Accompanying Drum Track

Kayak Jim

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I'm looking for options that provide basic drum track loops that I can use to keep a small ensemble "on track" at various tempos. A free or low cost online site would be ideal. The only one I've found is this one. The jazz tack seems pretty good and a couple others sound OK, but the simple track has a pause where the loop repeats.

http://www.8notes.com/metronome/

Or maybe I need to go to something like the Korg Mini Drum Machine, although it seems to have too many options.

https://www.long-mcquade.com/48718/...s_Drum_Machines/Korg/Compact_Drum_Machine.htm

I don't have a tablet or smart phone so apps are out I think.

What are some good choices?
 
I'm looking for options that provide basic drum track loops that I can use to keep a small ensemble "on track" at various tempos. A free or low cost online site would be ideal. The only one I've found is this one. The jazz tack seems pretty good and a couple others sound OK, but the simple track has a pause where the loop repeats.

http://www.8notes.com/metronome/

Or maybe I need to go to something like the Korg Mini Drum Machine, although it seems to have too many options.

https://www.long-mcquade.com/48718/...s_Drum_Machines/Korg/Compact_Drum_Machine.htm

I don't have a tablet or smart phone so apps are out I think.

What are some good choices?

If the smartphone and tablet apps are out - are you planning to haul a laptop around?

Otherwise a drum machine such as the one you linked to is going to be the simplest and most road-worthy solution.

Zoom also makes an inexpensive drum machine, which also has bass loops and a whole bunch of other drum kits and bass sounds, for only $50 more than that Korg unit:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/RT223

Otherwise if you want to haul around a laptop, you might want to look for "MIDI drum loops" and then you can play the MIDI drum loops in any program that supports MIDI, such as those included with Windows (Windows Media Player), Mac (Quicktime) or Linux (Parole Media Player with the timidity package).

Even cheaper and simple still is to pick up one of those old Casio keyboards from the 80's or 90's at a garage sale or thrift shop, as they had beats in them, and others would provide a whole band of accompaniment with 1-finger chords, and some were programmable that you could save songs into the memory and have them play back, one at a time, or all in a sequence....

Hope this helps. :)
 
LMMS is free, but requires you to create your own drum tracks...
 
Thanks for the input so far. I don't have a problem running something on my laptop as we're just playing in my or others' homes, not doing gigs or busking. I've just downloaded some MIDI files from Groove Monkey and from Odd Grooves and all seem to be short clips of a just couple of bars, not "loops" (even though they refer to them as loops).
 
Do you have GarageBand? Lots of pre-loaded loops on there.

The "not-loops" you refer to are actually loops, you just need to load them up in a program and get them to repeat. I'm sure you can do a multi copy/paste in Audacity to get a long enough track where the file repeats many times in a row. Then you could export it as an MP3 to play on your iPod, etc... Or, most DAWs have a way to loop a selected section. But yeah, you're going to have a hard time using those files without some sort of audio manipulation program.
 
Assuming you have a Mac or PC, iReal is a chart making app which can also be used to creat backing tracks with some decent jazz or pop drums, bass and other backup stuff. 15 buck all in. On. PC you can run it using BlueStacks android emulator.
 
I like using the SuperMetronome App on my iPhone. Its $6.99 but I think it was worth it. There is a free version you can check out, but its got a bunch of annoying limitations.
 
There are inexpensive mini battery amps out there with built in drum tracks, I've seen Vox on eBay
 
You might also want to check out https://www.karaukey.com/

They have ukulele 'karaoke' style backing tracks, and like a music-minus-one where you can disable certain instruments (including the uke)

IIRC the guy that runs it is a member on UU, but have not seem him on the forum for the past 6+ months or so.

There may be some posts in the 'Self Promotion' section of the forum with more info.
 
For drum and bass backing tracks, you might want to look at this guy's website. The site provides samples of each song he has in his library so that you can get a feel for what it sounds like:
http://www.drumandbasstracks.com/tracks/

The downside of his backing tracks is if you don't use good quality speakers or a PA system, the bass part is not going to sound realistic.
 
Just a couple of iOS ideas...GarageBand not only has loops, but as of this winter, intelligent drummers can play in a number of styles.

Also...check out iReal Pro, which is sort of like "Band in the Box" used to be on computers. You can enter a chord progression (and load it), turn instruments on and off, and then practice with it.
 
Try Music Maker Jam, it should be available in the Windows store free. Just tried it on my phone and it was dead simple!
 
Just noticed that you can add 3 music styles free. Super easy and quite fun if you only want a loop. Been playing around with it during this morning =).
 
OK so I ended up getting Groove Box app that works on my older iPod Touch. 500+ tracks for a couple of bucks. There's no variable tempo, each track is at a fixed tempo, but they are organized by tempo. I can live with that.

Again. I appreciate the input.
 
Maybe I'm too old and my mind doesn't immediately go to an electronic or digital solution. I bought a good set of used high-hats and keep time with my left foot (I tap my foot anyway, so I put something under it). Tempo is infinitely adjustable, no batteries required.
 
The electronic solution is, hopefully, a temporary one for me. A buddy plays a high hat with one foot, a small drum with the other, all while singing and playing uke. I recently got a foot tambourine and am trying to learn some co-ordination. Finding it much harder than just tapping my foot -unless I want every song to sound like Jingle Bells.

I know- practice.
 
There is a video which has sadly been taken down from YouTube for copyright issues. It's David Bowie performing at The Bridge School benefit concert. He does an acoustic version of Heroes and for percussion he has a bottle cap taped to the bottom of his shoe. I found it inspiring.

Btw, the video is not viewable in the US but likely viewable in the UK. The song is available on iTunes.
 
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