siamesedream wrote:I'm having no luck at all find a band, let alone people to jam with, so I'm moving on to a new project. I need to get a drum machine, and I know nothing at all about them, so I need some advice on what I should be looking for. I want to go for a melodic industrial sound. Advice please.
Brandon
This is basically what happened to me too years ago, finding a band was tough but all this music needed to come out. Have you considered building yourself a nice DAW? I use to have the SR16, but around the turn of the century I went from a hard disk recorder to using my pc. Now I'm basically unlimited in my writing and playing. You can hear some songs at my page and in the interview section you can read what I use.
http://www.soundclick.com/eminantdomain
Some notes after making the changeover...first most drum machines sound like drum machines, I always figured that it was just temporary until I found a drummer, but in reality even if I did find a drummer to play the drum parts on my songs the logistics would be costly and difficult (having a place to mic a kit, having a large enough board and having decent mics).
I discovered Drumkit from hell...it comes in small, medium and large to put it simple...DFH 1&2 (small around 100-125 bux), EZ Drummer (medium, but I'm not sure of the price) and DFH Superior (Large, 35 gig of samples, not loops..about 300 bux)...I have DFH 1 and Superior...Superior is quite amazing (can be heard on my songs Azimuth and Aint got much to say).
You'll need a decent host and a good soundcard...a really good forum for such is KvR (
http://www.kvraudio.com/ ) you'll get a lot of help there in choosing. Basically you can start at about 50 bux or spend a fortune. But there are many apps in between and you'll find yourself addicted quickly I'm sure. I would suggest getting the demo for Energy xt (eXT), which can be found on their forum on KvR (just scroll down the list of forums)..it's a great host at 50 bux, if you go to a more expensive host it will work with them nicely..if you read my list of gear you will see I have invested a lot.
At a turning point in my life, doing my own thing was the best thing that has ever happened for my music. Sure my wife would like to have a livingroom again, but we are getting use to our living room being a studio. One of the best parts is you just keep learning new things and saying "wow"...and it never stops. Developers are coming up with new things so fast it's awesome...many free (not cracked, freeware). I can't say enough about how much fun I have and how much I've learned. IMO learning is the greatest gift of all and when you start off in a new direction so many new doors get opened up for you. I am willing to help anyone out on such endeavors, so don't be afraid to ask....or stop by KvR which has over 100k users and some really great minds (I'm a well known regular there, so don't hesitate to ask questions).
FWIW I did not get my first computer until this century and only four songs on my page were done on my pc (I have way too many "close to finished" songs, but I need a better singer than me)...besides the two mentioned "The Whisper" and "Pour me another" are the other two...the rest are songs with an Alesis Sr 16 so you can compare the two (The Whisper and Pour me another are DFH1 not DFH superior). So this shows that anyone can learn how.
Obviously you have a pc, so why not give some demos a try....
