My First Drum Machine

Aight yall. Every now and then a cat will ask me what kind of equipment do I use? Over the years, I’ve ran thru many drum machines and synths. The first drum machine I got was really not a drum machine but a phrase sampler called the Roland Sp-808. When I first got it, I thought it would be something similar to a Akai Mpc but instead, it was just a phrase sampler with 4 track recording. Roland at the the time was trying their first attempt at making a daw in a box but it was not quite there. I could have returned it but I said to hell with it and tried to make this box do wonders and It did. I studied the box in and out until I made something close to what I was looking for. It did that and more with its built in Virtual Analog synth. The synth was the best aspect to the machine but you could not control it with a keyboard. It had a built in step sequencer which was the only way to control it. The sounds were amazing. I still to this day can’t recreate those sounds on any synth I have now. I wish I kept it but I was fiending for the Akai MPC 2000xl. I also had a Yamaha Rm1x which was a great machine and it had a great sequencer but the internal sounds were garbage. I quickly sold that. After that, I stuck with the MPC 2000XL. Most of the music I released on Beatmonstas Ent was from this box. The MPC 2000XL is still the center piece to my studio. Next post I will talk about synths and software. PEACE..

Tagged as: akai mpc 2000xl, Beatmonstas, drum machine, Noble Dru, roland sp-808, yamaha rm1x