drum machine

noun

: an electronic device that simulates the sound of drums

Examples of drum machine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Longtime collaborator Erik Blood foregrounds Butler’s dry drum machines in the mix, letting every other element shuffle around them, snaking toward the spotlight for a brief moment and retreating back into the brume. — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 23 Oct. 2026

At first, people used drum machines as metronomes — to keep a drummer from speeding up or slowing down and to keep everyone on the same rhythmic wavelength. — Kristin Robinson, Billboard, 30 Sep. 2026

On Days of Ash, a drum performance or two was swapped out for a drum machine. — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 28 Sep. 2026

Johnson frequently uses his saxophone to control a sampler or drum machine, triggering changes in loops and effects, but the technology is ultimately subordinate to physical expression. — Spin Staff, SPIN, 9 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1976, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for drum machine

• acridine
• acrolein
• adenine
• alkylene
• aniline
• anthracene
• aquiline
• asphaltene
• atlantean
• atrazine
• butadiene
• butylene