# Simple drum machine



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

I'm just looking for ideas for a very simple to use drum machine, maybe like the SDrum or beat buddy. Something that is super simple to use for a "Non-Drummer".


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

A Digitech Trio might be up your alley.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

isoneedacoffee said:


> A Digitech Trio might be up your alley.


The Trio band creator looks interesting. But reading the reviews on the Long and McQuade site someone says that Digitech sold the company and the new owners aren't having anything to do with the pedals. So maybe not a good idea to invest in something with no support.



> I actually bought this a couple years back, played with it a little bit but never really got into learning all the options and then it sat on the shelf for months and years... Recent COVID lockdowns had me pulling it down and actually going through the manual, and this thing is an amazing practice tool. Lay down a simple chord progression / groove, select a genre and style of music and you can practicing lead and rhythmic elements to your heart's content – it doesn't get bored like the band . Only been playing with it again the past two weeks but can already see improvements in my lead playing.
> I don't think I've seen another pedal that does what this one does, so it really seems to be in a league of it's own. You could do Band in a box software, but that requires you program in the chords and stuff ahead of time, so is a lot more work, whereas this is very spur of the moment.
> Only sad part is lack of support, apparently the Digitech parent company got bought out by Harmon, and the whole Digitech department was axed . It's too bad as this is a very innovative product and it would have been fascinating to see what a 3rd generation model would have been capable of.


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

guitarman2 said:


> The Trio band creator looks interesting. But reading the reviews on the Long and McQuade site someone says that Digitech sold the company and the new owners aren't having anything to do with the pedals. So maybe not a good idea to invest in something with no support.


I wouldn't be put off by a lack of support for what many may now consider to be a pretty old pedal. In terms of functinality, it's really clear if you follow the instructions, and you have forums and videos for extra support. Digitech is a brand that I think is quite reliable. But if you're afraid of a defctive unit, don't buy used (although I would)... and buy from a place that has a store warranty.


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## CathodeRay (Jan 12, 2018)

One man's simple is another man's complex. I have a Trio+ and I love it, but I need to keep a cheat sheet beside me, it is not intuitive. But it will likely come up with a wider variety of beats than the Sdrum, because it gives you 200+ idea variations based on your riff, vs the Sdrum needing drum ideas from you to get started I believe. 

Depends on how much control you want, and how much you want to hand over to the Digitech gods. Eg I'm not going to attempt a good reggae beat, but the Trio will. 

I've recorded with the Trio several times and gotten feedback along the lines of, who's the (cool) drummer? Not hifi, but great humanish beats. The inner workings are by BandInABox.


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

Are you going to plug in headphones, run though a PA speaker or run through your guitar amp?


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Hammerhands said:


> Are you going to plug in headphones, run though a PA speaker or run through your guitar amp?


I've got a second guitar amp. I was thinking I'd start out with using that but eventually I'd like a small pa for home to run it through.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Boss RC10R is a good unit. It has a 2 channel looper integrated with a drum machine.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

If you have use of a computer you can go with EZ Drummer or Band-In-A-Box.


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

Boss Dr. rhythm 670 purchased in the Nineties and still used today for its great bass sound with Crumar MojoPedals (foot-operated) . Very old now, not recommended.

Boss Dr.3 purchased for back-up. Scorned by audio nerds but extremely easy to operate. Don't go too far over $100. You will likely outgrow this toy.

EZ Drummer. Your best bet by far if you can afford it. Very easy to program and excellent sound. Buy an additional six-pack and you are laughing. Requires a computer, but tracks could be exported to a phone or tablet for mobile use.


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## Abiguitar (May 28, 2009)

I picked up both a Digitech Trio+ and a BeatBuddy and ended up selling the Digitech Trio+. I found the BeatBuddy easier to use if you just need drums.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Maybe learn to play on a table-top set and record your own rhythm section. Some of those sets have many features:


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## BlueRocker (Jan 5, 2020)

Abiguitar said:


> I picked up both a Digitech Trio+ and a BeatBuddy and ended up selling the Digitech Trio+. I found the BeatBuddy easier to use if you just need drums.


This is my story as well. I found the Trio + extremely tricky to get the timing correct.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Abiguitar said:


> I picked up both a Digitech Trio+ and a BeatBuddy and ended up selling the Digitech Trio+. I found the BeatBuddy easier to use if you just need drums.


I'd really like bass lines as well. I suppose I could get the beat buddy and figure out an additional solution to get what I want.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

guitarman2 said:


> I'd really like bass lines as well. I suppose I could get the beat buddy and figure out an additional solution to get what I want.


If this is of any use to you, make me an offer. It's fully functional and collecting dust.


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## Abiguitar (May 28, 2009)

guitarman2 said:


> I'd really like bass lines as well. I suppose I could get the beat buddy and figure out an additional solution to get what I want.


Same. I've tried incorporating a loop pedal with the Beat Buddy and playing the bass lines with an octave pedal, but it hasn't really worked out so far.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Pedalboard Planner might help to map it out:


PedalboardPlanner.com - Plan your Perfect Guitar Pedal Board!


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

guitarman2 said:


> I'd really like bass lines as well. I suppose I could get the beat buddy and figure out an additional solution to get what I want.





Milkman said:


> If this is of any use to you, make me an offer. It's fully functional and collecting dust.
> 
> View attachment 398405


If you're looking for bass lines and a drum machine, it's hard to think of a better, simpler, solution than the Trio. I sold mine because I wasn't using it enough. 

Every time I'd want to use it, I again would have to remember how to operate it, so that was frustrating... but also revealing as it meant that I didn't care for it enough to keep. But, once you have the operations in your head, it's pretty simple. So if it becomes part of a semi-regular routine I think it would be a fabulous all-in-one solution for you.


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## g#m (Apr 12, 2021)

Alesis SR 16 can be found for less that $150 and, although dated, still has great drum sounds and the ability to program your own drum patterns.


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## g#m (Apr 12, 2021)

I had the Alesis SR 16 but sold it for the BeatBuddy as I thought it would be simpler and it is in a stomp pedal format - but now wish I still had the Alesis as, to me, it sounded better and I miss the ability to make my own simple drum patterns. So far, I don't dig searching all the genres for the right drum configuration on the BeatBuddy - and I need to get the footswitch which is way overpriced.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Milkman said:


> If this is of any use to you, make me an offer. It's fully functional and collecting dust.
> 
> View attachment 398405


Thanks for the offer. If I decide to go with the Trio I will definitely keep this in mind.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

g#m said:


> I had the Alesis SR 16 but sold it for the BeatBuddy as I thought it would be simpler and it is in a stomp pedal format - but now wish I still had the Alesis as, to me, it sounded better and I miss the ability to make my own simple drum patterns. So far, I don't dig searching all the genres for the right drum configuration on the BeatBuddy - and I need to get the footswitch which is way overpriced.


I was actually looking at the Alesis SR18 on the L&M site as it comes with bass as well. I'm not sure if it wouldn't be a bit too much of a learning curve for me though. I don't want to have to be a drummer in order to use it, as I'm not.


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## g#m (Apr 12, 2021)

guitarman2 said:


> I was actually looking at the Alesis SR18 on the L&M site as it comes with bass as well. I'm not sure if it wouldn't be a bit too much of a learning curve for me though. I don't want to have to be a drummer in order to use it, as I'm not.


It is one of those things that offers an incredible amount of depth for someone into programming, putting together actual drum sets from, what seems like, infinite options etc. However, my feeling is that you can still get value out of it (with presets and some simple programming) by using only a fraction of its power. 

It does take a bit of time to get oriented with it so it is maybe not as "plug and play" as other options. The drum sounds are great and authentic though.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I suggest the Beat Buddy. I also have the trio and it's a bit trickier to play. I really don't t care much for the bass of the trio. The beat buddy on the other hand is easy to use. I have a friend who uses it on his solo gigs with no bass and it does its job. The last recording we made, our scratch track contained the vocals/sax, guitar and the beat buddy. Using it that way we didn't have to record using a metronome. Which then everyone used when we were recording our parts. I have the small version.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

MT Power Drum Kit is a free download that works in Reaper. It has a lot of good grooves and you could just fire it off through an amp as a backing for home use but to record it and get the fills in the right place is a lot of work.

I prefer a pedal that you can just step on and place the fills as you go.


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

You could get midi drum loops to use with a drum machine. The bass you would need to make up.

Maybe a little synth keyboard.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Wardo said:


> MT Power Drum Kit is a free download that works in Reaper. It has a lot of good grooves and you could just fire it off through an amp as a backing for home use but to record it and get the fills in the right place is a lot of work.
> 
> I prefer a pedal that you can just step on and place the fills as you go.


Thanks for that. I downloaded it and have installed in the VST folder of reaper. Been playing with it tonight.
Building a song with it is a bit of work but relatively easy. I recorded a little demo with a groove, some rhythm guitar and a lead track, then added a track with the octaver from my harmony man2 for the bass. All in all it worked out well but I think now I'll get my self a bass guitar and record it direct in to the interface. This might be the ticket for me and it didn't cost me a dime. Well except for the bass guitar I'll have to buy.


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

guitarman2 said:


> Thanks for that. I downloaded it and have installed in the VST folder of reaper. Been playing with it tonight.
> Building a song with it is a bit of work but relatively easy. I recorded a little demo with a groove, some rhythm guitar and a lead track, then added a track with the octaver from my harmony man2 for the bass. All in all it worked out well but I think now I'll get my self a bass guitar and record it direct in to the interface. This might be the ticket for me and it didn't cost me a dime. Well except for the bass guitar I'll have to buy.


I can save you some money as well. You don't need a bass guitar if you have a good pitch shifting plugin and the best free one I"ve found is one called Pitchproof available here:
Pitchproof: Pitch Shifter Harmonizer Specs - Aegean Music
You can also use it as a harmonizer and a guitar tuner. Unlike other free pitch oriented plugins this has very low latency. For the finishing touch to make your shifted signal sound even more like a real bass check out this free bass amp plugin called Bass Deluxe:
Lostin70s Audio 
This has a really nice tone to it. Check out the videos on the website. You didn't mention what OS you were running but both of these plugins are avalable for both Mac and Windows.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

I sampled a few when I was looking.
I liked the realism of the Beat Buddy so that was the one I got.
Got the Yamaha upgrade kit and that made it even better.
Haven't used it in a while though so I should probably break it out.


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## CathodeRay (Jan 12, 2018)

BlueRocker said:


> This is my story as well. I found the Trio + extremely tricky to get the timing correct.


Do you mean the drumming style you were imagining, or literally the timing? I've found the Trio really accurate re timing.


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## BlueRocker (Jan 5, 2020)

CathodeRay said:


> Do you mean the drumming style you were imagining, or literally the timing? I've found the Trio really accurate re timing.


It was the "me" part of using the looper, getting out at the correct place. It gave interesting results, but ultimately I wanted something simpler.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Loopers really need some sort of visual feedback to assist with user precision. Not sure what form it should take, since loops can vary considerably in length and "looseness".

Fifteen years ago, I nudged Line 6 to alter the tap tempo indicator on their Liqui-Flange pedal. Most tap-tempo-enabled pedals manage fairly short inter-tap intervals, whether it be tremolo speed, chorus, or delay time. Flangers and phasers, though, will often be set to much longer sweep times, well out to 10 seconds. For that first category of effects, a simple LED blip is sufficient to indicate rate, and one can coordinate the tempo of the effect by watching the blip and tapping to make it slower or faster. When the sweep cycle could be well over 4 seconds, waiting for a single LED blip to let you know where you are with respect to possible speed provides insufficient feedback to the user.

When I registered my concern, it was already too late in the production cycle to change the physical layout of the pedal to have, say, a sort of LED "pendulum". But the solution they came up with was reasonably effective, and only required some programming. The LED essentially "stepped" through ten levels of brightness, from very dim to bright, that could indicate where you were in the overall sweep cycle. So, if you wanted it a little faster, you'd tap a second time before it got to the brightest step, and so on.

With loopers, the loop length can be well beyond 10 seconds. The headstart any user has is that they can *hear* where the loop, whether just drums, or any other combination of sources, is at. But I suspect we also need some sort of "countdown" to sync to. So, something like 4 successive LED blips, a half second apart, until the end of the loop, would let a person visually and mentally sync and step on the appropriate foot switch more precisely.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

mhammer said:


> Loopers really need some sort of visual feedback to assist with user precision. Not sure what form it should take, since loops can vary considerably in length and "looseness".


I believe the Headrush will do that for you


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## Parabola (Oct 22, 2021)

Late to the conversation but here’s my experience…

Had the Trio and didn’t like it as you have to work with whatever it spits out, It didn’t offer me enough control.

I ended up getting a SDrum which really let me dial in my own drum parts, and string together a pretty good progression. Now where the strong part is…I found a couple of cheap used Jamman loopers, the SDrum is designed to sync with the loopers via a cable, so you can layer a rhythm track over the drums, add fills etc. it sounds complicated, but is very intuitive and simp to use, and I get all the flexibility I want.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

If you want simple, the Mini Beat Buddy is the way to go. Its basic, gets the job done and a great tool to jam with. I have been working with one for over 3 years and recording basic back tracks. Even have played live with bass pl;ayer keyboard and guitar. Best of luck


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

As already mentioned, I too have both the Trio and the mini Beatbuddy. Beatbuddy is the one I use all the time. It's really easy and fun to use. It's got enough beats in it to pretty much play any song.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

guitarman2 said:


> I'm just looking for ideas for a very simple to use drum machine, maybe like the SDrum or beat buddy. Something that is super simple to use for a "Non-Drummer".


I’m pretty sure you have a DAW and home studio, right? I am using IK Multimedia’s drums called MODO drums IK Multimedia - MODO DRUM

I have also got Steven Slate Drums (which is quite complex). Modo is very easy to use and very full featured. If you just want something to jam with you could run it through your monitors while you play. You’ll end up using it for recordings sooner or later.


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## CathodeRay (Jan 12, 2018)

BlueRocker said:


> It was the "me" part of using the looper, getting out at the correct place. It gave interesting results, but ultimately I wanted something simpler.


That's odd. The Trio+ looper counts you in and exits out automatically, hands free foot free looping and compensates for timing irregularities as well. One of the main reasons I love it.


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## PTO (12 mo ago)

g#m said:


> Alesis SR 16 can be found for less that $150 and, although dated, still has great drum sounds and the ability to program your own drum patterns.


I used to have the SR16 and liked it for “natural” sounds to go along with acoustic or clean arrangements. It’s dated but was also enough of a standard that it’s a bit of a classic.


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## Parabola (Oct 22, 2021)

CathodeRay said:


> That's odd. The Trio+ looper counts you in and exits out automatically, hands free foot free looping and compensates for timing irregularities as well. One of the main reasons I love it.


I had both the Trio and Trio + and just couldn’t get the hang of it either, despite watching a bunch of tutorials. Maybe I just was connecting with the tech or interface. I did end up going with a SDrum and Jam man looper with the syncing, and love it, so maybe less was more for me. In either case, Digitech is pretty forward thinking or at least was before Tom Cramm left.


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## isoneedacoffee (Oct 31, 2014)

Whether this drum machine is simple or not is in the eye of the beholder... but it's quite something to behold:


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