Top 5 Drum Machines Under $500 | Alamo Music Center

5. Korg Volca Beats (3:26 / demo sounds at 5:21)
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4. Roland TR-08 (11:08 / demo sounds at 12:52)
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3. Arturia Drumbrute (19:00 / demo sounds at 21:43)
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2. Behringer RD-8 (27:45 / demo sounds at 30:14)
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1. Drumbrute Impact (36:48 / demo sounds at 38:22)
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Many of us over at Alamo Music Center started our musical journey through the exploration of rhythm-- its a formative experience where one can understand the building blocks of music creation. These 5 drum machines aim to bring that experience to an affordable price point, while providing extremely high quality in sound and build. Some of these choices are digital and some are analog; some are recreations of classic rhythm machines and some are wholly original. Check out our list and shop our store to pick up the right drum machine for you today!

[@RandomNoiseMusic]

I just got the Drumbrute Impact recently and absolutely loving it!

[@JoeChrist34]

I'm thinking about getting one myself. Do you play a synth or any other instruments with it? Because I currently own an Arturia Minifreak that I absolutely love and an MPC but I find it rather a drag building a drum pattern with samples and such in the MPC. So I was wondering, if you do have any synth, is there a way to program your drum sequences to say coincide with a key press of your synth and vice versa? I've seen some videos where this actually seems possible but haven't received a definitive answer yet. Anyway, hoping you or anyone who reads this could inform me on the issue. Anyway, all the best and Arturia rocks!

[@ben-uc1ud]

@@JoeChrist34 bump!

[@cravensean]

I felt a little let down until I ran the kick drum through reverb and used the sequencer to run an Alesis DM-7 and now it's one of my favorite instruments to play.

[@fxaarchable]

Beat Buddy

[@GullySyde28]

always enjoy your breakdowns Salute from Australia Alamo Music Lab

[@DJMikeron]

I prefer the behringer good sound and good looks,and the price is excellent

[@mattkaz9604]

He is like the Rick Moranis of drum machines.

[@EnterShikari777]

I was thinking Michael Cera

[@chandeleerjet5637]

Drum Brute impact has the best unique sound and tone. Especially for punchier drums. I have so many 808 drum machine samples and they sound much better than the remakes so Id rather take something completely new and analog. Will get this and Perkons HD01

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

I used a DAW called Reason its oldest drum machine is bassed off of Roland drum machines such as Tr 707 and 808. I have a few Physical sythersizors, pedals and a small mixer, and all I want to complete My Dawless rig is a drum machine and Bahringer is probably going to do the job.

[@stephenstrang590]

Can you provide the components of this rig? I'm very curious.

[@trevorwarner6081]

Behringer is German technology so it’s good.

[@irife2771]

Its a tad more but I got an AKAI force for around $700 in mint condition a few weeks ago and its wild what you can get for under $1000 these days.

[@MatteaMazzella]

love your in depth insights and demonstrations! keep up the excellent work ♥︎

[@Swoop187OG187]

They're all great.... I like that Roland TR-08 tho..... I'm making synthwave and I need something - I'll probably buy all 3 lol..... I grew up in a recording studio so..... And now my parents want to make synthwave, lol (they really dig it)...... All 3 sound awesome and have their own "sound" - I'll just get all of them lol..... Ebay right now, lol......

[@truthbydesign5146]

Behringer RD-8 was very tempting at first, but it’s so much desk real-estate to give up for such a limited sound set .. I guess we’ve been spoiled by functional density in modern devices. The Behringer Edge, on the other hand… that’s a bit harder to resist.

[@SomeOne-pd6vm]

the behringer edge is just a dfam ripoff

[@truthbydesign5146]

@@SomeOne-pd6vm Just as the crave is a mother-32 ripoff. I’m tempted to get both. They’d be nice, affordable alternatives and a decent holdover until I have Moog money saved up.

[@zbnmth]

what behringer Edge, it hasn't come out yet :o)

[@pavkey88]

Thank you. Great video

[@jjdekay6969]

I have 3/5 of these now..........................would be cool to see a revisit of this topic using the same criteria in 2022

[@erikanygma4524]

i got a used acidlab miami for 500 bucks easy choice, but from that video the drumbrutes i really would try

[@mikemeengs5720]

Omitting the Volca Drum was a big oversight, IMO. My Drumbrute sits in the corner, but my Drum gets used daily!

[@siniquezu]

He literally says volca drums at 3:35

[@strykermoonfall2220]

The Behringer sounds best by far, imo

[@Powhart]

7:00 - a lot of knob turning to achieve absolutely nothing xD

[@jammer777]

Why do none of these modern drum machines have any classic sounding acoustic drum kits?

[@DatasetDesign]

They never sound great. No acoustic guitar can be replicated by an electric. PCM samples become very stale sounding. Embrace the machine. When you want real drums, get on fiverr and pay a drummer to play them. Or, pay them to hit each drum 20 times in different ways and sample it into a kit on the MPC. It'll always sound better than a PCM drum machine.

[@johnthebigtree]

Check out the alesis SR18 for that

[@crhkrebs]

@@DatasetDesign you do understand that none of the drums in this video are PCM based digital drums, right? The Roland is analogue modelled and the rest are analogue drum machines. And why do you think an electric guitar’s job is to replicate the sound of an acoustic guitar?

[@jdjk7]

because none of these are sample based..? A look at any of the items in this list will tell you that they are all either analog or analog emulations, and it's very hard if not impossible to get acoustic drum noises out of analog machines. If you want acoustic drums you will need a sample based machine.

[@thegreatsiberianitch]

@@DatasetDesign agreed, let the machine be the machine. Some old Alesis machines have "real" drum kit presets but they sound like a caca.

[@ozybrks]

I sold my drumbrute, because the snare sound. I tried everything to sound better, but it wasn't help. plus it was noisy as hell.

[@SimonEkendahl]

I had the same issue, all the noise-based sounds sounded horrible. But a while later I read on Arturias website that a ton of Drumbrutes had been shipped with faulty sound chips, making snare, clap, hats etc sound like shit. Anyway you could send your faulty unit back to them for free and get the chip replaced, wich is what I dit. I live in Sweden and sent it to arturia in France on a monday and I got it delivered back to my door thursday evening the same week.

[@CatmanJimbo]

@@SimonEkendahl how does it sound after the fix? Are you liking it?

[@SimonEkendahl]

@@CatmanJimbo It sounds really great now. I am perticularly fond of the percussions, love the tamburin sound. It's a great drum machine for techno, wich is what I mainly use it for. Superb sequencer wich I sometimes use to trigger a Nord Drum unit with. You also have seperate 3.5mm outs for every channel on the back. I've sampled all the sounds straight into my Digitakt, let me know if you want them! And again I must give praise to Arturia for sorting this out for me so quickly. Got immediate response to my email and within a week they had it fixed in france and sent back to sweden. Not a penny spent. On top of that, I got a few gifts for the inconvenience; a t-shirt with a Buchla Easel print, a keychain shaped like a Buchla Easel, and a tote bag with a Easel print on one side and Arturia logo on the other, I use that and the keychain everyday and its real proper quality stuff.

[@JohnLozo]

No mention of the Model Cycles or Samples? Some of these are more expensive than those two and I don’t think any of these have parameter lock/automation, and at $299 that’s pretty hard to beat against both of them. Still, a fantastic vid :)

[@KunchangLeeMusic]

Sorry I’m new to drum machines what is parameter lock ?

[@meldmagic]

@@KunchangLeeMusic 🤠 This feature on Elektron machines allows you to alter settings such as eq, reverb, filters, overdrive, changes to the envelopes, etc. for EACH note or hit in a sequence pattern, making it awesome for sound design. Normally, on other machines you would have to use MIDI control to automate these parameters, and depending on the device, you are limited to what you can actually control via MIDI or LFO. If you're making intelligent drum n bass or psychedelic trance, the Elektron would be ideal for its modulation possibilities. If you're making standard dance/disco & just need simple beats, then you don't need the Elektron. Of course, all this pertains to live performance uses. If you're constructing music in a DAW, you are not limited in any way whatsoever.

[@mikemeengs5720]

Volca Drum can do it too!

[@RumbleFish69]

To answer your conundrum, no pun intended...Okay, a little pun was intended. But Arturia can offer these machines at these low price-points because the components, chips, diodes, etc, are all much cheaper today than in the days when Linn, Korg and Roland were the kings of drum machines. Today, parts come very cheap and China seems to be the leader in what now seem to be throwaway components. So, today you now get companies like Arturia that have stepped in after prices on parts have gone super low and they can now do what those guys once did, but better - in my opinion. Either way, this was a great drum machine video!

[@a.c.2211]

where is roland tr8 (aira)??

[@arsenmarek597]

Thanks nice review. I'm not familiar with Drum machines, but I'm looking for something to play in the background when I play guitar. My questions are what kind of amplifier do you need for the Drum Machine? What type of cables? Will it plug into my guitat amplifier?

[@chip715715]

I think it should connect to anything with quarter inch? it really does depends on the io of the drum machine. you can can adapters too

[@thegreatsiberianitch]

Roland makes keyboard amps, that might be a way to go.

[@Tiger.Arcade]

Most drum machines are either 3.5mm or 1/4 inch output and you can plug them into any speaker, amp, or interface, etc. just like plugging into any guitar and sending its signal or sound to some sort of speaker.

[@kaankaral]

I am looking for a "jazzy brush" sound in these but couldnt find any

[@b00ts4ndc4ts]

The old arturia stuff is made with the cheapest of components that why, see how long it works for. I can't comment on the newer stuff because I have a keylab that put me right off them

[@johnbaldwin1632]

The tr8 roland is fantastic it literally plays itself the drumbute a mystery i'm still trying to slove

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Nobody seems to know if the DrumBrute can do a layered sound to the snare using multiple banks.

[@QuickSticks8771]

Hi I am a singer guitarist/ live performer I currently use a Roland SPD one to manually kick out four in the floor patterns live . Im wanting to free up my foot for more looping and looking for a piece of gear that I can load kick samples or use good quality adjustable pre loaded drums Ideally have tap tempo on a midi switch and kick velocity from light to hard hits in an expression pedal to adjust on the fly live As this is a bit out of my “guitarist”knowledge base and there are sooo many sampler/ sequencers out there any advice you could give if this is possible and the best unit to use other that bringing a laptop to gigs would be much appreciated!!

[@superguitarras111]

muy buena tu reseña. te pregunto, con una roland mc 505 groovebox puedo hacer estas cosas ??

[@kevinstargazer2790]

blah blah blah. This guy rambles.

[@amonster8mymother]

I have samples for 35 drum boxes and a akai s2000.

[@adrianmurillo8778]

Yo San Antonio!!! ^.^

[@amonster8mymother]

❤

[@LaFleurLabs]

Rd9 behringer the best

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Well, the electro-shops have yet to create a realistic snare drum sound.

[@SonicVibe]

How does the volca drum compare to volca beats ?

[@mikemeengs5720]

Drum blows Beats away. Beats has a good kick though. One good kick.

[@BAND-MAID-USA]

I just want ACOUSTIC, REALISTIC drums. Why is it so freakn hard to find? Everything is made for electronic rap edm. These things shouldn’t even be called drum machines to be honest lol. They’re noise makers. Which can be extremely cool in a ton of ways. But the only thing they have in common with drums is tempo.

[@shaft9000]

You overlooked MFB, Alesis SR, the many Dr Rhythm and Boss options etc Without an objective target to aim at, determining 'the best' is not really relevant beyond your preference on that day.

[@steven-wi7gl]

This is awful , guy doesn't have a clue folks. Don't get your advice here

[@ministaking783]

Too much talking

[@Metaphysticles]

OMG get to the reviews jeez

[@berndatz4053]

Do Not Talk that much about things, nobody wants to hear!!!!!! You are stealing lifetime!!!!

[@jdjk7]

who forced you to watch the video?

[@damomani6905]

I think it is very helpful that he describes things....

[@thomasinlondon2849]

His narration was first rate.

[@mykdubz128]

Why not just talk while you have it already running. Hate these long talking parts. And then when it finally goes into testing the device it really doesn't look like you know what you're doing. Disliked.

[@steven-wi7gl]

You couldn't really know that much and then barely know how to lay down a beat

[@StaciePaynter]

I thought this would be about *drum* machines, not rhythm machines. None of these sound anything like a real drum kit. They are all great for their purpose -- creating cool backing rhythms -- but none of these are drum machines.

[@emixbase]

Can you name a few real drum machines, thanks man🍻