PC drum programs

[64Guitars]

If you liked the Alesis, why not buy another? The SR16 is actually less expensive than the Boss DR-3:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/alesis_sr16.htm

They also have a new model called the SR18:

http://www.alesis.com/

It looks pretty good but I don't think it's available yet. Sweetwater (US) says it was announced at Winter NAMM 2008 and will be available in June.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SR18

It's a bit more expensive than the SR16 and DR-3 but it might be worth it. It has programmable bass patterns and an instrument jack so you can plug your guitar in and jam along with the bass and drums.

[Oldrottenhead]

i can get an sr-16 for about £70 uk. but i like the sounds on the dr3 and fact it has bass player too. had a wee go of one in my local music store and was v impressed they are  going for about  £129uk but i'm sure i'll get one cheaper.

[guitarron]

To save your patterns, arrangements, and drum kits, you need to create a disk with some BR900 files in it. I'm attaching those files to this message. You can use any drive but I find that a USB flash drive is very handy for this. Just unzip the attached files to the root directory of the drive. This will create a ROLAND folder (must be uppercase) in the root directory of the drive and all of the other files and folders will be inside the ROLAND folder. When you start the Rhythm Editor, it will find this disk with the ROLAND folder in the root directory and it will treat it as if it was a BR-900, so you can save all your patterns, arrangements, and drum kits there.

HI 64
I unzipped this to floppy disk -the program doesnt see it-
Could use the mbr as reader if i just use a dedicated sd card in it(such as the one that shipped with it), since i'm not using it anymore-maybe i could just clear the existing folders off of it
or i do i need to break down and pick up a flash drive-
is a flash drive one those cheap little do-dads similar to a dongle or memory stick?
thanks for your patience with my ignorance
ron

[64Guitars]

I unzipped this to floppy disk -the program doesnt see it-
Could use the mbr as reader if i just use a dedicated sd card in it(such as the one that shipped with it), since i'm not using it anymore-maybe i could just clear the existing folders off of it
or i do i need to break down and pick up a flash drive-
is a flash drive one those cheap little do-dads similar to a dongle or memory stick?

Sorry. I just tried it with a floppy and you're right - it doesn't work. Apparently the Rhythm Editor doesn't scan floppy drives.

Yes, you could use a spare memory card in your Micro BR. Just unzip the files to the root directory of the card. You should probably erase the existing ROLAND folder from the card first as the files in it were created by the Micro BR and aren't compatible. Or, just rename the existing ROLAND folder to anything other than ROLAND and you can leave it on the card.

A USB flash drive can also be used. Any of these will do, for example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2003240522&bop=And&Order=PRICE

or these:

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:306|lp:0.01:hp:24.99|&Sort=1

Or you could use a card reader with your spare memory card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000010069&bop=And&Order=PRICE

http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:361|&Sort=1

Another option is to simply unzip the files to the root directory of your hard drive, as long as you don't already have a ROLAND folder in the root directory. This is actually quite convenient since you don't have to insert any memory cards or flash drives to use the Rhythm Editor. But some people might not want a ROLAND folder in the root directory of their hard drive, or they might already have one there that they're using for something else and they don't want to mix the files. But, if that's not a problem for you, then that might be the best place to put the files.

[guitarron]

ok-i guess i figured it out-it would not read it from the mbr(even after replacing the mbr files with the fake 900 files), but when i extracted to the c: drive(where the program resides) i was able to see the "fake 900" song therefore allowing me to save there-
I see your point about how a flash drive would be convenient
Ron

[guitarron]

Especially now that i hosed my sd card

[64Guitars]

Could use the mbr as reader if i just use a dedicated sd card in it(such as the one that shipped with it), since i'm not using it anymore

Especially now that i hosed my sd card

I thought you were going to use a spare card - the one that came with your Micro BR (128MB?) and you're no longer using. Is that the one you're having trouble with now or is the problem with your main card (1GB, I assume) in the Micro BR?

[guitarron]

oops

[Pedro]

Boss BR-900 Rhythm Editor is great! It would be even cooler if it worked with the Micro BR arrangements directly.

[waynesan76]

My apologies for the jacked-up link in my first reply. It's fixed now. (Thanks 64guitars) I liked the hydrogen because it was free, and it's an easy program, especially for recreating drum tracks for cover songs. I use a machine now, but I still use the hydrogen kit to help me organize individual patterns into a complete song, if that makes any sense.