drum machine

American  

noun

1. a device that simulates percussion sounds in various combinations and rhythms, and can alter digitally stored drum sounds or make digital recordings of drum sounds.

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drum machine British  

noun

1. a synthesizer specially programmed to reproduce the sound of drums and other percussion instruments in variable rhythms and combinations selected by the musician; the resulting beat is produced continually until stopped or changed

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Example Sentences

The British singer and his band trade instruments with a sense of ease — splitting their time among a cello, keyboards, synthesizers, a drum machine, electric and acoustic guitars.

From Los Angeles Times

Inside, he’s in the company of his drum machine, a turntable, synthesizers and his vinyl collection.

From Los Angeles Times

The show’s producers were always pushing to save money, Groening says, and to have the show scored with synthesizers and a drum machine — par for the course for TV music in the 1990s.

From Los Angeles Times

He still has the Oberheim DX, a 1982 drum machine that he used on videos like his man-on-the-street interview series with Good Neighbor — the group Mooney formed in 2007 with McCary and two friends he made while studying film at USC: Beck Bennett and Nick Rutherford.

From Los Angeles Times

Families bounced and gently moshed along to the drum machine beats as “Juan,” also known as Kid Congo Powers, regaled them with a story about his hair catching on fire while playing a candlelit punk show with the Cramps.

From Los Angeles Times