| A drum machine is an electronic musical | | | | would be made using sine waves or other basic |
| instrument designed to imitate the sound of | | | | waveforms. This meant that the resulting |
| drums and other percussion instruments. These | | | | sound may not be very close to that of the |
| machines are very useful instruments for a | | | | real instrument. |
| wide variety of musical genres, not just | | | | |
| purely electronic music. They are also an | | | | There are specific percussion sound modules |
| urgent necessity when session drummers are | | | | that can be generated by pickups, trigger |
| not available. | | | | pads, or through MIDI. Most of these special |
| | | | machines can also be controlled via MIDI. |
| Drum Machines offers a choice selection of | | | | Drum machines can be programmed in real time |
| classic drum machines, meticulously sampled | | | | where the user specifies the precise moment |
| to faithfully reproduce the original sounds. | | | | in time on which a note will sound. The |
| They can be easily tweaked with cleverly | | | | controls usually includes tempo, start and |
| mapped controls, allowing users to experiment | | | | stop, volume control of individual sounds, |
| with the inner workings of the instrument and | | | | keys to generate individual drum sounds, and |
| adjust to taste. | | | | storage locations for a number of different |
| | | | rhythms. |
| A brief history | | | | |
| | | | Digital sampling of drum machines |
| The first commercially available rhythm | | | | |
| machines were included in organs in the late | | | | The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer was the first |
| 1960s, and were intended to accompany the | | | | machine of this kind to use digital samples. |
| organist. The first largely successful drum | | | | It was released in the year 1980. Many of the |
| machine was the Rhythm Ace. It was produced | | | | drum sounds on the LM-1 were composed of two |
| by a company called Ace Tone which was later | | | | chips that were generated at the same time |
| named Roland. Early drum machines were often | | | | and each voice was individually tunable with |
| referred to as rhythm machines. | | | | individual outputs. But since there was a |
| | | | limitation of memory a crash cymbal sound was |
| In 1960 Raymond Scott constructed Rhythm | | | | not available. |
| Synthesizer and in 1963 a drum machine called | | | | |
| Bandito the Bongo Artist. Most of these | | | | Conclusion |
| modern machines are sequencers with a sample | | | | |
| playback or synthesizer component that | | | | Drum machines are the widely used by the pop |
| specializes in the reproduction of drum | | | | and rock musicians. Though it is rarely used |
| timbres as well as the sound of other | | | | in a classical concert, the demand for an |
| traditional percussion instruments. | | | | expert drummer who can program their machines |
| | | | perfectly has almost become an imperative for |
| Synthesis of drum sounds | | | | the artists. These drums can be programmed to |
| | | | store different beats in its memory. Many |
| The early drum machines used analog sound | | | | modern machines are capable of producing |
| synthesis rather than digital sampling in | | | | unique sounds and it also allows the artist |
| order to generate their sounds. A snare drum | | | | to compose unique drum beats and store them |
| sound would normally be created using a burst | | | | as well. |
| of white noise whereas a bass drum sound | | | | |