Which drum machine pedal do you recommend?

[srick]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

She'll hear the sound of it sneaking out. Just tell her "It's my Boss."

That’s pretty funny Brent!

Well, this A.M. I got to unbox my new Boss DRS-01. I am not prone to gush about gear, but I like this box more than just about any pedal or metronome, etc. that I have ever purchased. It’s head and shoulders above the countless iPad apps I have tried. The drum machine is extremely well designed and it is clearly aimed at the acoustic musician. Since I was splurging, and only intended on sneaking in one box, I purchased the Boss foot pedal and a Sweetwater cable.

I want to give a shout out to Sweetwater. This company kills you with kindness, a good price, and then they throw in a bag of candy into the box, too. I am sure that sometime today I will get a follow up call from one of their reps asking how things were going. In 2020, it’s just hard to get used to being treated nicely!<LOL> Their house brand cable is very nicely constructed (time will tell), but the really nice thing about it are the multiple Velcro ties that it comes with. It’s just one of those little touches that makes you a little happier with the purchase.

The pedal is not only used for switching modes and on\off, but also can be used as a high hat cymbal (ie. Tap the left pedal and you have the sound). As the day goes on, I’m sure I’ll figure out a few more uses for it.

When I first saw the physical design online, I thought, “Well that’s a strange beast,” but the controls are very well laid out, and thankfully the buttons are dedicated buttons. I have used too many boxes where the buttons serve multiple uses or functions require combination presses - honestly, that’s more than this old brain can deal with at times. So this retro design work pretty darn well.

The clarity and accuracy of the recorded percussion is excellent . I have no idea of how many modes there are on this thing, but they all sound organic. Again, head and shoulders above the iPhone apps.

The timing LED is perfect. It flashes red on the beat and green on the quarters. The light is shaped like a crescent and behind a grill - highly visible and not annoying. It’s a silly little touch that adds to the whole.

I’m going to be playing with this gadget throughout the day. And maybe because it’s Valentine’s Day, but I am feeling a wee bit of affection for my purchase .
And now I am off to play. More to come as I explore the possibilities. So much nicer than playing with a metronome!

[JackB1]

Sounds good! Any plans to use this live or will it just be used as a home practice/jamming tool?

Originally Posted by srick

That’s pretty funny Brent!

Well, this A.M. I got to unbox my new Boss DRS-01. I am not prone to gush about gear, but I like this box more than just about any pedal or metronome, etc. that I have ever purchased. It’s head and shoulders above the countless iPad apps I have tried. The drum machine is extremely well designed and it is clearly aimed at the acoustic musician. Since I was splurging, and only intended on sneaking in one box, I purchased the Boss foot pedal and a Sweetwater cable.

I want to give a shout out to Sweetwater. This company kills you with kindness, a good price, and then they throw in a bag of candy into the box, too. I am sure that sometime today I will get a follow up call from one of their reps asking how things were going. In 2020, it’s just hard to get used to being treated nicely!<LOL> Their house brand cable is very nicely constructed (time will tell), but the really nice thing about it are the multiple Velcro ties that it comes with. It’s just one of those little touches that makes you a little happier with the purchase.

The pedal is not only used for switching modes and on\off, but also can be used as a high hat cymbal (ie. Tap the left pedal and you have the sound). As the day goes on, I’m sure I’ll figure out a few more uses for it.

When I first saw the physical design online, I thought, “Well that’s a strange beast,” but the controls are very well laid out, and thankfully the buttons are dedicated buttons. I have used too many boxes where the buttons serve multiple uses or functions require combination presses - honestly, that’s more than this old brain can deal with at times. So this retro design work pretty darn well.

The clarity and accuracy of the recorded percussion is excellent . I have no idea of how many modes there are on this thing, but they all sound organic. Again, head and shoulders above the iPhone apps.

The timing LED is perfect. It flashes red on the beat and green on the quarters. The light is shaped like a crescent and behind a grill - highly visible and not annoying. It’s a silly little touch that adds to the whole.

I’m going to be playing with this gadget throughout the day. And maybe because it’s Valentine’s Day, but I am feeling a wee bit of affection for my purchase .
And now I am off to play. More to come as I explore the possibilities. So much nicer than playing with a metronome!

[capefisherman]

Been using mine while gigging for about a year now and I consider it a vital part of my equipment. Run through a good quality amp or PA it sounds identical to someone playing congas, cajon and other Latin percussion instruments. I've found that in performance - as with most devices - using it sparingly and at about 1/2 - 2/3 the volume of your guitar gives the most natural sound and mix. I get a kick out of starting it after a couple tunes (I play almost entirely instrumentals) and watching the people in the cafe where I play every week start tapping their feet, even if they are not paying close attention to what I'm playing. And as you said, and I've mentioned here before, it is a very "organic" sound compared to all other drum machines out there.

My only two complaints are (using the foot pedal, an absolute requirement in performance) when using one of the "favorites" functions that you program yourself the fade function does not work as it does on the pre-sets. Also, there are no presets that have a syncopated beat so you will need to experiment with turning off various instruments to get to something that resembles syncopation.

If you use it while also using a looper, you'd better be darn good at starting and stopping the looper at exactly the right moment or the two devices kind of go their own way, NOT good! But of course that is operator error, not the fault of the devices.

When people comment on my DR-01 I always tell them it's the perfect drummer: it doesn't get drunk or play too loud and lose the beat, it always shows up on time, it doesn't noodle endlessly between songs, it doesn't hustle your wife or girlfriend, and you only have to pay it once! ;~)

Gene

capecodacoustics.com

[uriah1]

I have about 4. Using Roland now but. also
the 2 diff logs , another can't recall and the hockey
puck. The hockey puck from Austrailia was really good
and bassey. and easy..
(the puck I had special xlr version) and convert all
others to xlr.

oops not machines, just drums..I have beat buddy but
too much work to program for gigs..I just wing live..

[srick]

Originally Posted by JackB1

Sounds good! Any plans to use this live or will it just be used as a home practice/jamming tool?

For now, solo\practice.

So thoughts on using it today:

1) It's much more enjoyable to play with a drum track than a metronome.
2) I really like the LED flash coupled with a measure counter (4 measures - I'm sure it can be tweaked if I want to)
3) Glad I got the foot pedal. It's extremely programmable.
4) Out of the box, most of what you need is pre-programmed
5) Check out the Pattern List on the Boss support site. This is a great guide to the styles and beats in the drum machine and it's a lot more efficient than just scrolling through.

Should be a fun weekend!