Drum Machine Software

The debate between using drum machine software and real drum machines is ancient. Since drum machine software, too, is pretty old, the controversy as to which is better is huge. The bottom line, however, is that they both produce pretty high quality drum beats. Which is better is a matter of opinion.

Drum machines produce drum beats depending on what type of machines they are. Sequencers produce recorded playbacks of drum beats whereas synthesizers produce their own beats which are exclusive to them. There are some models that act as both synthesizers and sequencers, allowing user to mix up recorded to beats with produced drum beats. The problem with drum machines, however, is their high costs. Drum machines fetch thousands of dollars for even basic models. The more complex models with multiple features go into tens of thousands of dollars. This is where many opt for drum machine software. They claim that the software offers the same quality of drum beats for a fraction of the price.

The idea of using a drum machine is to produce drum beats in mp3 or wav formats to be introduced into music tracks. Both drum machines as well as drum machine software as capable of this feat. However, it is how the beats are made that makes the difference for the different tastes. Drum machine enthusiasts prefer making the drum beats using a physical machine while drum machine software lovers prefer a virtual interface to make their drum beats.

The fact that a drum machine is much more expensive compared to drum machine software in no way means that drum machines are superior to drum machine software. As a matter of fact it may be the exact opposite. The reason drum machines are so expensive is that they need to raw materials for each machine and labor goes into building each one of the drum machines. Drum machine software, on the other hand, needs to be developed only once. Once the drum machine software is complete, it is just a matter of making multiple copies.

Drum machine software does have an advantage. Since developing software is relatively cheaper, the drum machine software is able to develop at a much faster rate than drum machines. As a result, new versions of drum machine software are able to create songs with the created drum beats. It will be sometime before drum machines have this feature built into them. In addition, drum machine software has further features where it allows a user to connect drums to their computer and play along to the drum beats produced by the drum machine software to test the skill of the player. Player’s improvement in skill can also be recorded within the drum machine software.