Advice re drum machines/sequencers/samplers

jimkehoe

I would like a smallish gizmo that will play drum patterns/loops that are fairly old school soul, reggae, rock, R’n’b etc.
It would be even better if I could acquire and edit drum patterns on my Mac and then transfer to said gizmo.
I need something fairly simple to use/programme but sounds good and hopefully doesn’t cost the earth.
Does such a beast exist? 
What is it?
Thanks in anticipation.

Fretwired

Is this for playing standalone, live, or just for recording?

Strangefan

I have the roland tr8s which is truly flexible and brilliant 

octatonic

Roland TR8S is what came to mind here too.

If you don't need it unattached to a computer then NI Maschine is worth checking out.

I really like the Electron workflow- Digitakt is amazing.

jimkehoe

Fretwired said:

Is this for playing standalone, live, or just for recording?

Playing live eventually....... someday?  But also recording although I can just about do things with GarageBand so not essential. However I would like to approximate drums of various cover songs and edit on my Mac or iPad and then transfer to the unit to use live and for rehearsals . I play acoustic with a female singer.

jimkehoe

Strangefan said:

I have the roland tr8s which is truly flexible and brilliant 

I’ll have a look at the TR8. Thanks.

jimkehoe

octatonic said:

Roland TR8S is what came to mind here too.

If you don't need it unattached to a computer then NI Maschine is worth checking out.

I really like the Electron workflow- Digitakt is amazing.

TR8 sounds a good possibility. I do need it unattached and hopefully not too complex or expensive.

jimkehoe

Does/can the tr8 do more acoustic/traditional sounding drums? All the demos are a bit too techno/modern for me!

Shark_Eyes

When you get your drum machine, there's a PDF here: https://shittyrecording.studio/ that will give you nearly every drum beat you'll need.

jimkehoe

Shark_Eyes said:

When you get your drum machine, there's a PDF here: https://shittyrecording.studio/ that will give you nearly every drum beat you'll need.

Brilliant. Thanks for that.

Strangefan

jimkehoe said:

Does/can the tr8 do more acoustic/traditional sounding drums? All the demos are a bit too techno/modern for me!

You need to look at the tr8s not the tr8 as the tr8 is an emulation of Roland's 909s and 808s, the s model has as many drums as you need 

jimkehoe

Strangefan said:

jimkehoe said:

Does/can the tr8 do more acoustic/traditional sounding drums? All the demos are a bit too techno/modern for me!

You need to look at the tr8s not the tr8 as the tr8 is an emulation of Roland's 909s and 808s, the s model has as many drums as you need 

Great -Thanks. A whole new world!

jimkehoe

Having researched the great suggestions I have concluded the mentioned units, despite being great and tempting are a too expensive, too big, too techno and too much for my needs.
Does anyone have any suggestions re smaller, less techno, cheaper and more traditional drums sounding.
Anyone with thoughts or advice on Alesis, Zoom, Akai, Boss etc ?

Strangefan

Have yu thought about the arturia spark le? I have one it's half hardware half software,? 

jimkehoe

Strangefan said:

Have yu thought about the arturia spark le? I have one it's half hardware half software,? 

Something else to look at - Thank you.

jimkehoe

Strangefan said:

Have yu thought about the arturia spark le? I have one it's half hardware half software,? 

Good but unfortunately I need something that is standalone that preferably can be hooked up and programmed via my Mac.

goldtop

OK, but you won't like me for pointing it out... you already have the solution Garageband on your iPad. Use a mobile battery pack for anxiety-free power.

(Cheap, too. £200 for the 6th Gen I bought used about a year ago.)

jimkehoe

goldtop said:

OK, but you won't like me for pointing it out... you already have the solution Garageband on your iPad. Use a mobile battery pack for anxiety-free power.

(Cheap, too. £200 for the 6th Gen I bought used about a year ago.)

I realise at the moment it is very unlikely but if I ever got back to doing pub gigs etc which is me on acoustic and a female singer I really don’t want to have an iPad or MacBook with me.

goldtop

I sort of understand. A computer on-stage makes me suspect the band of "cheating".

But all of the devices mentioned above are computers, just with fixed workflow and limited synthesis. You can mimic that on the iPad if you want (e.g. GR-16 is a Korg Electribe E2s, etc). Plus you get Looper apps, etc, etc.

Strangefan

Have another think about the tr8s it's a pure live tool you can get it to be as basic as you want with samples of your own drums, or the inbuilt samples, you can program song patterns with it pretty easy so you jusy press play and go, you will honestly be hard pressed to find a drum machine so easy to use and as geared towards live music 

Strangefan

Or get a sampler