All the best grooveboxes on the market today
3 min read
FOLLOWING the announcement of the Roland MC-707 Groovebox, beat-making hardware is a hot topic. As such, it seems proper to highlight all of the best grooveboxes on the market today.
While there are many historic examples, they can hit high premiums, even second hand, so this article will focus on those that are still available and common for first-hand buyers.
Roland MC-707
While not technically out yet, this piece of hardware is worth mentioning so readers can make an informed decision, in case they are seeking a new groovebox. It is a very promising-looking piece of gear and so it may be worth waiting until the end of the month if you are considering something from Roland. Read more here.
Roland TR-8s
The Roland TR-8s is seen by many as the successor of the Roland TR-8 Rhythm Performer. It is a professional-grade performance surface with detailed circuit-models of the 808, 606, 909, 707, 727, and even several modified versions.
Pros
- Traditional Style
- great feeling controls
- LEDs
- fantastic performance
- Great I/O
Cons
- Expensive
- Limited to drums and pitched sounds
Novation Circuit
The Novation Circuit combines a two-part synthesiser and a four-part drum machine with a 4×8 RGB velocity-sensitive grid-based sequencer.
It allows you to combine up to 128 steps of synth and drum patterns; save up to 32 sessions, each comprised of up to 8 patterns per track.
While it is considered to be a “sketch” surface more than a full production surface, it will allow you to make grooves and the basis for tracks.
It works as a great complement to a larger production setup, or as part of a DJ/production hybrid setup.
Pros
- Medium price
- Drums and synth layers
- Great controls
- Good range of sounds
Cons
- Limited potential for full song production
- Some controls aren’t labelled
- Needs to combine with other gear for true potential
Teenage Engineering Pocket Operator Po 12 Rhythm
The Pocket Operator Rhythm is a drum synthesizer and sequencer with parameter locks, individual step re-trig and punch-in effects.
While it is by far the most bare-bones option on the list it still offers great potential, and the PO-Rhythm is great for lo-fi and chip-style performance and production.
Pros
- Very cheap
- Unique sound
- Fun display graphics
- Compact
Cons
- Limited range of sounds and controls
- Cheap design built onto the wafer -won’t handle rough use
Korg Volca Beats
Perhaps the best bang-for-buck option on the list, the Korg Volca Beats is both affordable and versatile.
It works great in conjunction with other Volca products, as well as part of more advanced setups.
It offers real analogue sounds created with reference to classic rhythm machines and is compact with battery power options for portable setups.
Pros
- One of the best value drum machines
- Small
- Can run on battery
- Analogue sounds
- Great for beginners
Cons
- Some controls are cheap feeling and may break under hard wear
- Fewer sound design options compared to pricier counterparts
Korg Volca Drum
Similar to the Volca Beats, the Korg Volca Drum is a beat-making device of the same form-factor.
Where it differs though, is it has a digital (instead of analogue) drum engine and has, for each layer, five types of oscillator waveforms and three types of Pitch Modulation.
Pros
- Offers a different variety of sounds to the Volca Beats
- Battery-powered
- Multi-layer sound design
- Cheap
- Dedicated swing knob
Cons
- Less-traditional workflow
- Not hugely different to the Volca Beats besides the sound engine
Elektron Digitakt
Coming in at the higher-end, the Elektron Digitakt Drum Machine features a digital sound engine, eight internal audio tracks, eight dedicated MIDI tracks, a 64MB sample memory and 1GB of drive storage.
Pros
- Deep drum control
- Intuitive sound design
- Rugged build
Cons
- Expensive
- Limited to drums and pitched sounds
Pioneer TORAIZ SP-16
The Pioneer DJ Toraiz SP-16 is a great piece of top-end kit, suitable for creating full tracks or supplementing a DJ set.
Designed to work well with existing Pioneer DJ gear, it will allow DJs to add elements of production to their sets, as well as act as a handy synth, sequencer, sampler, and drum machine.
Kitted out with a Dave Smith filter and deep control including track FX and 256 patterns, the Toraiz also boasts 8GB storage to hold samples and recordings.
It also has the most intuitive interface with sensible menus and touch screen control.
Pros
- Extremely deep design possibilities
- Can produce full tracks on this
- Great for performance
- Very high-quality build
Cons
- Very expensive
If Toraiz is on this list, I think Akai MPC Live is missing.