How to Use a Drum Machine

There’s a bumper sticker going around that says: Drum Machines Have No Soul. Not true. Yeah, they’re not as organic as natural drums, but these days drum machines can do a lot more than ever before. The soul of a drum machine relies on the skill of the programmer.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Drum machine
• Multi-track recorder

1. Find your drum machine. Choose a drum machine that has a fair number of pre-recorded patterns, as well as ample memory storage for creating both new drum parts and entire songs. You also want the ability to edit individual sounds—like setting the EQ and reverb for the snare apart from the bass drum. These can either be software-based or free-standing hardware.
2. Set the tempo and the meter. The most common tempo is 120 bpm at 4/4 time.
3. Set the drum sound. The advantage of a software drum machine is that you can change a drum sound after the song has been recorded. This is not always the case with hardware drum machines. Spend some time setting the drum sound just as if you were setting the drum sounds of an acoustic set. Samplers make it easier to set realistic drum sounds using a digital interface.
4. Use loops (step time programming) or record your own tracks (real time programming). If you’re using a software drum machine, you’re going to need a drum trigger—usually a Midi Controller—to play drum parts. A hardware drum machine will have pads to play drum parts with your fingers. Some drum machines will have larger pads that can be played with sticks. It is possible to program a hardware drum machine via software if it has midi compatibility, though this depends a lot on the type of hardware and software.
5. Determine the length for each part of the song—verse, chorus, etc.—as well as the best beat for each part. You can also add drum fills using pre-recorded loops or your own recorded pattern. Splice these patterns together into an entire song.

Tips & Warnings

• It can be difficult to play drums just using your fingers or playing on a keyboard. If you’re a one-man band, record the guitar part first and then play the drums to the guitar, rather than the other way around.
• If possible, quantize the drumming—a process which fixes a drum beat played in real time if your playing is slightly off the measure.
• Use strange-sounding beats to your advantage. A drum machine can play beats that would be impossible for human arms. Get creative with everything the drum machine can do.
• Instead of splicing a drum part together as a whole song, you can record different drum parts on different tracks—if your DAW or multi-track recorder can handle a number of tracks at once.