What's the best drum machine solution these days?

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Hi guys gals and Gungans!

I've kind of fallen behind in trying to keep up with the plugin and DAW world these days, having gone very acoustic for a long time, so, sorry for the very "vintage" question, but what's the best drum machine solution these days?

I'm thinking classic 80s type of drum machine but with modern advances such as velocity sensitivity and of course the flexibility of programming it via a DAW sequencer, as I do odd rhythms and polyrhythms pretty much exclusively! I don't care about disco thumping at all, but on the other hand, I'm not looking for a super "realistic" solution that sounds to most everyone like a real drum kit! The drum machine sound of early Necrophagist for example is plenty "realistic" for me.

Thanks in advance for your knowledgable, experienced and non-snide/condescending responses!

with love in the name of Jar Jar,

-Bojmir Raj Raj

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Some cool drum software :
Rob Papen Punch
Sonic Charge MicroTonic
Rayzoon Jamstix
Soniccouture Konkrete (Kontakt instrument)
+ Kontakt of course

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Roland have made some recently I think.
Also Cyclone:
http://www.cyclone-analogic.fr/en/85-dr ... 10378.html

Computer stuff is neat too.

There's this:-
https://www.arturia.com/drumbrute/overview

Hopefully someone will link some more fella,
hope this is a inspiring move-- and energising hehe

edit- ps, just to be clear are u looking for software or hardware, or both?

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preferably software but I'm open to hardware as well!

If I could find the diskettes for a good kit for the ensoniq EPS, that could work too! I still have that board lying around somewhere, it's great and definitely olde-schoole sounding!

Thans guys, those look like really good options! The Rob Papen synth sounds very good, I like the closed high-hats in the demo!

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D16 drum machines are nice if oldies (909 808 etc) are your thing.
Fxpansion Tremor is terrific DM but may not be for everyone.
Microtonic from Sonic Charge is also great.
Drumatic 4 from e-phonic is also nice.
My favorite/go to DM is waldorf attack (shares opinions but I like it :D).

Some cheap hardware for oldschool sounds could be Volca Beats.

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http://www.lelotusbleu.fr Synth Presets

77 Exclusive Soundbanks for 23 synths, 8 Sound Designers, Hours of audio Demos. The Sound you miss might be there

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Software-wise:

+1 for StiX - haven't purchased yet but it's on my list. If you're looking for a mix of synth and sampled, bees knees. Though I'm admittedly on kindof an "all xils stuff sounds awesome" fanboi kick right now.

I like Tremor too for pure synthesis, but you'll be starting from scratch on a lot of kits unless you like aggressive sounds.

If you're looking an all-in-one sampled solution for specific beasts, this has to be on the radar:

http://www.wavealchemy.co.uk//revolution/pid179/

Personally I think it would be nice to have all three.

Love microTonic - very versatile, but to me it's more like a specific box cause it has "a sound". It's a good sound though, and the Patternarium is an insane creative tool if you don't mind haven't random seeds planted (that's kindof a theme with those guys - see Synplant)

Skip lunch a few month and get them all :)

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Bojmir Raj Raj wrote:
with love in the name of Jar Jar,

-Bojmir Raj Raj

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Ha ha, I get it now!

What DAW are you using? Especially if you're going to sequence from the DAW timeline/sequencer you may already have what you need.

Examples: Ableton Live has Drum Racks which let you add the sampler/synth of your choice per pad, Logic has UltraBeat/Drummer, there are drum synth elements in Bitwig.

Aside from Live/Logic inbuilt stuff I really like Xfer Nerve (sample-based) and Microtonic (synth). I've tried many others but I like the focus of those two. NI Battery is also a worthy sample-based drum machine.

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+1 for Wave Alchemy Revolution

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Oh, I forgot to mention that my audio computer is nine years old laptop and is still running Windows XP! So it looks like it's not supported by the D16 plugins, bummer!

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A few more which haven't been listed yet:

Softube Heartbeat
D16 Punchbox
FXpansion Geist 2
Incomplete list of my gear: 1/8" audio input jack.

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nice free ones->
DR-fusion
Drumatic
ErsDrums

The d16 VSTs may work on XP, try the demos.
Otherwise I have d16's permission to distribute Nepheton 808 samples I rendered->
https://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/apc23t

edit: LinPlug RMV is very cool too, a little hard to find now though possibly. It does synthesis and has a vast sample lib too.


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Thanks everyone!

Looks like the D-16 Drumazon 909 is going to be it!

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