What is a good drum machine for <$200

Question

Even though $200 is not gonna get me anything really good; I am looking for a drum machine that I can use as backup while I use an acoustic guitar.

I was looking at this:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--ZOMMRT3

(Zoom MRT3B Micro RhythmTrak Drum Machine)

but is there anything better than that (for the same price range)?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You&#039;re probably better off saving your money - write a drum track or general backing track in fruity loops (or whatever), then play it back on tape/mp3 player. This has the additional advantage of the fact you can add some additional orchestratation (synth string orchestra, a rthym guitar track, backing vocals)

If you&#039;re playing in a club or bar, master the track in stereo, so you can split it into two channels on the mixing desk -- then you can have a click track fed back to you through monitors/headphones on the left channel, counting you in, and the (mono) drum loop/backing track on the right side that the audience hear through the P.A.

This is very cheap solution, as you just need to get some pirate software or freeware like FLstudio or Garageband and I&#039;m sure it&#039;ll work effectively in small venues.

To do it really effectively, you&#039;d probably have to invest in a good pair of in-ear monitors.  This means that the audio track counts you in (unheard by the audience) so you can start apparently spontaneously, and you can have the backing track dip in and out, while you play along to the click track that the audience don&#039;t hear, and then it all comes back in perfect time. I&#039;ve seen these for about €200, so I imagine you&#039;ll be on the edge of your budget. You could do the same job fairly well with cheap studio-style cans, although this might detract from your onstage image, so try the technique with your cheap ipod earbuds before you invest in the expensive radio monitors.

I&#039;ve added a good link about moonitoring, and you should use the site to learn a bit about home recording.