Drum machine at a gig...should I do it???

My bass player (from my classic rock band) and I picked up a duo gig for a birthday party at a condo clubhouse. It's a six hour gig. We will be taking breaks, and the customer is giving us an ipod to pipe in during breaks. Still, our set list will likely be "every song we've ever played". It will be him on electric bass, and me on the Tele...we both sing lead, harmony, etc. We will be able to pull off a ton of stuff without drums, I have no doubt, but I am thinking about bringing a drum machine aboard (LOL) just to spice it up from time to time. Also I'm thinking towards the end of the night the ladies may be ready to do some dancing, and a drum beat could liven that up. I have an Alesis SR-16 that I bought on clearance for $50 simply because it seemed like a deal, but it got thrown on the pile with other pieces of gear I couldn't resist and hasn't ever left the box. Does anyone have any advice, experience, comments, etc. that they can share? Thanks!!!! I do have two weeks between now and the gig to fiddle with this thing, read the manual, etc.

Set-up your PA system and get used to that thing.

Hone in on a couple of cool, yet solid beats in 3/4, 4/4 and, 12/8.

Bust out (download) the manual and teach yourself how to save your beats so you can get to them ASAP between songs.

Overall, the sound itself is a bit dated, the cymbals and hats are kind of shrill, so learn how to tame them.

The stock beats have everything the programmers could throw in.
Much of it is easier to play to if delete the needless extras.

Good luck, hope you guys do well.

I played in several guitar/bass/drum machine duos all through the 1990's.
We used an Alesis SR -16, nicknamed FRED.
It worked out great for us.
The SR-16 is very easy to use/program.
FRED (F'ing Ridiculous Electronic Device) was dependable and cheap.
Once you get used to the absolute regularity of a drum machine, it's a breeze!

I know some guys that have run Band in a Box from a laptop for solo gigs. It's really easy to use and you can do a lot with it. .......It's a great practice tool and now you'll have good excuse to buy it if you already have a laptop.

I played in several guitar/bass/drum machine duos all through the 1990's.
We used an Alesis SR -16, nicknamed FRED.
It worked out great for us.
The SR-16 is very easy to use/program.
FRED (F'ing Ridiculous Electronic Device) was dependable and cheap.
Once you get used to the absolute regularity of a drum machine, it's a breeze!

I named mine Chip.
Never used it live, but it wouldn't be that hard to do.

The SR-16 is pretty simple out of the box to just play different pre-programmed grooves, but programming it can be a bit tedious IIRC from when I had mine. If you have any sort of laptop based recording going on I would recommend going that way as danocaster mentioned. I'm all about drag and drop drum editing.

Thanks for the advice and ideas everybody! I'll set it up in my basement here this week and see what I can get out of it.

I hadn't even thought about using BIAB. That may well work too. I would have to buy it, but this could be my excuse :)

:roll:

To me that would be like using my MP3 player as the band for my drums.
I'm biased I know.
I mean even this Lad had a drummer (oops no guitarist, I guess it CAN be done) Enjoy the gig.:

OAWG1mJEFi0

I love drum machines, but I prefer to have a drummer keying the drum machine as an augmentation, and I much prefer using a drum machine once the back line has a firm handle on the booties.

A drum machine can quickly make you look like a fool unless you're thoroughly rehearsed. Worse, a drum machine doesn't allow you to "synch up" with the crowd and bring the tushies on board. They either take the bait, or you suck. And I don't like that gambit. Not when I'm playing live.

I'd lose the drum machine, if I were you.

If you want to kick up the party's tempo, use old fashioned tricks. Factor in your "too loud" volume when you set up, then use it when you want to take firm control of the available asses. Have the bass player yell out the tempo, then hit it hard. Play in fast tempo and keep laying it on faster throughout the song. Go from one song to the next, quickly. Don't let them step away from the dance floor. They're your booties, own them and do with them what you want.

Finish the set a lot faster and a lot louder.

Getting hard finding gigs and virtually every time you see "Live music tonight" round these parts it is duos.
I play in a three piece but we do leave the drummer at home occasionally and to save learning a couple of hours worth of suitable material we just do the same set but with my Adrenalinn and keep it simple, we did buy an Alesis SR-16 but sold it again as I couldn't fathom out how to just program a loop and keep it going indefinitely without programing it as a song.
I was shocked at how bad my time keeping was and unless I have really good monitors I was racing ahead a bit.
I don't get on with them at all but it is the way things seem to be going in my local pubs and bars.

I can write a drum track that sounds completely awesome in playback and better than I could ever actually play myself or most drummers for that matter but as a paying customer at a "Live" music venue I always feel cheated when any piece of the band is played by a non human. I'm definitely getting too old for this electronic world. Beam me up Scotty..

Set-up your PA system and get used to that thing.

Hone in on a couple of cool, yet solid beats in 3/4, 4/4 and, 12/8.

Bust out (download) the manual and teach yourself how to save your beats so you can get to them ASAP between songs.

Overall, the sound itself is a bit dated, the cymbals and hats are kind of shrill, so learn how to tame them.

The stock beats have everything the programmers could throw in.
Much of it is easier to play to if delete the needless extras.

Good luck, hope you guys do well.
How do you key in a 3/4 beat .?

How do you key in a 3/4 beat .?

Go into set up and use quantise, it gives you a licktrack and as you change it, it can go from a 2/4 3/4 4/4 etc, but also remember to cut length of beats to 3 or 6, depending on feel you are going for. I had the alesis for years, and used it pretty much the same way as a drummer would play.
In other words don`t change sound of kit every song, stick to a basic kit and just alter the snare, as thats all most drummers do, they hit the snare differently for accents and tones but very few drummers carry more than 2 snares, most only one.
for me (if memory serves me right ) I used the
001 bass drum,
054 for standard country snare
069 for more rocky snare work
151 152 153 and 154 for toms
116 for closed Hi Hat and 123( ?) for open Hi hat
That sound sort of covered all bases in band I was playing with.
The fill switch and ability to go to pattern B after fill is great for medleys and solo`s etc.

I think it would sound a lot better and be easier to do live to record some tracks with something like EZ Drummer and play back over an iPod.

Record your drums into a looper so you have pedal control on start/stop and tempo ?


Or - no drums, you don't have to have drums, at least not on every number, only where you need them.

We're a trio and we use BIAB and it is easy and good. check out our songs on our web site below....... you wont be disappointed in it idf you buy it IMHO.:cool:

We're a trio and we use BIAB and it is easy and good. check out our songs on our web site below....... you wont be disappointed in it idf you buy it IMHO.:cool:

That's impressive sound quality ce24 indeed.

Pretty sure SR 16 ( definately 18) has foot pedal start /stop - tempo AND fill a - fill b capability.

I am slowly coming to grips with my 18, nice unit ....I can't decide on calling it Fred or chip now though. .... :-)

My biggest problem is if the drum pattern isn't exactly like the original song I struggle but that is good to practice anyway....timing was atrocious but that has improved considerably after practicing to it.

Good luck with gig, sounds like agreat challenge!

Pretty much any drum machine but especially the Alesis is not going to sound anywhere near as good as loops. It's a lot easier to drag and drop loops than it is to program a drum machine.

We call ours bill gates :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: I should say we edit our songs on biab quite a bit and it does take time but once you get the hang of inserting wav files for midi you can get what we have fairly quick...it just depends on how much time you want to spend.....good luck!

oh and thanks Deepdrummer for the compliment

Pretty much any drum machine but especially the Alesis is not going to sound anywhere near as good as loops. It's a lot easier to drag and drop loops than it is to program a drum machine.

Totally disagree, with the SR16, you can start stop when you want and each pattern has a A pattern, B pattern and a fill for each all via a f/s.
For instance you can start on a fill play along hold fill switch down till fill ends, and it stays on pattern A, momentarily hold f/s down and pattern A fill changes after fill finishes to Pattern B, then you can use Pattern B fill to take you back to Pattern A.
For Instance, we used to do a song where beat was a simple 4/4 but using a rimshot instead of snare, when we changed to pattern B the rimshot became a full snare tone, and Hi hats changed to a soft ride, which is what a drummer would do. Can your loop do that ?
Sound quality even for now is pretty good once mixed in with band.
Far better than JJ Cale`s call me the breeze intro.
Loops are good for jamming and getting a groove but not for live work where you may need to keep a song going as audiance has now decided to dance halfway through song:roll:
Another good point about the SR16 is the ability to tap tempo a song, and also the ability to write a complete song as per the record, takes time but when you get to know it its a great well thought out machine, I would even call it the Tele of drum machines, as its still around, how many other hi tech midi stuff is still being sold over twenty years later.:cool:

Hey, thanks again everyone for the comments, suggestions, etc. I had a chance to hook up the SR-16 through some full range loudspeakers this evening. I thought the sound quality was pretty good! On the other hand, I found all the preset patterns rather uninspiring. Of course there was an abundance of techno, rap, and heavy metal ones, all of which will be useless for my purposes here. And the rock and country ones sounded SOOOO mechanical or robotic or whatever. I have heard that these machines can produce somewhat more lifelike sounds if you key in your own drum patterns. Maybe I need to try that.

The trick to getting a more natural feel is to use the "swing " , which you can offset between bass drum and snare for instance, just enough that its not spot on every time.
I tended to quantize the Bass drum and snare but tap in hi hat with out quantize so its my timing doing the hi hat not a machine.
As I say get into the secrets of it and its a great tool. :cool:

You could get in touch with me and I'll record you proper, live drum tracks? A relevant piece of promo given the thread :mrgreen:

Question on using loops....can you step on a button to put a fill in whenever you want and or change to a second pattern and keep on playin according to the audience if it requires this? That's the only limitation to BIAB so we just program lots of stuff into the song to make them mostly 4-6 minutes long with repeating verses etc...works well for us but doing a solo I want the flexibility of the sr18...."I think".

I think the Alesis is best for you at this present time, I used one for years and have been asked to re program one for a mate as we speak.
Forgot how good it was for live use. I have not tried the SR18 yet but if its same as the 16 but more modern sounds, it will be fine for live use.
:cool:

You really only have two options when using a drum machine live.

1. Really elaborate, fully arranged songs
2. A simple back-beat

Either you are a "slave" to the drum arrangement or it's just keeping time.
I've found anything in-between ends up sounding clunky and being hard to manage.

Very true...for a solo gig all you need is a simple back beat and the ability to change it a bit like the sr18 with the A/B...fill capability. Many songs I wouldn't even use a backing for acoustic stuff. I think it helps top have that capability.

Most drummers use two main beats , during verses and chorus /bridge.
The SR16/18 can do this, any other drum machine I would agree with you.
I think we all need to bear in mind, the audiance knows when the beat goes wrong, but not when the fills are different to what original song may have had. Its no different to them expecting to know if you are using a tele or a strat, or a vox or marshall.
We notice the beats more because we play in the bands with drummers, but I would rather use a drum machine than a lot of drummers I have had the misfortune to play with over the years, but would allways rather play with a "GOOD" drummer than a drum machine. :cool:

How about working up some beats with the guitar and a looper and go from there?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMYe6rtq3lc

We use a machine most of the time now.
It's the only way we can make any $$$$$.
Bad economy here.
I just downsized my PA so I can do less work if the pay isn't good.

JJ

I would love to someday work the looper into a performing situation! I don't think I'm there yet. Of the two loopers I have (the Line 6 Jam-something-or-other and the Boss RC-20) neither seem too useable in a live situation. They are awesome for practicing though!