Boss Drum Machines: DR-3 vs Dr-670 vs DR-880

[lv]

I've owned the DR-3 in the past and liked it mostly because it sounds good, had some nice patterns and was relatively easy to operate.

I'm thinking about getting a new drum machine - I'd only consider the 670 or 880 as long as they were as easy to operate as the DR-3, I'm assuming they both have more pattterns and sound better. I'm not an advanced user and really only use it to string together patterns I like and then adjust tempo.

Any thoughts or any other drum machine recommendations? Is there any software out there that is extremely easy to use?

Thanks

[Lucidology]

The 880 is amazing ... the grooves, drum & bass tones are simply excellent ..
The only problem is programming a song is a real bitch ...

With that being said.. I often have drummers study some of the totally hip grooves on there so we can use live ...

[doveman]

I have used all 3 ... got a Dr670 in the closet. The Dr880 is the one I use to practice ... but I miss the ability of both the Dr3 and Dr670 to change on the fly with a foot switch. I wish each track had an A/B groove that was footswitchable.

You can do it but it's hard to program.

[gomez1856]

The 880 is amazing ... the grooves, drum & bass tones are simply excellent ..
The only problem is programming a song is a real bitch ...

With that being said.. I often have drummers study some of the totally hip grooves on there so we can use live ...

Agreed. Love my 880, but despite being a music gear junky and a computer geek, I still can't figure out how to program it :jo

I use it pretty much exactly as you have described. The patterns sound great and make for an amazing practice tool. I will learn new licks or grooves and play them over different tempos and key and grooves and it really helps to get a feel for what you're playing.

That said, I'd highly recommend it, unless you want to use it for composition. You'll pull your hair out trying to program full songs with sections and breaks etc.:)

Good luck,
Rick

[Megatron]

For composition it's hard to move around the 880 quickly. I'm borrowing one from a friend at the moment. I like the drum sounds a lot but the programming sucks. The 660/770 were much easier to program. The 670 gets a fail aswell....liked the 770 better. Personally I'm sick of using drum machines.....it's just helping me realise I need to get back to a computer based DAW.

[lv]

So, is it difficult to string together the stock patterns? That is really all I would want to do with it.

[turdadactyl]

I have a DR-660 that I've owned for about 8 years. I love it and will never part with it. Easy to program, easy to string "songs" together, etc. Best of all, you can probably find them cheap on ebay.

[guitaraddict]

I really like the 880, great sounds. Once you get into it it's not that hard to program, all you do is program your patterns(or use the presets) then go to song mode and put them in whatever order you want. Then hit play. It's more tedious than complicated:)

[Megatron]

I think where the 880 failed is that you have to jump through a lot of different editing windows to edit each beat. I cant move as fast or seamless with the 880 as I could the 770 or 660. Also I dont' have any use for the guitar sims....I don't think they're that great. And little use of the bass sounds myself. 2 seperate sets of outputs are nice though. I think buy including the guitar sims they real cranked up theprice from they're previous models. I would of been happy with just the basic 770 with the 880's sounds and a backlit screen and the extra pair of outputs. Especially at a list way below the 880's $599 which almost prices them out of they're market.

[guitaraddict]

I agree, I could live without the sims. They're a bit expensive new but I've seen alot of used ones in the $300-$350 that were in great condition.