I'd Recommend the ER-1 ,it based on the old Roland TR's interface (Dead easy to use),patterns on board are geared up for All genres,mostly Dance etc ,but you can easily do you own patterns without too much fuss,the sounds are pretty tweakable and you can make your own so you not tied down to stock sounds all the time,Obviously you've got your 808 and 909 emulations ,but its pretty easy to make it your own on the Drum synths parts The ER's are great fun,i dare anyone not to have fun with them,whatever genre your into...
You can pick up the Mk-1 ER'1 for under £100 and probably the same for the Mk2,I've got Both versions cos I love em!!!!they have slight differences in the two in that the Mk2 has Cross modulation which produces some mad drum sounds and they have a slightly different sound set ,with a few common patterns shared between the two
One of the great features of the ER-1 Is that you can also route Audio through its inputs and intergrate it in with your drum patterns,which is good for feeding Pads thru it's inputs and creating rhythmic chords along with the Drums,(commonly used in Trance gernes)great for vocal parts too
I've never been a fan of Drum machines as such,I used to own an old TR909 many moons ago(Regret selling it now),but apart from that I've only ever used a Boss DR660(Basic bread and butter stock sounds with CR78/808/909 samples throw in)I'm not a huge fan of drum boxes as they tend to have weird ways of constructing songs,but the electribes have took the Roland TR intuitive way of working and made it fun again,also with a great Light show to boot
Also don't forget the ES-1 Too,which if your more after using your own samples for drums then this would be ideally suited again,its not thought as a drum machine as such in that it does exactly as the ER's do,but works in the exact same way as one...
What I like about the ER's is that you can interact with them Live too,for realtime tweaking and its so easy to create variations on the patterns live too thanks to the 16 step buttons,which allow you too alter the instruments pattern in realtime,you can also Solo and Mute any of the parts so you can create a song live if you so wish by bringing in and out the drums sounds
I have no experience of the MC's,but would give the ER-1 a shout anyday,especially for the prices they go secondhand even if you dont think it would be useful for your music if your not into dance ,You can bet your life you'll end up using it,I don't do Dance or any of the subgenres that the ER-1 patterns banks are full of but there useful for any music if you know how to tweak it..Plus with such an easy interface you could easily initialize the patterns and create your own to suit
Here's a vid of the ER-1 (Mk2)being used,discard the Music if your not doing this sort of Genre but you can see how it works and how it can be used
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_w3QDN4d14
