Drum Machine Reviews

Akai MPC 2000

Akai MPC 2000

The Akai Professional MPC2000XL MIDI Production Center is a two in one module. It includes a 64-Track Midi Sequencer and a 32-voice Stereo Digital Sampler. The Sampler has 16 velocity and pressure sensitive rubber pads.

Akai MPC4000

Akai MPC 4000

The Akai MPC 4000 Drum Machine is a great tool for any musician to have. This drum machine is a mutli-functional tool that can be used to create and edit music. It contains the latest technology to help you create the most awesome music yet.


Akai XR20

Akai XR20

The XR20 looks much like any other drum machine. It has all the standard bits—pad grid, various function buttons and transport controls, and a data-entry wheel, and at the back of the unit, a pair of unbalanced main audio outputs, a stereo aux output, a headphone port, a couple of footswitch inputs, and MIDI In and Out.

Alesis D4

Alesis D4

My favorite thing about the D4 is the ease with which I can get the sound I want. It is also really easy to adjust the volume, tuning, and panning. I would like to congratulate Alesis for doing a great job with the controls on the machine's front panel. Personally, I connect the D4 to my computerized sequencer and use the D4 as a drum module.

Alesis DM5

Alesis DM5

The DM5 needs a bit of personal tweaking and took a couple of months. I changed the settings and eventually got what I wanted. It's like any other music instrument; you have to learn it. With me playing nearly 60 songs a night, and at least 6 days a week.


Alesis SR-16

The Alesis SR-16 Drum Machine is a good, basic machine which is at its best when contributing to the sound of rock'n'roll. But this isn't the sum total of its music-making capacities. Of course, as the musician, you can explore for yourself and you'll probably be surprised to find out how useful it can be for creating deeper versions of many other beats such as Latin, reggae, pop, and jazz.

BOSS DR-770

Boss DR 770

The Boss DR-770 is by far the best drum machine I have ever had the privilege of owning! I have been playing and recording music for over ten years now and I am just amazed at the versatility and range of this machine.

Boss DR--880

Boss DR-880

The Boss DR-880 'Dr. Rythm' is a compact drum machine, designed for live use. Boss proudly advertises it's EZ-Compose mode, a utility that lets you quickly and easily program patterns. The 880 includes a spread of features, including 20 velocity-sensitive pads, four assignable footswitch and expression pedal inputs, guitar and bass inputs with effects, MIDI in/out, digital out, and a USB connector.


Roland KD-120

Roland KD-120

The Roland KD 120 12 V Kick Trigger Pad is listed at a price of $529, but is available for as low as $396. This electronic drum machine is constructed with the design of V-Drums’ mesh drumhead in mind and can be combined with the V-Session set. The kick drum pad is durable and surprisingly accurate.

Roland MC-303

Roland MC-303

The Roland MC-303 is a first of its kind in an original musical machine series also known as a Groovebox. While much skepticism unfurled around this music machine some years ago, the Roland MC-303 still has many great features aimed specifically for use by house DJs and amateur musicians looking to create individual style and one of a kind beats and rhythms.


Roland PD-80

Roland PD-80

The Roland PD-80 V-Pad is an excellent piece of equipment for any serious drummer. The 8-inch single-trigger pad makes for a great tom. It can function alongside its dual trigger cousin, the PD-80R—designed for use as a snare.

Roland PD85

Roland PD85

If you're looking for an affordable alternative and a great set of advanced features, you'll find what you're looking for in the Roland PD85.


Roland R-70

Roland R-70

The Roland R-70 has been a very much underrated drum machine, which is a shame because it is a very feature rich piece of equipment. It sounds great and it looks good too. Everything about this product is well thought out, and if you happen to be in the market for a drum machine you may wish to consider this one.

Roland SPD-20

Roland SPD-20

I can confidently assure you that Roland SPD-20 Drum machine is one of the easiest to work with. Perhaps I found this easy to use and program because the TD7 I had used earlier was rather difficult to handle. The buttons on this machine does exactly what they are supposed to do.


Roland TR-606

Roland TR-606

Roland TR drum boxes are simple and easy to use. Writing a pattern is just a matter of turning a knob and placing the hits at whatever step you want them to be. Track write function is also equally simple. In fact, it is so easy that you would hardly realize that you are writing a song!

Roland TR-707

Roland TR-707

The 707 is not exactly a feature rich machine. You cannot tweak the sounds due to the fact it uses PCM sampling. You can apply 5 variations of flam to the toms and to the snares ranging from no flam at all to a style that resembles a bubbling sound.


Yamaha DD55

Yamaha DD-55

The Yamaha DD55 Drum Machine is on the whole pretty easy to use. Some functions, like setting the pedal sensitivity so you can program other stuff, seems a bit complicated at first because you have to use a combination of buttons.

Yamaha DTXPRESS

Yamaha DTXPRESS

If you like a large volume of sounds, then you would love the compact Yamaha DTXpress Drum Machine. Every type of sound that you would want to have, like snare, kick, tom, hi-hat, cymbals and percussion are produced by this machine.


Drum Machine Reviews