Favorite Drum Machines?

So of all my 250 machines and all my sounds, is it possible some of them are from "samplers"? What's the difference between a drum machine and sampler?

yes, i have a pack of drum machine samples that includes the sp-1200, which was a sampler with no built in sounds. really depends on the sample pack.

also, some dope free drums i've been digging are at thesample.net most of these were pulled off records.
 
Well, some of the drum-machine sounds will have been sampled, and some of them will have been synthesized, so it gets kind of murky. In your case, your drum-sound samples may be re-samples of certain sounds (so they may have some EQ or FX added).

A drum-machine (whether physical or virtual) is a device that uses synthesized or sampled drum sounds (individual parts of the kit) to create rhythm patterns and drum grooves for songs by chaining various patterns and fills together (so there's a sequencing aspect as well). It is a machine that emulates a real drummer for production or live performances purposes, when a real drummer and drum-set are not available or for some reason (stylistically or financially) undesireable.

A sampler (whether hardware or software/virtual) is a device that records sound clips and plays them back either through live performer manipulation or through sequencing or MIDI control. Samplers like the MPC series became de facto drum-machines because of their use as a total hardware production solution for Hip-Hop producers (late 80's to early 2000's?) before DAWS and virtual instruments became such a big factor. So some people from the Hip-Hop tradition call something like the MPC a "drum-machine," even though it's much more, and in some ways, less. Two different devices that have the potential to cross into each other's territory...

GJ

Thanks for that explanation.

The program I use to put my beats together is a little program called Acoustica Beatcraft. I load my drum samples in there, and then I can assign them to individual beats and measures. So it seems that this program, mixed with my samples, serves as a sort of "drum machine".
 
>>>>808 and related > any other drum machines<<<<

Preposterous. It depends on what kinds of sounds you want for what kind of music you are creating. An 808 would sound ridiculous on anything requiring a realistic drum sound...

GJ
 
yes, i have a pack of drum machine samples that includes the sp-1200, which was a sampler with no built in sounds. really depends on the sample pack.

Back in the day a lot of Miami Bass producers would sample their TR-808 drum machine into an SP-1200 as opposed to recording the TR-808 directly which kind of goes against the perception of purity which causes a lot of people to drool over the actual TR-808 drum machine itself.
 
I use to love my Roland R8 drummachine. I still use some of it's drum sounds to this day when i'm going for the ol' skool vibe.
 
I think the best way to look a it, it's to consider where the samples are coming from: are they sampled or synthesized? , that way you'll be able to decide faster what you should use. For Example: Pharell often uses sampled, acoustic sounds which create a more organic sound and vibe while MikeWill always uses 808's or 909 drum kits because that helps him achieve that turnt up pop sound.
 
I personally like using my midi controller for my drums, it allows me to do some really cool thing pitch wise with my 808's. As far as the hardware that I have used in the past: mpc200xl, maschine, mpk88, i like the mpk88. Its kind of the best of both worlds, midi controller + pads

-SD
 
I'm pretty new school. I am really impressed with Reason's KONG Drum Machine and the samples it has. I almost never use anything else unless I'm working on Latin Music Beats or Moombahton.
 
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