free drum machine??

[Guitar-Maniac]

Although the Micro Br is awsome in many ways! i can't really create what
i want to due the limited drum patterns.
Any of you know a free drum software which lets you create
your own drum patterns?

Thanks.

[hewhoiscalledj]

Howdy. I've used Hammerhead   in the past with some luck but it's very much geared towards dance/hiphop/industrial. Seems there's a much newer version than the one i used years ago. It's still freeward though so that's a bonus.

http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/introduction.shtml

[BossMicroBRew]

Check out the link below for the Boss Rhythm Editor. It has the same rhythms within the MicroBR, except you can download the software from Boss that includes them. This is not compatible with the MicroBR, in terms of downloading your drum tracks. However, you can create them in the software and record them on your BR via line in. You also have the ability to create you own entire drum track from the included drum instruments. It's quite laborious, and sometimes finicky, but it does work.

http://www.bossus.com/support/downloads_updates/eula.php?DownloadId=2204&FileName=BR900_RhyEditorWin100.zip

Hope that helps.

[64Guitars]

Just last night I checked out LMMS (Linux MultiMedia Studio) and was quite impressed with it. It's very similar to Fruity Loops or FS Studio if you're familiar with those programs. I'm attaching a little example I threw together quickly last night, along with a screenshot of the program. The "Beat+Baseline Editor" (sic - should be bassline) is similar in concept to the BR Rhythm Editor's Pattern Editor only more powerful. And the "Song Editor" is similar to the BR Rhythm Editor's Arrangement Editor. Each blue square in the Song Editor represents a single iteration of a pattern that I created in the Beat+Baseline Editor, and each row in the Song Editor represents a different pattern.

What's especially nice about LMMS for Micro BR users is that it can export the finished drum arrangement directly to a WAV file. You can then simply import this WAV file to a pair of tracks on your Micro BR.

Although this is a Linux program, there is a version available for Windows XP/Vista/2000 (although I only tried the Linux version). You can download it free from:

http://lmms.sourceforge.net

I like this program a lot! I only scratched the surface of its abilities last night so I hope to spend more time learning about it soon. It makes a great drum machine for Micro BR users because it can export directly to a WAV file and it is much more powerful than the BR Rhythm Editor. Check it out!

[BossMicroBRew]

That's pretty cool. Thanks for the insight. Definitely going to look into LMMS. I had a Fruity Loops looper program years ago that was absolutely a breeze to use, back during the first and second versions of midi and so forth. I was impressed what it could do back then during the development of some of this stuff. It's come along way since then, but if it is similar to Fruity Loops, then anyone can figure this LMMS out. Thanks again!

[Davo]

I have been using sony acid pro...there is a free trial availible.  Easy to use and you can alter tempo without altering pitch.  I drag my BR files to it and it automatically sences the key and tempo.  Very cool to use.

[Guitar-Maniac]

Thanks for all the input guys. cheers!

[Tony]

Although this is a Linux program, there is a version available for Windows XP/Vista/2000 (although I only tried the Linux version). You can download it free from:

http://lmms.sourceforge.net

I tried to download this because it looks very good and, somewhere, I read that it works with MacOSX, but I couldn't get it to install.  Has anyone tried it with any success on a Mac platform?  Has anyone got any tips?

[64Guitars]

I tried to download this because it looks very good and, somewhere, I read that it works with MacOSX, but I couldn't get it to install.  Has anyone tried it with any success on a Mac platform?  Has anyone got any tips?

I don't think there are any Mac binaries available for LMMS. What they probably mean when they say that it works with OS X is that you can download the source code and compile it yourself on a Mac to create the necessary binaries. But that's not something that the average Mac user would know how to do.

One option that might work for you is to download the Windows version and run it in Mac Wine or a virtual machine running Windows. I'm not certain that it's compatible with Wine, but there's no harm in trying it.

Another option is to run LMMS under Linux on an Intel-based Mac. There are a few ways you might do that. The easiest way is to download the latest ubuntu Live CD i386 disk image (ver 8.10) and burn an ubuntu CD. You can then boot your Intel-based Mac off of that CD to run Linux without actually installing anything on the Mac (ubuntu is small enough that it can run quite well in 256MB or more of RAM). Of course, Linux won't run as fast off of a CD as it will when properly installed to a hard drive, but this gives you an easy way to check it out without installing anything or making any commitment to it.

If you think you'd like to install Linux on your hard drive, you can do that from the Live CD. I'm not sure how the installer will work on a Mac, but I know that on a Windows PC the installer will let you re-partition the hard drive so that you can dual boot with either Windows or Linux. I'm guessing that it should be possible to dual boot a Mac with either OS X or Linux but I don't know that for sure. Make sure you have a full backup of your Mac before attempting the install, as a mistake during partitioning could wipe out OS X and all of your programs and data. Also, you might want to ask for some help from the ubuntu forums. Perhaps someone there has some experience with installing ubuntu on a Mac (I certainly don't).

Or, you could install Linux in a virtual machine such as Parallels (see link above).

[Tony]

I appreciate the reply, 64Guitars, but as I only use a work supplied computer, I'm not going to be running it on anything other than what is supplied. But your posts did get me thinking and I think I have found a way to be happier with the Boss BR-900CD Rhythm Editor.  I'm getting more fluent at using the editor plus I can record the sequences into Garageband and compile them into tracks there.  As you know, the combinations are seemingly endless and at the end of the day it is a matter of that balance between functionality and ease of use.  Thanks for the info on LMMS.