What drum machine did Dr Dre use on the early NWA albums?

I have read that he used the 3000 on all his stuff but his beats on all the albums ending with The Chronic seem to bang more and are waaay tighter ( groove, bump and swing) than anything he has done since. The same with DJ Quik, Way Too Funky is super tight but the beats on the new album seem almost stiff in comparison.

i'm fairly certain the nwa albums where made with an emu sp 1200 , i think only the chronic was sequenced with an mpc 60 and sampled with a akai s950. then for the next album he used a 3k

rokuez wrote:i'm fairly certain the nwa albums where made with an emu sp 1200 , i think only the chronic was sequenced with an mpc 60 and sampled with a akai s950. then for the next album he used a 3k

Thanks for the info, I really like the "N 4 Life" albums beats and how tight they were , frankly I haven't heard anything in the last six or seven years as tight beat and production wise with pure funk, rhythm and soul. I might have to cop a 1200!!

nah...on ****** he was using an emulator 3, messin with them stereo samples

earwolf wrote:nah...on ****** he was using an emulator 3, messin with them stereo samples

when i bought my eiii i was told it used to be dr. dre's and that he was the original owner. the eiii cost 15 grand new in 1988

"The Chronic seem to bang more and are waaay tighter ( groove, bump and swing) than anything he has done since."

With good eq and mastering techniques anythng can do that.
" ( groove, bump and swing)", this means nothing.

"The same with DJ Quik, Way Too Funky is super tight but the beats on the new album seem almost stiff in comparison."

Again this means nothing, when a beat is made from all pure samples, eq'd and mastered, you don't KNOW what gear it came from.

Unless you sat down in the studiop and watched them make it. They can lie to you in mags and interviews, you'll NEVER really know now will you?

You can see the xl and 3000 on many album covers but you'll NEVER really know now will you?

Lampdog wrote:"The Chronic seem to bang more and are waaay tighter ( groove, bump and swing) than anything he has done since."

With good eq and mastering techniques anythng can do that.
" ( groove, bump and swing)", this means nothing.

"The same with DJ Quik, Way Too Funky is super tight but the beats on the new album seem almost stiff in comparison."

Again this means nothing, when a beat is made from all pure samples, eq'd and mastered, you don't KNOW what gear it came from.

Unless you sat down in the studiop and watched them make it. They can lie to you in mags and interviews, you'll NEVER really know now will you?

You can see the xl and 3000 on many album covers but you'll NEVER really know now will you?

It means something when can hear obvious differences that go beyond just eq-ing and mastering, it's some quantization differences in the beats that has nothing to do with the sample itself but more the difference that you get from machine to machine. I can hear difference in machines ranging from the Linn, DMX clear up to the 2500, they all don't swing with the same tightness no matter how much you eq and master them, that might effect the sound quality but not the way the groove.

Groove you say?

What is the ppqn of those machines you just listed?

Isn't your groove on all those machines restricted to that ppqn?

So in theory they can all have the exact same groove, if they have the same ppqn, if you play them the exact same way?

This has been debated on the forums MANY millions of times, it's been a while since someone brought it up though, kudos for being "that guy"..

I mean its possible to get a certain sound by running trough processors and preamps and desks BUT there are also sound characteristics of certain machines! Even the E4 I had sounded night and day from the 2kxl or a soft sampler. You can change the EQ and compression, but the warmth and character of the machine is only masked not destroyed. Besides I would rather use a machine that has the sound, then use EQ to polish, rather than try to make a MPC sound like a Emu with the eq.

Lampdog wrote:Groove you say?

What is the ppqn of those machines you just listed?

Isn't your groove on all those machines restricted to that ppqn?

So in theory they can all have the exact same groove, if they have the same ppqn, if you play them the exact same way?

This has been debated on the forums MANY millions of times, it's been a while since someone brought it up though, kudos for being "that guy"..

Not true, but you did say in theory so that's ok.
On the older machines you linked patterns and changed their T/S to get deeper resolutions.

We just tend to forget things like this now since we have better tools at our disposal.
Even the early Roland x0x machines benefit from working that way.

Another thing is that we are talking about very sloppy sequencers that never quite hit things on the math like they should.

another factor that you guys seem to have overlooked that contributed to those old recordings is...

THEY STILL USED TAPE AS THE RECORDING MEDIUM!


i dont think Dre or Quik are using tape much nowadays...