Do you gig with a drum machine?

Sable

Member
I'd like to start tinkering with a drum machine, but I'd like some advice from those of you with experience using one. How do you adjust your playing when a song has both a drum machine and a live drummer? What kinds of things are easier/harder? I've heard a lot of recordings that have the machine playing during the verses and the drummer come in only during choruses - is this effective in a live situation as well?

Also, any advice on which brands/models are dependable and affordable (I'll be shopping for used gear) would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
 
If you have any kind of machine or sequencer on stage, then you need a constant click to lock into.

You don't just program a pattern, and hit start and stop on the machine during the song, you program out the entire song.

There are a number of ways to do this, depending on your needs.

I've run just a machine giving me a click, with no sound going out.

I've had keyboard player who had sequences, so I ran a midi cable from her keyboard to my drum machine, and set my machine to be a "slave" to her keyboard, so when she started a sequence, it turned on my machine to give me a click.

I've also had numerous loops and sequencers, but in those cases, I assembled it all in my digital audio workstation (DAW) and made a stereo track, which I dumped down to a DAT player (although now I might be tempted to just use an ipod).

One side has a click and some of the music, the rest of the music is panned to the other side with no click. The side with the music and no click goes out to the house PA for the audience to hear, while the side with the click is routed to a headphone amp and my headphones.

If you really want to get fancy, you bring a multi-track DAW on stage with you.

You could the same thing with any drum machine, just program out the entire song, which a click panned to one side, and the drum machine parts panned to the side.
It would take some additional time to program it all, but any drum machine could do it.
 
Getting the whole band to play to a click track is complex and takes lots of practice. You will have no room for improvisation or mistakes. If your guitar player loses track of where he is in a solo or just wants to drag out the ending, there is no way if you play to a drum machine.

However, we did figure out how to trigger a drum module to add extra whumf to the kick. That was cool.
 
I'd like to start tinkering with a drum machine, but I'd like some advice from those of you with experience using one. How do you adjust your playing when a song has both a drum machine and a live drummer? What kinds of things are easier/harder? I've heard a lot of recordings that have the machine playing during the verses and the drummer come in only during choruses - is this effective in a live situation as well?

Also, any advice on which brands/models are dependable and affordable (I'll be shopping for used gear) would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

As far as the sitting out and letting the drum machine play in verses, etc, you will find that most artists that record like that still have the drummer play the verses when playing live. There are a lot of people who are going to be turned off if you are just sitting there while a drum beat magically plays.

I have a friend who leads a band in our area. They are a trio (lead guitar, vox and rhythm, electronic drums), and use midi for bass, keys, strings, horns, etc. The good news is that they can do more complex songs total justice. The bad news is that they look retarded all standing around at the start of a song like Jump, by Van Halen, where it's just keys. Because of being a trio, they get more money per gig than a bigger band...but there are also a lot of venues who won't book them, or will only book them at a reduced rate, because (to quote one bar owner) it's kind of like hiring a DJ.
 
i only used a drum machine/sequencer to program stuff like handclaps, congas, bongos, cowbell, etc., but never used it to supplant or add to my kit sound. i only have TWO hands and TWO feet.
 
I might be the only drummer in the country who does a single. It's all digital & I have learned so much from doing it. People love it. 1 beat = lots of tunes so my library is gigantic. I have found that drummers ar the very best prospects for a single. They can be so dynamic.After all what people want is music & a show & drummers can supply both so well.You can play with any band you want until you perfect their style. You could take your equipment into the bigest auditorium plug your little v drums & computer in their huge PA system.& bring down the house. Before you laugh about this check me out on you tube. search "Joe Joker Newberry"
 
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