, which is a sound module I guess, and knobs a plenty...but this is one area I still use software, especially for acoustic drum though Ive used my alesis drum pad control thingy for this too

The advantages are prolly a bit less than say a hardware synth, but i still prefer them

You're probably wrong about that. In 1997 (when this tune was made) we're still only near the start of desktops being used for complex production. Aphex T was making music using drum machines well before this and is well-known for his interest in hardware (despite his infamous lying in interviews).

Once upon a time, using hardware was the only way to work.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure around that time he was recording his hardware drum machines into hardware samplers for that glitchy sound.

When making a song, some of that is the drums. How do you get it documented? Sometimes a few pads are all you need.

I'm a drummer. Just finishing up a good E-kit for writing in MIDI

My drum programming had never been so good as when I used x0x style programming on a box. Just put on the headphones, find a comfy corner and listen.

I use the same style in software now but it's just not the same. I can't really close my eyes and just go by feel.

My Monotribe has a swirling vortex 20' around it that steals the soul out of the immediate vicinity, but it runs circles (pun intended) around me making space for a real drummer in a 8' x14' garage "studio".

Because scrolling through a hundred 808 kick samples to find the one with the right decay/character/pitch/etc. is about as fun as doing my taxes.

I am pretty sure it is most likely sequenced on an Atari ST triggering chopped one shot from breaks and layered with some of his own x0x drum machine samples. This kind of also supports my point, that now a days, because of the availability of drum machine samples you dont even need your own machines to sample anymore.