Meaning & use
drum machine
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
An electronic device that stores and plays recorded drum sounds, often used in pop and dance music.
Grammar: Countable: use a/an or a plural — a drum machine, two drum machines.
Patterns
- program a drum machine
- a drum machine pattern
- play along to a drum machine
The producer programmed the beat on a drum machine instead of hiring a drummer.
Early hip-hop records were built around a cheap drum machine.
She set the drum machine to a slow tempo and started singing over it.
Word forms
| plural | drum machines |
|---|
Common combinations
- program a drum machine
- It took him an hour to program the drum machine for the new track.
- a drum machine beat
- The song opens with a simple drum machine beat.
- an electronic drum machine
- He bought an electronic drum machine to practice with at night.
- drum machine sounds
- The album is full of warm, old-fashioned drum machine sounds.
Synonyms and how they differ
- drum kit
- A drum kit is a set of real drums played with sticks; a drum machine is electronic and plays stored sounds.
- drum pad
- A drum pad is a flat surface you hit with your hands or sticks to trigger sounds, while a drum machine usually plays patterns automatically.
Word family
Commonly confused: drum machine or drum kit?
drum machine vs drum kit
A drum kit is the physical set of drums; a drum machine is an electronic box that produces drum sounds.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'drum machine' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Programmed a drum machine' fits because the device is electronic and stores patterns. Option 0 and 3 describe a real acoustic drum set, and option 2 wrongly treats the machine as a person who can be injured.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “drum machine”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.