BOSS DR-3 Dr. Rhythm
Beat Maker Studio On The Cheap: Zoom MRT3 Micro Rhythm Trak Drum Machine + Tascam PocketStudio DP 004
For all of y’all out there sitting on the fence trying to figure out whether to get in this hip hop beat making game or not, I have a question for you: What’s it gonna take?
You can only make excuses for so long and you can only beat box with your mouth or pound on a table with your hands for so long. If you have a computer -great. That’s a rap beat making studio in a box sitting right there in front of you. Go get Sonic Producer for and start making your own beats right now, end of story.
But if you are a little more hands-on and want some real versatility then DO THIS: get a Zoom MRT3 Micro Rhythm Trak Drum Machine and a Tascam PocketStudio DP 004 and you will have your own hip hop beat making studio for under $250.
The beauty in this is that you will learn to make hip hop beats on a drum machine and record them on multi-track recorder. That will set you up for eventually expanding your studio and having the experience to work more complicated, more powerful rigs like Akai MPCs or workstation keyboards. If you really want to get in to music producing this experience will be invaluable.
You don’t need a huge synthesizer or MPC right now (unless you just have loads of $$$ to spend and want to jump right in), so start with what you can get your hands on easily. These two tools are powerful enough to make plenty of great songs with.
The Zoom MRT3 has plenty of drum kits and sounds for you to program and arrange in to your own beats and songs. Your creativity will be your limit, don’t let inexpensive equipment be an excuse for not using it to its potential. It can also run on 4 AA batteries so you can bang out some beats while you wait for a window to open up at the damn DMV.
Same goes for the Tascam PocketStudio DP 004. You can pug mics in to it, you can plug your sister’s cheap garage sale keyboard in to it, hell – IT EVEN HAS BUILT IN STEREO MICROPHONES! Record some weird refrigerator noises over your Zoom beats and make some crazy next-level style madness! When you’re done, save it all and hook it up to your stereo and blast it at the next party! Better yet – record the party and loop a beat over that!
See what I’m saying? Get your hands dirty and stop talking about it – If you have a couple hundred bucks you could have your own portable hip hop beat making studio this week!