Help me choose a drum machine

[V10L3NT N3RD]

Whats up guys? Alright heres the deal.

I like my fantom but i really need a drum machine. What im looking for is one that has the 16 steps shown like on a mpc, like in reason or FL software.

I find making drum beats too hard on my fantom i dunno what the deal is but i cant seem to take the beats in my mind and make them on the fantom.

Anyway i was looking at korgs electribe es1 info here http://www.zzounds.com/item--KORES1MKII

or the korg er 1 http://www.zzounds.com/item--KORER1MK2

Any advice?

Id like an mpc 1000 but thats too much cashola right now.

Any advice appreciated.

[thunderkyss]

Just joking, don't get Violent with me or nothing.

do you have a computer?? If you do, open it's sequencer, set a track to transmit on channel ten(going to the Fantom). open the piano Role view, and you should see a keyboard on the left hand side. the rest of the screen should look like a grid. YOu want to zoom in on the grid, till you only see four bars.
Set the grid resolution to 1/4notes, and wallaaa, you have your grid for step sequencing. You can set your loops for whatever you want, 4 bars, twelve bars, what ever, just remember to zoom in/out, so that you can see your whole loop.


Fantom-S
AW4416
Now all I need is talent.
Anyone selling any talent??
member # 55
registered 21 May 2003

[Jost]

V10L3NT N3RD, I know what you are saying and I can understand your 'dislike' to create drum beats on the Fantom. I like hardware for making up beats and for that reason I own several machines to work with.

The Electribe RmkII is an awesome little machine to bring out some pounding analog-style beats. its cheap and its good. Easy to make up nifty patterns and great for creating wild 'real-time' modulations.

The RS7000 is more sophistcated than the RmkII and extremely easy to use for making up 16 part patterns with several variations. Yamaha discontinued the RS7000 so you should get some great 'clearance' deals.

Last not least, I also got the MC 307, a great little beauty to create some driving Roland beats. Once again, as it is discontinued you will get the 307 for little money.

Then there is the MC 909 and the Emu MP7 - however I don't own any of these, but I played with them and they are great.

So, good luck with your 'choicing'

[V10L3NT N3RD]

hehe thanks Jost...I will be getting the electribe R mkII. Also i have a question. Would i be able to get the drum beats i make with the R mkII onto the fantom? How would this be done?

[EL Weezie]

Hey N3RD...you might want to check out the Boss Dr880. Its a pretty nice box. www.bpmmusic.com sells them at a very nice price.

EL W

[jcthemc]

Rps mode is much easier and faster. what ever you play you can chop up in different measures and trigger with the pads ... I am still wishing for live Rhythm and Arpeggio creation this would be fantastic as a tool.. then i would actually use them both much more.

Roland, Make it easy like the V-synth!!!

looking for cheap sound modules/analog synths

JC THE MC...

[Jost]

V10L3NT N3RD, I never tried importing the patterns from the RmkII into the Fantom, but it sounds a like an interesting idea. You may trigger the Kits via the beats of the RmkII via midi out and see what comes up with.

On the other hand, the RmkII is such a nifty little devil of a Groove machine - it got its own wonderful character and identity, so different to the Fantom, however perfectly suited to accompony the Kits or the arpeggio of the Fantom.

Congratulations for getting the RmkII, you won't be dissapointed - this little brown box is a bit of a gem. Keep me posted about your progress and application with the RmkII

[2TIM316]

You answered your own question. Get an MPC. The MPC1000 is the coolest IMO. If you need more outputs, consider the 2000 XL-MC, but I think the 1000 is the bomb. Nothing does what the MPCs do.

[The Un-dr.]

I have the Fantom X8, the MC-909, and the new DR-880. As far as creating/programming drum beats, the 880 is the easiest--it was made to make it easy.

Also, you can easily MIDI the 880 to the Fantom to play the Fantom's sounds with the 880's beats etc. I've done that moving from the stock X8 sounds to the SRX-01 board that's in the X8.

I still like the 880's drum sounds the best for rock or pop, for what it's worth...

[Jost]

Hey 2TIM316, this MPC1000 sounds pretty hot. I never worked with an MPC, so is it worth having a MPC besides the Fantom? I mean, honestly, does it more than the Fantom? I always thought the Fantom Pads replaced the need for an MPC. Is this correct???

[plt]

Just connect the midi out of the Electribe RmkII
to the midi in of the fantom.
You can then play the Electribe RmkII and save the midi data
into the sequencer.
For a big sound play both the fantom + Electribe RmkII
together then record in a DAW or resample on the fantom

[qtc3]

Hey Jost, I've played a bit with the MPC and also with my Fantom. Now that I'm used to my Fantom I like it better. I think its easier to get an emotional connection with the MPC because its a very basic box (basic is not a put down, the MPC is a great machine), and theres nothing to get in your way. Essentially I think if you are comfortable making your music on the Fantom you probably don't need the MPC, one big reason I bought the Fantom is because its almost like having an MPC inside a synth. Not exactly, there are functions on the MPC which are easier to use but not as powerful in my opinion. Let me put it this way, you can do anything the MPC can do and more with the Fantom, but it might be harder to do it because with the extra functionality comes extra keypresses and more menus to get through.

Basically if the Fantom feels like it is getting in your way then an MPC might be handy, but if you feel like its pretty easy to do what you want to do with the Fantom and you're digging into the machine pretty good then the MPC might feel a bit limiting. All a question of personality, really, I'm the kind of guy who gets along pretty well with my Fantom, so even though the first sampling stuff I did was with an MPC now the Fantom feels like home to me.

Keep in mind I am not an expert at either machine, though, just an interested amateur.

[Jost]

qtc3, thanks a lot for your helpfull response. 2TIM316's comment about the MPC1000 got me a bit fired up so I did some surfing on the net and realized that there are a lot of people who adore this little blue machine. I must say it looks quite attractive, a cute little toy, which seems to be ideal for travelling or for 'going off' with the least amount of gear.

I love the Fantom, but I believe that beatboxes always have this extra 'special feel' that keyboards can't give you, which is why I love my grooveboxes.

[miket156_]

Interesting comment about the DR880. I was pretty much ready to buy one, but the one thing that holds me back is it doesn't have a Smartmedia card or any on board storage device. That's concerns me. I have an OLD Roland R70 and that has PC memory cards (M-256) which of course are now as obsolete as the R70, but mine still work fine and I don't have to ever worry about losing my work. I can store a lot of songs on each memory card, and if the machine ever takes a dump on a gig, I don't have to have a computer to reload the songs.

I realize that you can drive up the cost on a unit by adding a storage device, but I read that one owner programmed all his songs into the 880, which took about two months, and one morning he turned it on and there as an error message on the screen all his work was gone. Sure, he should have BACKED IT UP, but if they had a storage device on board, he probably would have.

Too bad, I won't buy a new drum machine until I find something that sounds as great as the DR880 that has on board storage.


Mike T.