Drum Machines & Groove Boxes

At the 2008 Winter NAMM Show, Akai Professional announced the MPC5000, the first MPC to include eight-track streaming hard disk recording, a 20-voice, three-oscillator analog synthesizer with arpeggiator, a new sequencing engine with 960 PPQ resolution, pad and track muting and mixing, 64 continuous sample tracks and 12 Q-Link controllers. There is even a new [...]

NAMM Winter Show: Akai Professional introduced a new tool for creating beats on-the-go - the XR20 Beat Production Station.
The XR20 is a portable beat production station loaded with a sound set that is geared towards making Hip-Hop and R&B beats wherever and whenever inspiration strikes.
More than 700 pre-loaded sounds cover a range of drums, percussion, [...]

You may remember Peter Bennett and his steampunk music sequencer. Here’s a series of videos from Bennett feature other interesting new interfaces for music.
The Virtual Drum

A haptic force feedback device that simulates the feel of a drum, designed as part of Bennett’s MEng in Cybernetics at the University of Reading. The switch held in the [...]

PhD student and cybernetics guru Peter Bennet has created a new tangible interface, Beat Bearing, which is a sort of steampunk-style music sequencer.
Creatively, Bennet uses ball bearings on washer as a way of completing a circuit to make a switch. Sequences are created by moving ball bearings from the tray to one of the rows [...]

We’re looking forward to checking out Roger Linn & Dave Smith’s LinnDrum II (formerly the BoomChik) at the upcoming 2007 NAMM Show.
Here’s what Dave Smith has said about it:
Many of you have been anxiously awaiting news of BoomChik, the collaboration between Dave and Roger Linn announced at Winter NAMM 2007. As information becomes available, we’ll [...]

Check out the Drum Buddy, an awesome electroacoustic drum machine:

 

 Drum Buddy [10:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sinevibes has released MPC Recharger, a collection of sounds for professional rhythm composition with Akai MPC-500, MPC-1000 and MPC-2500 samplers.
Description: 
Aimed at those who seek something different than samples of old vinyl and vintage drum machines, MPC Recharger has been created totally from the ground up, delivering fresh and never-heard-before sounds.
This library brings 20 kits with [...]

Synesthesia Corporation has launched a new website for the Mandala 2.0 High-Def Drum & Synthesizer and announced that it is now taking orders for the new product.
Mandala 2.0 is the new version of Synesthesia’s high-def drum and synthesizer, co-developed with professional drummer Danny Carey of the progressive rock band Tool. The company announced the new [...]

Synesthesia’s Mandala 2.0, a high-def virtual drum and synthesizer, looks pretty awesome. It’s a USB-based drum controller & a new type of synth, too.
Here’s a video that shows off the Mandala in action:

Tyler Freeman, aka odbol, liked drumming on his pants so much that he added MIDI triggers, hooked his a** up to a computer and created Drumpants.
DrumPants are a set of pants that enable the wearer to produce drum sounds by hitting various parts of the pants with his hands. The wearer thusly becomes a [...]

Roger Linn Designs has released the AdrenaLinn III, the successor to Linn’s Adrenalinn II, which featured guitar effects beat-synced to an on-board drum machine. Adrenalinn II owners can buy an upgrade kit to take their machine to III status.
“AdrenaLinn III provides a guitar modeler, plus a wide variety of unique modulation and delay effects,” said [...]

A car accident has taken the life of Daniel Hansson, one of the founders of Elektron, creator of the Machinedrum and Monomachine synthesizer. Hansson died August 19th.
In a statement at the site, the Elektron team says that “Daniel’s strict determination, innovation and unsurpassed eye for detail resulted in instruments that have already reached cult status [...]

Summer NAMM Update: Roland introduced the new HD-1 V-Drum kit, a entry-level V-Drums set.
Description:
The HD-1 is equipped with an external input for connecting CD-players, iPods, and the like. Jam along with your favorite songs, and control the blend of music and your live drumming through headphones or an amplifier.
Additionally, the HD-1 is equipped with a [...]

2007 Summer NAMM Show Update: Alesis has begun shipments of the long-awaited DM5 Pro Drum Kit. Alesis announced the DM5 at the 2006 Winter NAMM Show.
Description:
The DM5 Pro Kit includes an updated DM5 sound module which contains a wealth of pre-programmed sounds and drum kits; ultra-sturdy hardware; and a professional tubular rack set-up.
The five-piece DM5 [...]

Alesis has introduced a cool new drum pad controller/drum machine, the Performance Pad. It’s a drum machine, an electronic percussion instrument and you can use it as a MIDI input device.
Performance Pad features eight velocity-sensitive drum pads and a built-in electronic drum machine with professional sounds and features.
Features:

8 natural feeling, velocity-sensitive drum pads with Dynamic [...]