Let’s talk Drum/beat pedals

[Unicorn Warrior]

I never thought I’d want one of these. But here I am, actually wanting to make music again and I thought if I had some preprogrammed rhythms that it might motivate me to write some songs again. Does anyone have recommendations for something that seems good but still easy to use?

[Futuron]

The most recent thing I've done that's relevant to the question is to use a Roland TR-08 drum machine. It's not as easy to programme as I'd like, but it works well and the potential for complex stuff is there. Just prior to that I used a Boss RC-500 loop station, which only had pre-programmed rhythms, but you could fiddle around with time signatures easily, and change the 'voices' of the kit. Both methods are fun to play with, and I might use either for a jam - especially multi-instrument loops. Before the RC-500 came out, I used the RC-3 which was very limited, or a metronome.

I haven't tried any of the Dr Beat style things that are designed to be a beatbox to play along with. I always played my own drums and so found those things offensive, haha.



But if there's something out there that's "good but still easy to use" I'm still curious

[GreenKnee]

These are new and look pretty interesting!

https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/music ... index.html

[Embenny]

I think OP is looking for something more along the lines of the Beatbuddy.

[cestlamort]

Not a pedal, but if you have a Mac, "Drummer" (in Logic; I think Garageband has it too) is a really quick way to play to something more interesting (and inspiring) than a click track. And it takes zero work (programming) to get something serviceable.

[marqueemoon]

These are new and look pretty interesting!

https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/music ... index.html

This looks neat. I wish it wasn’t $300 though.

[jorri]

EZdrummer for sure for anything that's both easy and wanting to sound 'real'. But obviously its a plugin so depends on your setup.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Thanks for those suggestions. I should have prefaced with I actually tried using the berhinger 808 clone. And I was a bit disappointed. I probably could’ve made it usable working with effects and stuff but it was just hard for me to get practical sounds out of it. I felt like I was either trying to to retract Whitney Houston or come up with the next big hip hop track. It wasn’t super hard, but more complicated than I wanted to put in.

The Yamaha thing actually looks really cool for song writing. But, the beat buddy might be more my speed for quick guitar ideas

[marqueemoon]

This looks kinda neat in its simplicity.

[Gordon]

The Digitech SDRUM is quite good! Bit of a learning curve, but there's a lot you can do with it, and it sounds great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8E1poBX_uA

Look on Reverb and eBay, if often comes bundled with a (more or less free) FS3X footswitch, which really eases things.

[Nevets]

This looks kinda neat in its simplicity.

I have one of these and I really love it. Easy to use, easy to program, takes two footswitches. I even use the built in speaker anytime I just need a quick and simple drum beat to play to. And it sounds...okay. Good enough

I have a number of drum machines, plus the SDrum, and I never use them. I probably use this little Korg the most.

[skeletonsmith]

Don't buy the Rainger FX Snare Trap. I had it for about a Year (350€) and it's pretty much a one-trick-Pony.
I'm glad that someone bought it from me.