Topic: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

My wife's in the late stages of pregnancy and I can't get out into the studio much at the moment, and probably even less so when the baby arrives.  What would you recommend as a cheap (under £200) and easy to use 2nd hand groovebox?  I don't want anything with loads of extra features and deep menus, just something cheap and fun with drums, bass, pads, etc. that I can use with headphones.

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

maybe an MC-303? at least it's pretty cheap to get on ebay

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

you can probably find a esx1 for 200 if you look close enough.. esx1 is the most fun thing i own probably

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Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

yes or the emx1 but i'm not so sure if they can be found so cheap. but i never looked for them so i could be wrong smile the nice thing about the emx1 is that it has also synth parts, not only sampling.

another option might be the yamah rm1x, it should also be well within the requested price range. and i heard lots of good things about that machine (never used it though).

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

ahh and if you plan to "spend 200 bucks on a toy", you might as well consider the monotribe. of course it's rather limited compared to the typical groovebox, but if you watch some videos on youtube, you might be impressed at what's possible wink just an idea

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

ZeHa wrote:

yes or the emx1 but i'm not so sure if they can be found so cheap. but i never looked for them so i could be wrong smile the nice thing about the emx1 is that it has also synth parts, not only sampling.

another option might be the yamah rm1x, it should also be well within the requested price range. and i heard lots of good things about that machine (never used it though).

the emx1 does not have sampling.. im pretty sure you cant change the samples it has either

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Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

ive tried both emx and esx and i think esx wins hands down.. you can do insanely much with waveforms etc so its almost like a synth in itself

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Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

of course the emx1 does not have sampling but it has lots of built-in drum sounds, and sampling was not requested by the original poster wink

but i never used the esx1 so i didn't know about that waveform stuff wink interesting to know smile

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

Thanks for all the replies.  I don't need sampling as I've not got a computer in the house to connect it up to and download samples.  I just need something that's already loaded up with sounds that I can just switch on and mess around with.

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

interesting thread, I always dreamt of buying a very simple groovebox and get everything out of there that's possible. smile

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

Congrats on the news Koova, well the Yamaha Qy70 is a lot of fun, limited in its sounds but its the size of a video cassette runs on battery's. Smackos used it on a few of his productions, Yamaha DX200 is cool with synth and drums in one box.
The korg Microstation worth considering too. Roland SH-32 is a Jp8000 in a box with drums, editing is a bit crap but with a little perseverance is cool..  The korg ESX, why do you need a computer? just sample from your iPhone or walkman once you have a few basic tones you can resample and mangle...

+++ Dont be scared honey, thats just the resonance knob +++

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

Thanks James.  I can't wait.

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

Aw yeah congrats Koova!  My daughter is 16 months old now and she's the best thing that's ever happened to me.  Sounds extremely corny but it's true.  smile  Plus I make more music now than I did before she was born (I was afraid the opposite would happen).  I think this has a lot to do with making the most of your extremely limited free time. 

And I'll second the RM1x.  I loved the RS7000, but since you don't need sampling (and since the RS7000 is the size of a cash register) the RM1x might fit the bill for you.

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

Cheers Doug, I like your theory.

Looks like it's down to these but leaning heavily towards the QY70:

MC303 - Instant gratification but needs a power supply
RM1X - Same as the MC303
QY70 - Comes withe the Smackos seal of approval, the tiny size looks appealing, and it can run off batteries
ESX - Still not sure if it'll involve too much editing of samples to be instantly gratifying and it needs a power supply

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

Ha funny I wander into one of the local junk stores and find a Qy70 today. So I bought it and it's a lot of fun still. Yamaha XG soundset is pretty cheese fest but you can coax a lot of fun out of it. Hit me up Koova and perhaps we can work something out.

+++ Dont be scared honey, thats just the resonance knob +++

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

Since all the mentioned devices seem to use a 9V adapter, it should be possible to use something like this:

http://www.4ucam.com/images/9V_cable.jpg

17 (edited by Orbweaver 2011-11-21 08:15:27)

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

You'd still have to be mindful of the amperage.

9volt = 400-500mA

Wouldn't work for the ESX but maybe the mc 303 or rm1x.

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

ZeHa wrote:

maybe an MC-303?

Yeah. I work with the MC-303 for quite a long time now and I'm still happy with it smile
I've made a lot of tracks with it (without pc or wathever...).

I know quite all ins and outs of the machine and even still discover new possibilities.

E-Activity 004 out now: https://clone.nl/item29652.html

E-Activism

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

looks like monotribe is getting better:  http://korg.com/monotribe

i'm wondering how the new functions work if its just a software update

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

It's a bunch of button combinations but it's not so bad, worth it anyways.  it's a lot fun and well worth it.

Now they just need to have 8 memory banks and it would be awesome.

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

i'm having a lot of fun right now with the korg em-1. two synth parts and 8 drum parts, decent fx and enough tweeking options for an amateur like me to feel like i'm doing something. quite easy to learn even if you have not worked with hardware before. it's fun for live jams.

you can find em for below 200 euro

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

EM1 is the best, I rigged mine to rechargeable RC car batteries, used to play in the subway 4 EZ cash

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

also you could get a 4-track cassette multitrack + an optional reverb/delay/etc guitar pedal for send effect. Record your tunes to the four tracks and jam out king tubby style on the go smile. I recently got a fostex x-28, it's more portable and more fun then I thought.

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

Take up beatboxing.

A paranoid is someone who knows a little of whats really going on.

Re: Cheap fun groovebox recommendations

Korg DS-10 Analog Synth Emulator for Nintendo DS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UB1AZPXJoA

j/k. but if i owned a nintendo DS i would get it