Choosing drum machine and other stuff for oldschool sounds

[Drooper]

Hi guys, firstly I'd like to say hi to You, it's my first post here 
I'm a proud owner of Microbrute for a few months now and I'm in love with it, but to be honest I'm looking forward to expanding my gear. Basically I'm trying to choose right drum machine, which is quite difficult for synth noob like me. I'm inspired by some oldschool sounds with slow/dark/drone bass and simple melodies, for example Hotline Miami OST (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWTbo5muJ_Q).
I'd love to have drum machine that would fit such atmosphere. I've tried creating some loops with FL Studio, but it doesn't sound right to me. I'd also love to loop some tracks to jam to them, but I'm not sure what should I have - looper, sequencer, drum machine with sequencer or maybe another synth?  In other words - I want to program drum pattern, then add bass track and finally program some leads or just jam with created backing track. At the moment I own Microbrute, TC Electronics M350 rack processor (delay/reverb/etc.) and Roland Tri-Capture interface. What should I get and then - how to connect it all together? Yeah, I'm really confused, synth world seems to be much more complex than I've previously thought Sorry if my questions are dumb, but I've read tons of threads so far and still don't understand many things, and what i more - there are nearly no threads/articles on such topics in my native language, which makes everything much more complicated  Of course I'm looking for user-friendly equipment, as complete noob I need something easy to use, without tons of options to choose on tiny screen.
And the last and most important thing - budget!  To be honest I need to find something rather cheap, but not garbage. I'm aiming at used stuff with possibly best value for money.
I'd be grateful for every advise from You guys, but please try to explain everything as simple as possible so I can understand this complicated (but beautiful) world of synths 
Cheers!

[dog01]

Hi Drooper

Here is a short list of some possible ideas for drum machines


Akai XR20 Drum machine pros  great drum engine battery powered good midi sequencer decent size screen

cons is a little tricky to use, learning curve can't load own samples.  check out some YouTube tutorials to see workflow 


BOSS DR3 DR RHYTHM DRUM MACHINE(cheap don't know much else)


Korg volca beats pros cheap fun small analogue   

cons snare not great. no swings no midi out  no accents limited sound editing


Korg volca sampler pros swing, versatile, fun sequencer

cons harder to use then other volcas, 3 megabytes of memory limit. no midi out


Pocket Operator PO12. pros small fun great sounds sync with volcas 

cons battery powered only, hard to find no midi, fragile (breaks easy)   


Artuira beast step pro.  pros 3 track sequencer midi and cv sequencer usb powered, 64 step sequencer, nice pads midi controller, easy to use

cons only 3 track sequencer, 2 mono sequencers, 1 poly sequencer, some timing issues controller mode is buggy knobs are not very accurate for finer operation
       

Akai mpx8 facts  sample player comes with drum samples pre loaded can load on sample on sd card and has 8 poly. pros cheap, easy to use, usb powered, nice pads 

cons sd card samples playback can is tricky and does not always work. midi in is fixed to midi channel 10 can't be changed, only reverb no effect no sample editing.
 

Artuira spark software really deep drum machine

cons software only


regards Dog01

[dog01]

also not so cheap but really good MFB Tanzmaus - Analogue Drumcomputer - Drum Machine

[Karamba]

I'm using an AKAI MPC Renaissance and it's perfect for linking everything and being a Drum Machine at the same time.
http://www.akaipro.com/product/mpcrenaissance
It will link all your MIDI instruments, Has an AUDIO interface, Has 16 pads for drumming and act as a sampler and a MIDI controller too. You won't have to buy anymore gear after that so while maybe a bit over your budget to start with it will end up being much cheaper on the long run.
For your drums you can drag and drop sounds from any kit on the pads in the software and play them right away.

[Drooper]

Hi!
Thanks for replies 
I've just found auction with Volca set (Bass, Keys, Beats). Is it worth buying? The pice is about 300 euro/330 $ which seems to be rather cheap. As far as I've learned Volcas can't be synced via MIDI, so getting them to work together is a bit more difficult, but I've seen many many videos where people successfully play them in sync. How hard is it? Please advise!

[dog01]

hmmm i have the volca keys great little decive wished it had midi out as i really like the sequncer ...the vocas sync great with other volcas and if your using just one volca at a time they it can be sync to midi clock there sync is a pain when trying to sync with other gear only a few things work well with it from my experince the keystep...korg sq1pokect opperates but in theory you should be able to go midi out to a midi thru and then sync the volcas that way...check out this http://forum.arturia.com/index.php?topic=87458.0 as they have diagrams and heaps on info on them.

[nashspacerocket]

i have a bunch of mixed gear midi/cv.
the korg stuff coming out now is fantastic, as you can use it as a bridge between non midi and midi. it breathes new life into old vintage stuff.
Another thing which is great is the redsound beat extractor, just send a pulse to it's input and it will output midi clock.
what i'm  saying here is you don't need a drum machine with midi out, any old one with a +5v pulse sync out can now be integrated into a modern  setup.

i  created two youtube vids to show midi/non-midi sync options sync.

vid 1 = boss dr-55 -> korq sq-1 -> midi -> korg volca bass
                                                -> cv    -> roland SH-09
microbrute played live


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkTrNPiuQ38


vid 2 - Boss dr-55 -> PO-16 pocket operator
                            -> korg volca bass


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSYkxgz1PGY

[BodoBrute]

Korg volca beats [...]
cons snare not great.

Just a short comment concerning the snare sound:
Adding the missing capacitor (C78) is a 5 minute solder job. You can even use a common (i.e. tth) capacitor, that's what I did with mine  .

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2014/05/03/korg-volca-beats-snare-distortion-a-manufacturing-problem/