A drum machine reproduces the sounds which a musical drum or other percussion instruments make. It is an electronic alternative, used when drummers are not required, to produce similar music as the original by synthesizing the music. The operator can electronically create drumbeats through these machines.

Known earlier as “Rhythm Makers”, it was during the early 1930s that the Rhythgmicon was invented by Leon Theremin to produce a variety of rhythms.

Theremin’s invention was able to play as many as 16 different rhythms, in different pitches, solo, or en-masse or in combination with each other.

Improvised drum machines appeared in 1947. The Chamberlin Rhythmate, with 14 tape loops, enabled different tracks to be played back either on these tapes solo or with blending. Volume controls and input jacks also appeared after some time.

12 years later, the Sideman (which was invented in Wurlitzer) became the first commercially produced drum machine, offering predefined rhythmic patterns and tempos. Then came the Rhythm Synthesizer, which was invented by Raymond Scott. It was commonly called Bandito the Bongo Artist, and its Soothing Sounds for Baby became a popular series. Rhythm Ace produced by Roland continues to be a successful drum machine.

From its origins, drum machines have come a long way, progress from analog sound synthesizers to fully digital composers. We also now have fully programmable drum machines. Roland continues to flood the market with a number of different types of drum machines.

These days, online drum machines are also quite a rage. They are inexpensive and produce great sounds. Although one can easily start using an online drum machine, make sure you do a little research if you decide that you want to purchase a real drum machine.

If you haven’t heard of Howie Day before, I highly recommend that you check out some of his music. The reason I say you should check out some of his music is because he is an extremely talented musician, and of all the people that I have exposed to his music, I can’t think of a single one that didn’t like listening to it.

In case you aren’t familiar with Howie Day, I will provide you with a little bit of background information on him. Although he had been playing music and touring for some time prior to releasing this album, his first actual album release was called Australia, which was released back in 2000 (it was then re-released by Epic Records in 2002). The song off of this album that really launched his career was She Says.

After the re-release of Australia, Day began to gain more popularity, and began touring once again. At the end of 2003, he released Stop All the World Now, and the song off of this album that really made his popularity take off was Collide (because this song has been used in a variety of movies and television shows).

Although he had to deal with some personal issues, Day is now in the studio and is working on a new album, which is scheduled to be released sometime during 2009.

One interesting fact about Day is that when he was getting his start and touring for the first time, he actually used a drum machine during his live performances. In addition to using this drum machine while he was touring, he also used it to record some of his early EPs.