Drum Machine (doesn't have to sound like a real kit!)

koneguitarist

Creed_Clicks said:

hmm, any major differences between the SR16 and SR18?

You do get extra sounds with the 18 but I am not that conversant with it.

 I was one of the first in my area to have a proper Bi-amp rig for PA, which enabled us to really push the drums. A lot of people seem to put drum machine low in the mix so not to draw attention to it back in the late 80's but we cranked it up and often started songs with machine on its own. 

Good tip though, set Bass drum hard left and rest of kit hard right, but use a mono mix on PA via two separate machine outputs, this allowed us to eq the Bass Drum, separate to rest of the kit depending on venue. 

And use it like its a drummer, use same bass drum, toms, and cymbals, but change the snare depending on song. A real drummer won't change his kit after each song, but he will use different sticks and ends of sticks on the snare. For power and light and shade. 

I would rather use a drum machine than a bad drummer every time, and for a lot of material they are better than a decent drummer. 

The swing and quantize settings are good fun to use to get better feel for certain genre's of songs. 

You can quantize the bass drum so it's smack on the beat, but play the snare without quantize so it's not perfect and it can sound great. 

Creed_Clicks

BahHumbug said:

I think the SR18 has a bigger, better sound library than the 16. The 18 was brought out as the replacement for the 16.  Apart from that I don't really know what the differences are.  Incidentally I got an 18 after seeing A duo called Tir Na Nog.  They are a couple of Irish guys that do music that is psychedelic prog folk.  They have an acoustic basis but augmented by various bits of electronics.  They've been plying their trade since the 60s.  They use an SR-16.  I provided some lights for a local gig that they did and was really impressed with the drum machine. When we needed a machine I just got in touch with them and asked what they use.  After reading a few Internet reviews we decided to go for the later SR18.

Good to know! Just looking for some live vids of them with the drum machine, but haven't come across them as of yet, but will keep an eye out.

Creed_Clicks

koneguitarist said:

Creed_Clicks said:

hmm, any major differences between the SR16 and SR18?

I would rather use a drum machine than a bad drummer every time, and for a lot of material they are better than a decent drummer. 

The swing and quantize settings are good fun to use to get better feel for certain genre's of songs. 

You can quantize the bass drum so it's smack on the beat, but play the snare without quantize so it's not perfect and it can sound great. 

I think for what I'd like to do now, a drum machine would be fine. Well, the idea sounds good in my head, but in reality who knows! Just a guitar and a drum machine live for now. It might be nice to add some keys or something different like a trumpet/sax or a violin.

A few open mic slots, and a modest aim of some support slots and take it from there! I'm getting old and realistic!

I like how the band Low have used electronic loops/drum samples on their latest album.