I was pretty happy with the snare when I made this tune… https://www.instagram.com/tv/B_wKsToha88/?utm_medium=copy_link
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Really !?
I love it. The Tone, Chords, Kick particularly,
Yeah i agree. Great sounding snare ! fierce track
I liked Tone and Chord too but not for drums.
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Ah yeah ok I see what you’re getting at
Honestly I think snares are the weak spot in most drum machines, for me anyway. The m:c is just another one of them.
This isn’t to say I can’t get snare sounds I like out of it, just that it takes more work than most other sounds. I find lots of good snare sounds in the tone machine too.
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Truth 
, the only drum machine I’ve used where the snares were the star was the Acidlab Drumatix
Probably one of the reasons I use snares less than half the time.
All the memes about working for hours on a snare are good clues that snares are just weird anyway.
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I agree. I love the M:C’s kick, hats, and tones. But the perc and especially the snare sound like a children’s toy. I generally avoid those two and try to make a rim shot with a pitched-up kick.
Indeed. In fact to be totally fair, I spend even more time getting my actual snare drums to sound the way I want.
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It’s why I switched to OT for drums. I’ve got a chain of snares that aren’t weird, and mix well, and I spend hardly any time trying to make them work. Samples FTW!
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Yeah I agree. Samples is easy. That or the (audio thingies) double drummer or tempest
I came to the same conclusion, although I fancy analog drum machines here and there. But samples are just so flexible
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Yeah dude I felt the same way when i first got my M:C. Like you could definitely get some interesting snare sounds but you couldn’t get that punchy, gut feeling, like snare until i really started to play around with the machines. I’ve got some really good snares from the kick and tone machine. Also if you machine lock the trigs and then start changing the “track” machine you can get some different sounds. So like, machine locked snare sounds different on a kick track and sounds different on a metal track. Once i figured that out i was able to get some interesting snare sounds.
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If you have that plastic strap thing to hold the snare wire in place, get rid of it. Use string or nylon ribbon. Insantly better.
Also, use the best quality snare wires you can get. Stock ones are always crap.
Fresh heads make a massive difference.
Crank the heads as tight as you can get them. Loose wires, that are just tight enough to react to a feather light tap when throwoff engaged.
Done. Walk away.
Hit dead centre for snap, rimshots for crack and depth.
As for machines. 606/707/909 snare into a compressor. Tuned up tight and punchy Covers all scenarios.
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To each his own… To me the weak one is the metal machine. But it doesn’t matter, I get wicked cool sounds from the others.
Excellent tips, I employ every one of them as base starting points at least. I meant I spend too much time fussing with experimenting. What can I say? I’m a tone chaser.
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hahaha love it. I would say “crank the hell of out of the bottom head” but then “tune the top head to taste.” but to each their own… I got over the cranked to hell piccolo snare kind of sound back in the 90’s. 
anyway… yeah snare drums aren’t super difficult to get sounding good. of course, it also helps if you have a decent drum. or five. which brings me back to the topic: they are something you definitely want multiple options for. physical drum or electronic.
my opinion of the M:C snares is that they are versatile and interesting, but yeah you’re not going to get it to sound like a real drum. if you want that, buy the M:S. I do like them though. my gripe is more with the hi-hats. and the clap options are shit. which is totally fine… I don’t think it’s a do-it-all drum box but more a good companion to other drum machines.
nobody should have only one drum machine anyway. unless it’s a sampler.
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Not sure how we got on acoustic snares but since i’m a drummer for like 25 years who is like relatively just now getting into bleep bloorps i’ll throw my 2 cents in.
Bottom head as loose as you can get it, like just beyond finger tight.
Def replace your snares as soon as you can factory/stock snares are crap and that does make a difference.
Honestly i’ve never even thought of the plastic vs nylon holder for the snares but maybe i should try that?
As for the top head I watched a youtube vid a while back that had a kinda weird tuning but i really like it. Basically you tune the top two lugs (the ones away from you) cranked as high as they go. You tune the bottom two lugs (the ones closest to you) as low as they can go just beyond finger tight. Then the other four lugs you tune to taste. As for the types of snares i’ve found the older i get the more i really want a deep fat snare with a good crack. So i’ve really gravitated towards wood snares (maple or ash) that are deep (6.5 or deeper) but hey that’s just me
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Ive got a Sleishman snare drum. Suspended shell. So you only adjust one side, both heads tighten in unison. Super simple.
Back to the topic. I agree, have more than one drum machine. Unless its got multiple sound engines, like a TR8-S 
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