Drum machine
Electronic device that produces programd drum rhythms.
What it means
A drum machine is an electronic device that generates or plays back drum sounds and triggers them automatically according to a programd rhythmic pattern. The individual sounds come either from synthesised waveforms or from recorded, sampled drum sounds, arranged on a grid of beats per bar.
Musical use
Drum machines spread from the late 1970s and especially through the 1980s, when devices such as the Roland TR series produced distinctive, characterful sounds that remain influential in genres like hip-hop, house, and electro to this day. They either replace an acoustic drum kit entirely, as in purely electronic music, or supplement it in studio productions with additional rhythmic layers.
A drum machine should be distinguished from a sampler, which can play back any recorded sound, not only drum sounds, and can also alter its pitch and speed, rather than being limited to percussion. It also differs fundamentally from an acoustic drum kit, since no note is struck by a performer but a predetermined sequence sounds instead.
Performance practice
When programming rhythmic patterns on a drum machine, start with simple, repeating basic beats such as kick and snare before adding more complex fills and embellishments. Where useful, apply slight timing shifts to individual hits to give the mechanically exact grid a livelier, less rigid groove.