A lot of producers and musicians use a drum machine in the studio or on stage, which might make you ask yourself if you need a drum machine to write and produce? And if you do, which one do you need? In this Guide, we explain some drum machine basics and answer all of your frequently asked questions to help you find out. If you can’t find the answer to your question here, feel free to contact us!
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1. What is a Drum Machine?
A drum machine is a sound module that’s specially designed to produce drum sounds. Usually, a drum machine comes with a step-sequencer that can be used to build beats. Some also come with built-in effects and other features for editing and tweaking drum samples.
But how does a drum machine actually work? A lot of models produce fully digital sounds, just like music software. The difference between software and drum machines is that drum machines are almost always standalone units – meaning they can be used without the need for a computer. There are analogue drum machines (once upon a time, these were the only drum machines you could get), drum machines that combine analogue and digital samples and functions (also known as hybrids), and fully digital drum machines. Many digital drum machines produce detailed imitations of analogue sounds and are commonly called Virtual Analogue drum machines (or VA). Unless you’re really experienced with drum machines, it’s not really necessary to know exactly what’s going on inside them.
Early drum machines were generally tools for guitarists in need of a drummer, so that they could practice their timing. These drum machines had a really synthetic sound that was far from realistic, but sound wasn’t really an issue for the rehearsing guitarist, since they simply used them as a kind of complex metronome rather than an instrument in itself. But what no one could ever have predicted was the massive cult-following that these early machines gained. Models like the Roland TR-808, TR-909, and CR-78 became classic features of hip-hop, goth rock, new-wave, EDM and countless other growing genres before they claimed the legendary status they have now. In fact, EDM may not have even existed if Roger Linn hadn’t harnessed one of these machines back in the ‘80s, and we would never have heard of something called Italo Disco. Later, once digital sample-synthesizers became popular, the drum machine still had an important role - you used your synthesizer for the more melodic samples, and your drum machine for the beat. This is not only because synths aren’t exactly made for making beats, but because the polyphony of a synth can’t actually handle it. Polyphony is otherwise known as the number of notes it can produce at the same time.
Drum machines still have plenty of uses, but these look a lot different than they did back in the ‘80s. Then, a drum machine was a necessary production tool since synthesizers weren’t always designed to make drum sounds. These days, even a medium-sized synth is able to do everything that a drum machine can, and the same goes for drum machine software. This kind of software comes in the form as a plug-in that can be used in music production software (a DAW) on either a PC or Mac. In fact, there are plenty of producers who only ever use virtual drum machine plug-ins because they can be used to make professional-level beats.
So, if the software is so good, why would you bother getting a real, physical drum machine? The first reason is the performance element of a drum machine. Audiences love it when a performer builds something entirely from scratch, live on stage, and if you’re ‘playing’ a drum machine, they can actually see it happening. Many producers also simply prefer the hands-on feel of shaping each drum sample, then using a step-sequencer to build and program a full beat. There’s also the aesthetics – drum machines are like a little sweety shop of fun blinking lights, knobs, little screens and pads, all of which are irresistible, even to the most experienced producers and musicians.
4. A Lot of Drum Machines Have a Step-Sequencer. What is it?
Even without having to read the specifications, you can tell if a drum machine has a step-sequencer. If it has a neat row of around sixteen buttons, or maybe two rows of eight buttons, then you can be pretty certain that you’re looking at a step-sequencer. Each button represents a sixteenth-note of a sixteen-note beat, which is two repeats of 8 beats, or four repeats of 4 beats (so, 4 beats per bar). But you don’t necessarily have to have a deep understanding of the musical theory to get it – a drum sound is assigned to each button and then the buttons are automatically played in sequence to play the beat. If you can’t see a row of buttons fitted to the control panel of a drum machine, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a step-sequencer; the steps might be shown on the display screen. Or, sometimes, you need to rely more on yourself and remember what you’ve programmed. For more on this, see Question 5.
5. Does My Drum Machine Have to Have a Step-Sequencer?
If you’ve already read our answer to Question 4, then you might be asking yourself how essential it is for your drum machine to have a step-sequencer. If you’re itching to get into the studio with your drum machine, or you plan to take it on stage, we definitely recommend going for a drum machine with a step-sequencer and set of physical sequencer buttons. They give you a great, clear overview of the beat as you’re programming and are much easier to use than something like the keys of a MIDI keyboard. Using a step-sequencer, you can also ‘see’ the beat run through the hi-hat, snare, kick, etc. Also, if your drum machine features sample editing, then working with the controls is usually much easier and quicker than using a standard synthesizer, where you’re faced with masses of parameters you don’t necessarily need. In this way, you could even view a good drum machine as a fully-fledged musical instrument – which essentially, it is.
6. Does it Make Sense to Buy a Second Hand Drum Machine?
Because of the sudden rise in popularity of any of the Roland TR model drum machines over the last few years, the prices of these vintage models has shot up. Right now, you’re likely to come across one of these machines listed on eBay or Gumtree with a four-figure price on it. If you have the money, great! You can get yourself a vintage classic, but technically speaking, you’ll have a chunk of hardware that’s survived maybe thirty or even forty years, while technology has been busy evolving. So, if you want a classic, you have to be willing to understand all of it’s special little quirks in terms of controls and sound. Also, your production work may not sound all that new.
If your drum machine has integrated speakers, then in some cases, all you’ll need is some fresh batteries to start making beats. But, since it’s more likely that speakers haven’t been built in, or the sound of the integrated speaker isn’t that great, you can almost always connect a set of headphones to your drum machine.
Most producers and musicians want to use drum machines as part of their recordings or productions. Most of the time, you’ll need to connect it to a computer to do this so that the sound of your drum machine can be sent to your DAW. If you’re drum machine has a built-in audio interface, then all you need is a USB cable (please note: always check that the USB output definitely supports audio!). Otherwise, you can use a jack cable(s) to connect the line output(s) to an external interface. Some drum machines even come with an output per sample, which is great if you want to mix and add effects to each drum sample separately, but you need to make sure that your audio interface has enough inputs.
There are drum machines that don’t have a sequencer and need to be MIDI controlled. Here, you might want to use a MIDI keyboard or a different kind of MIDI controller. If you do, it’s definitely useful if the controller comes with drum or performance pads. Controlling these kinds of drum machines is, of course, also possible using your computer.
