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 Home > Learning Center > Drum Machine

Drum Machine

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A drum machine is a substitute for the drummer’s ensemble. It produces sounds and beats similar to a real drum set, only it’s versions are electronic reproductions of the actual sounds. The first drum machines were very similar to the first electronic keyboards. They didn’t produce anything that was actually similar to the sounds they purported to represent. They did however create a viable alternative for someone who couldn’t afford a real drum set.

Technology has advanced much since the first commercially available drum machine was unveiled in about 1960. Today instead of using wave synthesizers to create sounds, a drum machine will store samplings of the actual sound produced by an instrument in its memory, and replay them on demand. This leads to a much higher quality sound, although to a refined ear it’s still identifiably electronic.

Older drum machines are somewhat of a collector’s item. They are sought after by creators of electronic music because they offer unique sounds. For instance, a cymbal would be a burst of white noise to an older drum machine, as opposed to the collection of actual cymbal noises you get today. This creates some unique situations where an old, normally defunct machine can be worth quite a bit on the musical market.

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