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The Boss DR-880 is a very special drum machine. Of course, there is a lot of competition for drum machines these days, but the DR-880 can hold its own against any of its competitors. For one thing, Boss is famous for its huge and rich catalog of percussion sounds, as well as bass and electric sounds, many of which are available on the 880.
There are also many percussion instruments for the sounds that this machine can make. Some of them are typical study instruments, but others are quite rare; in fact, on this device you can hear percussion instruments from all over the world. The 880 is also packed with new waveforms.
One of the best things about the Boss DR-880 is how easy it is to use. As soon as you bring it home and take it out of the box, it is ready to go. There are also buttons called “EZ Compose” that allow you to create your own drum patterns on wide hits, so you don’t have to worry about composing drum sounds one note at a time. Of course, if you love composing music and want to create every note, you have that option too.
A special function of this machine called Groove Modify will allow you to test all kinds of grooves, to see which groove would be the most appropriate in which place. (Groove templates are free to use.) Also, it’s probably obvious to anyone familiar with the Boss product line that there are all kinds of inputs, outputs, advanced effects, and sophisticated patterns that you can add to your music with this machine. .
Among the most popular effects are chorus, delay, and a favorite of almost everyone, reverb. And you can use compressors to make sure any piece of percussion music you create is customized to your liking.
Also, you have options for how your Boss DR-880 can listen to. There are headphones, of course, but you can also play drums through whatever type of amplification you use, even through your guitar amps if you wish, although I personally recommend using a keyboard combo amp; the Roland KC series is absolutely stellar for this purpose. It is also not difficult to deflect sounds from this machine.
Do you want more details? Well, consider the following: With the Model 880, you get four different footswitch inputs, five hundred preset patterns, five hundred more user patterns, twenty pads (all pads are velocity sensitive too), four hundred and forty unique percussion sounds, and forty bass sounds in addition to them, as well as a USB port, three-band EQ, and simple, easy-to-use programming capabilities.
There are a handful of great drum machines on the market, including the Alesis SR-18, Zoom RT-223, Akai XR20, and Boss DR-670. These are all cheaper than the DR-880 and all deserve your consideration. However, if you have extra cash to spend, you just can’t beat the DR-880 … and that’s why this is the drum machine that I personally own and use every day!
You can make it sound as synthetic or natural as you like. You can even add “ghost notes” to make it look like you have a real drummer whose drumsticks are rubbing and hitting the skin of the snare! Real-time, step-by-step recording, all the different kinds of bass sounds and virtual amps, and all those little extras mentioned above make this the only drum machine you could possibly need.
You can really be so detailed with this thing that it will sound like you have a real rhythm section behind you. Unintentional drum hits and bass string slippage can be achieved with ease! Likewise, if you want to create a perfect, flawless house, dance, trance, or hip-hop track, those options are available to you too.
On the downside, the learning curve with this machine is tremendous. I’m still learning things about mine all the time, and have had it for over 2 years! To make the learning process much more tolerable than just figuring it all out on your own, there is a DVD manual available, which I can’t recommend highly enough. Every last detail of the Boss DR-880 drum machine is explained and demonstrated in a very simple, professional and enjoyable way.
So whether you are a professional songwriter, hobbyist musician, or just interested in increasing your music knowledge and appreciation, there will be a lot you can learn from this Boss drum machine. Again, if you have the money for the DR-880 and are undecided about whether you want this or the Alesis SR-18 (as good as that machine is) … or any other drum machine for that matter … oops with the Boss DR-880.