r/DrumMachine

Hello all,

I know this question has been debated for years, but I’ve been stuck in serious decision fatigue over it. I’ve read countless Reddit posts, watched tons of videos, and even talked to chatbots about it, yet I still can’t reach a conclusion.

I’ve been thinking about buying my first Elektron box for a while now. I’ve never owned one before.

For context:
- I love tracker workflows. Renoise is my go-to DAW over Ableton.
- I use my iPad heavily for synths and use Koala for sampling.
- Breakbeats are everything to me.
- I’m mostly into jungle, IDM, trip hop, ambient textures, and glitchy rhythmic experimentation.

The Octatrack really fascinates me. I know it’s deep and intimidating, especially as a first Elektron device, but I also love the idea of treating it like an instrument I slowly build a relationship with over years. Ned Rush videos completely hooked me on the machine.

At the same time, Digitakt II looks incredibly fun and immediate. From what I’ve seen, the gap between OT and DT feels smaller nowadays, especially for breakbeat workflows. Groove in G’s jungle videos on the DT2 honestly impressed me a lot.

One of the main things I want to do is live breakbeat manipulation. Slicing drum breaks, jumping between slices while keeping the groove flowing, improvising transitions, punch-in FX, glitching, evolving patterns, more glitching etc.

My current options are:
-Octatrack MKII — €900
Digitakt II — €800

The OT price especially feels like a steal, which makes this even harder. I’m worried that if I get the DT2, I’ll always wonder about the Octatrack. But I’m also worried that if I get the OT first, I might end up overwhelmed and regret not starting with the more immediate machine.

People who’ve used both, especially for jungle/IDM/trip hop/ glitchy workflows. What would you honestly recommend?
Thanks everyone.

Anyone in here have some experience with being in a band or solo jamming with a drum machine vs knowing a real drummer? I play guitar and have been kicking around the idea of picking up a drum machine to attempt covers and trying to expand on some ideas of my own. I don’t really know much about these things. Just looking for some general tips like: what are some solid affordable options, what’s ideal as far as what they offer, and what kind of machines would sound as authentic as possible without passing the 3-400$ mark. Any input is awesome even if I happen to have stumbled into the wrong group for this kind of advice.

Good afternoon people.

I'm already bored clicking buttons in Ableton,

so I think I need a real drum machine.

Problem is, I'm financially broke.

So, what's the best cheap/used machine for me?

Than you!

Hello. I would like to ask for some recomendations for financialy accesable drum machine, that has harsh sound (some industrial metal or darker post punk kind of sound) I also live in EU, so it should be something accesable on european market.

Could I theoretically buy an inexpensive used sampler and load TR1000 sounds on it? If so, any recommendations?

Been thinking of buying one for a while but don’t know how complicated they are or even what’s necessary. Can I just plug it into my guitar amp? What’s a good price for a beginner model? Any tutorials or anything like I should listen to?

I’m looking into getting a sampler and am stuck between a SP 404 and MPC Sample. I’m at beginner level when it comes to music production but it’s something I’ve always wanted to take up. I listen to a lot of hip hop/EDM so that’s the type of music I’m looking to experiment with. I also just ordered a new MacBook Pro so I’m not sure if one works better than the other with that. I also wouldn’t mind eventually ordering an analog synth to further expand my range of sound so I’m not sure if one works better with a synthesizer than the other. I’ll take any advice I can get, thanks!

I was wondering which one to buy because I've never had one, I want to be less dependent on ableton and being able to play with the sound of individual parts of the drums and different patterns (with physical knobs and buttons).

In my band we have a distorted guitar, bass guitar, a Behringer crave and a Roland spd-sx, I would love that the drum machine were like another full instrument, not just to lay drums in the back. Our influences are Atari teenage riot, dame area, Leroy se meurt, (sometimes) la Elite, etc. Most of the time pretty dark and fast sounds.

I really need a good sequencer (able to store patterns, make fills, change subdivisions and length of the pattern), I would like to be able to charge samples.

I like the sequencer of the arturia drumbrute impact, but I've seen reviews that it doesn't have a very good sound.

I have also seen the Elektron model:cycles, but I don't think it's that immediate to change the different sounds.

The Korg groovebox caught my attention because you can also store synths but I think it doesn't fit all my necessities (?).

The Roland tr8s seems like the perfect fit because on top of all the things I want it's also compatible with the triggers of my Roland spd-sx, it's compatible with ableton (I guess, haven't looked too much into it), I can import samples, etc. but it's kinda out of budget and I think it's such a big investment for something I'm not a professional in. I've seen that the Roland tr8s maintains it's value over the time, because the second hand ones are in the 500€ range, so maybe in a couple of years if I want to resell it I won't loose too much money.

Let me know your thoughts!