Re: The Best Live Drum Machine

[Eric Williamson <erwill@suitandtieguy.com>]

i would strongly recommend you stay away from _any_ of the new 
(post-1995) Roland drum machines. they have impenetrable user 
interfaces for real-time rhythm composition and rely too heavily on the 
Sound Canvas synthesis engine for my taste. sorry mark, i'd never buy 
your mc307.

if 4/4, 3/4, 4/4 triplet feel are all you need, get a Korg Electribe ER-1. 
they're 
plenty cheap, and feature direct control over the percussion synthesis and 
realtime knob record. a good deal for 2 hundred bucks.

if you have more money, i'd go for an Elektron Machinedrum. i spent about 
5 hours with one in my studio last week and boy am i in love! this thing 
is 
just the bizzomb. all sorts of percussion synthesis, knob record (better 
than on the ER-1), anywhere from 1 to 32 steps per bar, great effects, and 
very high quality build. you get what you pay for, which would be about 
eleven hundred dollars.

those are my two favourites. yeah i know they're a little extreme on both 
sides, but those are the two most immediately accessible and 
programmable drum machines on the market. very easy to mute parts 
and write new ones.

no spending an hour trying to get into EDIT mode and still not finding it 
(true story. roland groovebox sp505). these two have excellent interfaces. 
i 
think that the Jomox xBase09 has a good interface, but i've never played 
one.

Eric Williamson
www.suitandtieguy.com