Why drum machines?

AK · Post by AK » Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:41 am

tone-def wrote:
Casanova808 wrote: I find it funny that people think you can replicate old drum machines by buying sample sets and working in a daw or sampler. That isn't how techno is supposed to be made. The trick is to have all of those sequencers running at the same time with slightly different feels. You can't get that ITB or with an MPC. You need several machines dealing with the midi clock in a slightly different way with a little lag between each unit in the chain.
i'd rather not make or listen to techno if thats the case.

I dont, cos mostly I hear bloops and bleeps and 808 toms all the time. But thats not drum machines, it DAW Programmed sampled beats.

I dont like music thats out of time or having unwanted flams all over the shop but having said that, I do have a fondness for the older techno from back in the day when drum machines were used. The no-nonesense approach ensured they werent missing the point of the music. A lot of stuff these days is just arty farty ponsiness to my ears.

Maybe Im just getting old and Im stuck in the late 80's and 90's but I am fascinated by drum machines. Id collect em if I could.

tone-def · Post by **tone-def** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:27 am

808 toms come from a drum machine. bleeps and bloops come from synths. some of that sh!t is made with the machine drum.

AK · Post by AK » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:55 am

tone-def wrote:808 toms come from a drum machine. bleeps and bloops come from synths. some of that sh!t is made with the machine drum.

808 toms are also synthesized. Everything you just said comes from synth.

TechnoMusic · Post by **TechnoMusic** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:00 pm

I'm a fan of the NI Maschine, but that is so much more than a drum machine. The new Roger Linn/Dave Smith Tempest looks Cool too.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:08 pm

mo's taverne wrote:
have you tried an Elektron Machinedrum? surely, nowhere near analog but this is a percussion synthesis monster.

yeah my mate was the beta tester for the original machine drum, so i used it before it even came out. he was in love with it, he even sold his 808 and 909 at the time ( i bet he regrets that now )
its good, but not my cup of tea i'm afraid, its still a drum machine.

AK · Post by AK » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:09 pm

i have to look twice on here sometimes. Were on an electronic music forum and nobody likes drum machines? Wtf?

Its like walking into a meat market and finding a sh!t load of vegetarians ..

I swear one day I will look on here and everyone will hate synths. Gotta laugh!

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:14 pm

Casanova808 wrote:because drum machines have different quirks that impose a certain feel on a pattern. You can program the same beat on a Linn Drum, an 808, a 707, an RZ-1, or a DDD-1 and they are going to have a different feel. That feel doesn't just come down to the sounds, it is about how the sequencer deals with midi clock, how it handles accents, how tight the sequencer is...

I find it funny that people think you can replicate old drum machines by buying sample sets and working in a daw or sampler. That isn't how techno is supposed to be made. The trick is to have all of those sequencers running at the same time with slightly different feels. You can't get that ITB or with an MPC. You need several machines dealing with the midi clock in a slightly different way with a little lag between each unit in the chain.

my 909 definitely has a 'feel' to it, and i loved that for a long time, now i find it just too limiting. the stock shuffles are all nice, but there are huge gaps in between them, i need my shuffles to be adjustable to the finest degree, i need asymmetric shufffles, i need polyrhyhthms, i need totally control and infinite flexibilty.

i agree with AK about unwanted flamming, if i'm going to have flams they have to be deliberate, not just because all the machines are different.
that may have worked on some tunes but i bet it was a pain in the ass most of the time for producers back then.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:20 pm

AK wrote:i have to look twice on here sometimes. Were on an electronic music forum and nobody likes drum machines? Wtf?

Its like walking into a meat market and finding a sh!t load of vegetarians ..

I swear one day I will look on here and everyone will hate synths. Gotta laugh!

why ?

technology is moving on bro, drum machines were originally designed to emulate and 'replace' real drummers.
do we still need that ?

i even question the notion of 'drums' drums are physical instruments, we are making electronic music, why do we have to imitate physical instruments ?