Hi! So… I have a TD-3 and an RD-6 and they are quite fun together. But I want a little more performability out of my drums. I like playing “live” (by myself, just jammin’, minimal acid/techno kind of stuff). I’m really appreciating the whole Behringer thing lately, as I used to own vintage Roland etc gear (I had a tb-303 for a while, but it was a real hassle, and wasn’t in great shape). I’ve never had a drum machine that I loved, but I want to change that.
I’ve been looking at the RD-8 and honestly I’m fine with being constrained to 808 sounds. But in my shopping I’ve also been looking at the Roland TR-8 (not the 8S – keeping it under $300 I hope), and the Drumbrute (OG and Impact). They all look pretty sweet, but I keep coming back to the RD-8.

The plan is to mostly just do bedroom jams with a couple of setups:

1. 303+drums into a 2i2 interface into Ableton, then using a Launchkey to control stereo effects and maybe a third (soft) synth.
2. 303+drums into guitar pedals (stereo delay/reverb etc.) and a small budget mixer (the dawless option)…

The TR-8 looks awesome with the scatter effect, onboard reverb etc. And it has 909, 707, etc. etc. But the RD-8 might edge it out sonically, and just fun-wise, I mean look at the thing… it’s like the teddy bear of drum machines. The TR-8 can also be used as an audio interface, so that might make setup #1 more interesting with that…

Any thoughts? Any good options I’m leaving out? I’ve vaguely looked at the Model:Cycles because people love it, but something isn’t grabbing me about it. I’m open, but also very ready to pull the trigger on the Behringer. Thanks!!!