 My two biggest
hobbies are playing guitar and messing with computers, so it was only a
matter of time before I put the two together. After buying Scott
Weiland's
Solo CD, I read in the booklet that he had used drum machines and beat
boxes in a majority of the songs. I had previously recorded myself
playing
guitar into the computer, but never with any accompaniment. The idea of
a beat box got me thinking, and I soon was on the internet checking out
different software programs that emulated different drum machines. In
the
past few years I've tried a dozen or so of these drum programs, and the
best ones I've found are listed here. Whether you want to record
yourself
into the computer with a background or just want a beat to play along
with,
these programs will all fair well. With time, you can re-create a lot
of
popular drum solos and patterns that sound a lot like the real song, so
you can take your guitar playing to another level without the need for
a drummer every time you want to play ;)
HammerHead : Homepage
: Screenshot
This is by far the easiest drum machine I have ever used, and it was
the first program I messed around with. You have 6 channels to use any
of the 29 samples and/or 6 loops in up to 8 measures. The Hammerhead
web
site also has a large list of user submitted samples in which you can
add
to your selection, but only 6 samples from a bank can be used at a time
(you can also create your own samples if you wish). You can also
distort,
reverse or add feedback to the samples your using, as well as change
the
tempo of the song. Another nice feature is the ability to stream to a
wav,
so you can create a .wav file by changing samples on the fly. Its very
simple to use, but is also limited for that reason. You can even run
this
software on a 486, so for those of you with old ass computers your in
luck.
If you've never messed with drum software, I suggest you start here.
Hey,
it's even free!
Hotstepper :
Homepage
: Screenshot
Hotstepper is more difficult to use than Hammerhead, but you do a lot
more with it. Unlike the 6 channels your limited to with Hammerhead,
here
you can use up to 12 simultaneously. Instead of 29 samples, you can
utilize
up to 60 and adding your own samples is easy as pie. Rather than the 8
measure limitation of Hammerhead, Hotstepper allows you 16 measures of
musical bliss. The features list goes on and on, but the most useful
are
the ability to change the pitch, volume, and channel (left/right) of
individual
notes.
You can also add echo or change the volume of entire samples if you
wish.
There is a sequencer included as well, so you can make dynamically
changing
patterns and play them back to you later or record the song as a .wav
file.
With all the features of Hotstepper, it sounds hard to use but its
really
not. Once you've gotten Hammerhead down, you'll be able to pick up
Hotstepper
without too much difficulty. I primarily use Hotstepper to make my
beats
now-a-days, so I would definitely recommend it to others.
Rebirth : Homepage
: Screenshot
Rebirth is probably the most advanced drum software I've ever used.
From the Rebirth web page: "The sounds of the TB-303, the TR-808 and
the
TR-909 drum machines form the backbone in every techno musician's
arsenal
of sonic weaponry. Unfortunately, owning any of those machines still
remains
a dream for most of us. They stopped manufacturing those awkward,
beautiful,
great sounding boxes over fifteen years ago. The handful of these
artifacts
still in existence are collector's items and would cost you an arm and
a leg." Most new techno bands like Crystal Method make use of these
types
of software programs, so if you really want to create some professional
sounding music check out Rebirth. This program is more pattern based
than
it is sample based, as you can change entire patterns on the fly rather
than individual samples. I would use Rebirth as my primary drum
machine,
but the sound I get from it is better suited for pure techno than for
rock
or metal. Check out the Rebirth web site for more info on the features
cause I'm not going to list them all. Let's just say you can do a lot.
The site also has some sample songs to download that were made from
this
software, so that's worth checking out too.
If your into making your own music with these
types of programs, let
me know if there is a drum machine I should check out. Just click on
the
contact link at the left, thanks!
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