The 10 Best Beat-Making Tools Out There
Today it’s easier than ever to become your own FlyLo or Dilla-style beat mastermind. Unlike the old days, it doesn’t cost crazy amounts of money to buy a huge, clunky piece of gear in order to produce top-notch, bedroom-crafted beats. Whether you go with software and controllers or stand-alone hardware gear, anyone from seasoned pros to green-horned beginners can make dope tracks with ease on the cheap. Here’s our list of the best beat making tools out there.
Novation Launchpad
The Novation Launchpad can be found in the arsenal of plenty of laptop-based musicians and DJs — just watch a couple Boiler Room sets for proof. It’s easy to understand their ubiquity. The Launchpad is a simple grid, automatically synced to Ableton Live with which you can both trigger and stop samples, and play individual notes. It’s easy, intuitive and relatively cheap. So it’s almost impossible to regret purchasing a versatile controller like the Launchpad.
Native Instruments Maschine MKII
The Native Instruments Maschine was the first modern hardware-software hybrid beat maker to really blow up in popularity. It utilizes its own software that you can use within your computer’s Digital Audio Workstation software like Ableton, Logic or Protools while controlling it with a highly tactile USB-connected controller. Recently they’ve released the Maschine Studio, the pro-level model, alongside the Maschine MKII that is updated with colored LED pads, and the budget-minded Maschine Mikro. There’s also the iMaschine iPhone app available for $5 that is straight up impressive.
Ableton Push
Ableton Push is Ableton’s answer to both Native Instrument’s Maschine and the Novation Launchpad. The Push seems to be the most sleek and powerful of the bunch, though we admittedly have not tested the Maschine Studio yet. The Push combines live pad playing with step sequencing, making it an extremely useful tool. The amount of control over Ableton Live is incredible. Since this controller is made for Ableton Live and comes packaged with it, it won’t work with other software, so make sure to keep that in mind before making the investment.
Critter And Guitari
Critter and Guitari is a boutique synth shop based out of Brooklyn that makes handmade analog audio and video synths. Their flagship model is the Pocket Piano, a minimalist monophonic synth with a surprising range of sounds. For only $175, it’s an awesomely portable borderline toy synth you can take with you to play with on the train. They also make a MIDI version, a bass synth and some video synthesizers that create projectable video patterns from any audio signal you send into it.
Roland SP-404SX
The SP-404 is one of the most ubiquitous samplers out there. Everyone from DJs to experimental electronic artists use them. Not only can you play back your classic vocal samples, but you can also record, edit and sample any audio, even playing it like a keyboard. You can also add effects to any sample, including a microphone running into it. As a matter of fact, back in the day, experimental indie pioneers Animal Collective had a live setup that pretty much consisted of five or six of these and a guitar.
Korg Volca Beats
Korg recently released a series of game changing analog music production equipment that is both extremely affordable and portable, and the drum unit of this series is the Volca Beats. A veritable curveball from Korg, the Volca Beats may look like a toy based on its size, but it packs a classic analog punch that would impress most 808/909 purists. Plus, it has a couple of clever built-in effects and can easily be linked up with your other hardware gear, especially the Volca Bass and Keys. We’ve been seeing the Volca Beats retail for around $150, making it the cheapest ticket to analog heaven available.
Akai MPC Studio
The Akai MPC Studio is the new, mid-range edition of the iconic MPC series. Akai is following the trend set by Native Instrument’s Maschine and the like by creating a hardware-software hybrid, using the computer’s processing power in tandem with the tactile functionality of the MPC controller. The MPC Studio brings to the table the most universally loved beat making layout and workflow, but is updated to include a modern day ease of use. At around $400, it’s not a bad way to beef up your bedroom studio.
Fingerlab DM1
If you own an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you know there are shockingly good music making apps out there. The AniMoog, for instance, is one of the best digital synths around right now, but for beat making purposes, we’re taking our hats and headphones off to Fingerlab’s DM1 drum machine app. It has 86 drum kits, including 21 totally solid vintage drum machine kits, a sequencer, and customizable drum sounds and effects. Once you’ve created the king of all beats, you can even export it to Soundcloud, iTunes and Facebook, which is insane. And it will cost you anywhere from $2 to $5. If this is the future of beat making, we’re totally down.
Arturia Spark LE
Arturia came out with the Spark a couple of years ago, and while we thought it was cool, the newer LE really piqued our interest. The LE is the smaller, more portable version of the hybrid hardware-software drum machine. Think of it like the MPC Studio, stripped down and almost strictly used for beat making. Arturia is widely regarded for their recreations of classic sounds, so you can be sure any sound you make or use on this bad boy will be tight.
Roland SPD-SX
If you’re on the hands-on end of the spectrum and have noodled at all with the skins and sticks, then you’ll definitely want to check out the Roland SPD-SX drum pad. It’s a compact electronic drum kit that you can use to play virtually any drum sound or sample you want with the hit of a drumstick. You edit samples right on the kit, add effects, and can attach two-foot triggers to act as hi-hat and kick pedals. While in the pricier range, you’ll see this puppy somewhere on or near almost every pro drummers kit nowadays.
Today it’s easier than ever to become your own FlyLo or Dilla-style beat mastermind. Unlike the old days, it doesn’t cost crazy amounts of money to buy a huge, clunky piece of gear in order to produce top-notch, bedroom-crafted beats. Whether you go with software and controllers or stand-alone hardware gear, anyone from seasoned pros to green-horned beginners can make dope tracks with ease on the cheap. Here’s our list of the best beat making tools out there.