I'm going to guess that with one output, you get one channel on the mixing board for drums, so you gotta mix ALL the drums well within the drum machine..
Concerning the Patterns, I wanna say it has 16 banks of 12 Patterns or vice versa, which would give you 192 Patterns - I think the Alesis has 200, so that's a wash.. It also has 4x16 intro/fill Patterns which equal 64 Patterns for intros/fill.. Add 192 and 64 and you get 256 Rhythm Patterns, which you mention below.. Yes, these might be pre-programmed, but you might need to find out if you can over-write them with your own Patterns.. That way you can custom tailor the drums to whatever song you're playing.. I don't think you'll be happy only playing the Patterns they give you..
I'll try to take a look at the Roland today when I get a second..
Regarding playing with a drum machine.. you would absolutely HAVE to practice playing with it to get used to it.. its like Terminator, man.. like I said in another post:
Listen. Understand. That Drum Machine is out there. It can't be reasoned with, it can't be bargained with...it doesn't feel pity of remorse or fear...and it absolutely will not stop.Ever. Until you are dead.
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Aries
I assume it just has one output, but I don't find a picture so that's the description on the Roland website.
It's hard to tell how it compares because they don't use the same terminology as Alesis. This is what the specs say about "user memory": Pattern, Intro/Fill-In: 16 Bank (12x16 Pattern, 4x16 Intro/Fill-In)
But I don't know how that compares. They also talk about "steps" and "sub-steps", not sure if that's the same thing or not... I scanned the owner's manual quickly and did find where it said it has 256 rhythm patterns, and two variations for each rhythm pattern. I assume ALL of those are pre-programed, which I think is mostly what I would end up using. I didn't see anything at all that said how many "songs" you could save though.
The Roland is a little more expensive machine, has name brand recognition, and just seems from the description like may be a little more versatile. But the Alesis is less expensive and probably more than I'll ever use anyway. The Alesis seems to have more outputs if that's important.
This is a link to Roland's web page, if you want to take a look at the TR-08
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www.roland.com]
I think I'm down to between those two, so I'll see if I can find some youtube videos, and see if it looks like for any reason the Roland is worth the extra money. I REALLY appreciate all your information!
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