Skip to main content

I've been searching for a product that can give me some good think bass lines, punchy kick drums, real snares, and some satisfying instruments (strings, brass, flutes and synths). I make Hip Hop/Rap beats, and I'm looking for a product that will give me a Main Stream sound. So far I've examined:

Roland MV-8000 (found out I would have to add my own sounds to enjoy it)

Akai MPC 2000XL (Found out same thing as the Roland)

Roland MC-909 (seemed pursuasive playing with it in the store, but I read reviews saying that it's not really flexible to use in making rap and R&B beats; but I did like the quaility of the percussion)

Yamaha Motif Rack Module (Read reviews that would make me buy it now, but a little curious about the drums. Not sure how they sound, but for the price I may get it anyway.)

E-MU Phat somethin' (I don't know, I just looked at it, and wasn't sure what it was capable of)

Please if you have any other suggestions please list them. If you like any that have been mentioned, let me know which to go with. If you have any advice, I'm willing to listen. Thanks to those who do reply.

Comments

dabmeister music Tue, 03/02/2004 - 12:51

Hey Pooch, I used to solely rely on playing my Roland R-8 drum machine for basically all of my drumming needs. It's pretty easy to operate but the sounds (internal that is) are from the 80's. I still have it along with some expansion cards. To me it's still a good drum machine but it's years away from being the MPC4000 I also own. IMO, you'll want to consider a piece of gear that you can upgrade. Out of the 5 mentioned, I'd say you'll fair better with the Motif, Akai or maybe the Emu.

mjones4th Tue, 03/02/2004 - 17:00

Mo Rack all the way! I PMed you Pooch, but that's basically what I said in the message.

But a word of warning. Having only one source for your drum sounds will get very stale very quickly. Definitely get the Mo Rack, but you may want to look at getting maybe a cheap sampler (hard or soft) and downloading some free drum sounds. There are plenty of good ones out there.

And if you want to buy some drum samples, I would recommend the Emagic Xtreme Hip Hop CD. That one is unbelievable.