Drum machine options

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I'm not sure which section to put this in...

I'm quite interested in buying a drum machine for recording and the odd home jam.

However, I'm struggling to find something which works with the style of music I play - mainly old-dtyle country.  A "Country" preset is often added as an afterthought, and usually not quite right for what I want  to play. 

I've been using country-style drum loops (WAV files) for recording, but again it's tricky to find stuff which fits a song, and they're often at the wrong tempo (I've never been able to work out a decent way to preview at different tempos or to convert them in my DAW).

Anyway, it all gets complicated, and I end up losing creativity and motivation when I can't quickly find a matching rhythm.

I liked the look of the Korg KR55 Pro, and the basic sounds seem quite realistic, but I'm not sure about the country presets.  I've not heard it in the flesh, but a snippet on Youtube makes it sound like a hoe-down rhythm.  I think I need some shuffles, and some swing stuff. 

The Singular BeatBuddy might be an option (with an add-on country pack), but reviews are extremely mixed.  I think some users don't like the sounds or limited variations, and the difficulty in finding a suitable rhythm (it might even be more difficult than my existing loops, although I could adjust the tempo).

Another option is the Digitech SDRUM, but again, it gets mixed reviews, and I'm not sure how easy it would be to program the beats I need.

Are there any other decent options?
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Comments

  • If you have a Mac / iPad then GarageBand has a drummer feature that is really useful
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  • mrkbmrkb Frets: 6637
    There are a few iPhone or iPad drum apps. They might be better than specific drum hardware and are much cheaper, the ability to quickly modify the patterns and sounds makes them very flexible.
    Karma......
    Ebay mark7777_1
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  • WhistlerWhistler Frets: 322
    deejayen said:
    I've been using country-style drum loops (WAV files) for recording, but again it's tricky to find stuff which fits a song, and they're often at the wrong tempo (I've never been able to work out a decent way to preview at different tempos or to convert them in my DAW).
    Audacity is free, handles WAVs and many other formats, and is excellent for tempo changes.

    Sorry I cannot be as helpful with your general search for country drum parts.
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  • If using a Mac/PC then ezdrummer has an americana expansion. You can also use ezdrummer in stand alone mode without needing to go through a DAW
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  • Boss DR and alesis SR can usually be picked up reasonably ,but they are probably not the sort of thing people use now with all this funky new stuff .

    I used to have EZ drummer drum kit from hell years ago  which is cool , 

    that GarageBand and logic way of doing drums is really good as you have different types of drummers for different styles. I used to be interested in beat buddy but it seemed expensive a few years ago when I looked ,I think there’s a smaller cheaper one now.

    I have an app on my iPad called funkbox which has models of all the old classic drum machines and it seems easy to work with .
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  • yorkioyorkio Frets: 173
    If using a Mac/PC then ezdrummer has an americana expansion. You can also use ezdrummer in stand alone mode without needing to go through a DAW
    Better than that - EZdrummer has a Traditional Country expansion set as well:

    https://www.toontrack.com/product/traditional-country-ezx/
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