Hi guys!
The Boss DR line has been around for decades and was specifically built with guitarists in mind. The trigger keys or buttons are arranged like strings on the fretboard, the succession of E A D G strings from bottom register up (like a bass). This means that you can fret the notes as you would on the guitar.
The keys or buttons are velocity controlled so the harder you hit the louder the drum sample sounds giving your drum track sequences a dynamic feel. The presets are abundant and can be augmented. There are hundreds of assignable kits.
Programming original drum tracks can be done real time by using the key pads or attaching a midi drum pad to the console. You can also program your original drum patters with a grid layout on the screen.
As for the bass feature, the velocity keys work the same way. The harder you punch the louder the bass gets. But its not just raising the volume because the bass sample actually was recorded with the dynamics of a person plucking the string harder, giving you the slight nuances of a bass clipping or popping.
The feature I like most about the DR880 is the ease of using the sequencer. You can jam to any key, any type of progression, style and tempo by minor adjustments with one finger. The Dr880 gives you countless variations on major, minor, 7ths and even augmented and diminished if you know how to work with modes and inversions.
Guitarists, you can jam countless hours on one rhythm track by just scrolling through progressions. It gives you a read out of what chord is being played and the other chords measures ahead.
ZXYZ wrote:I would like to find a drum machine that I could pound with sticks or fingers and it would correct any off-tempos, and go back and I could add fills, cymbals and hi-hat etc the same way quickly before I lose my original idea for the song that I'm working up. Too much to ask? Or too expen$ive..
With the quantize feature, the drums that you record live will be corrected to the time signatures you program in, and all beats fall into place. You then can save the new user patter and the add to it later. You can also ad ghost notes to ad the human factor to it making the pattern more natural.
Groove-in wrote:I am a "solo" musician, Piano, Drum machine, and vocals. I would like to know more about the Dr Rhythm 880, Bass accompliment. I now use an antiquated Yamaha drum Machine.(drums only).
I would like to have Bass Guitar, as well as, drums.
The bass accompaniment feature is fully programmable and can be triggered by the key pad or by a midi controller (keyboard). Like the drum samples, the bass guitar feature has abundant settings and you can choose anything from a standard to a fretless to a synth bass. You can record in real time.
Like I said, the built in guitar effects uses the same engine as the Roland VG processors using the COSM modeling.
This means that you can cut an acceptable demo just by using a guitar, the DR880, and a recorder anytime (usually, the best ideas come to me around 2am winding down from a day).
Check it out! This drum machine is quite popular and you can find it at Guitar Center and other retail stores. You should try it out and see if it is something you can work with. Its not too hard to use and it can be great for plug and play situations. You may want to spend more time with the manual or the included DvD to better understand the depths of the features.
Thanks for your time.
