A drum machine is a piece of electronic sound equipment that allows the user to program sounds in a sequence using a series of buttons, knobs and menus. Drum machines have different types of button setups but share the same principles of operation.
To to get started with a drum machine, connect it to a power source and hook it up to a pair of speakers. Most drum machines offer a means of choosing a sound and an interface that allows you to program the sounds to play in a pattern, creating a beat. Some advanced drum machines offer a way to load sounds into the machine consoles.
A drum machine does not require much investment to buy and use. A used drum machine can be bought for as little as $50. A drum machine is a good choice if you want to play beats live, but if you need to record your beats, you need a basic recording device, such as a four-track recorder, or a computer with recording software.
Computers are a more expensive way to create beats, but they offer more flexibility in the types of beats you can make. Computer beat-making is also convenient because it makes it easier to output your beat to a file or CD. Using music and recording software, you can create a beat and easily transfer it to a music file to be burned to a CD or "bounced" to an MP3. ("Bounce" is a term used by the professional audio software Pro Tools to refer to the process of outputting a Pro Tools song file to a file type suitable for publishing.)
Reason is a MIDI-based music-making software program. Featuring virtual instruments and plug-ins, including a digital drum machine, Reason is a high-performance program that requires some learning to get used to.
Pro Tools and Reason are industry-standard programs in the United States, but they can be expensive investments for a new beat artist. However, programs such as Rebirth and Audacity are free online, and both offer a usable basic recording suite.
If you don't have audio equipment available, you can always beatbox. Beatboxing means using your mouth to create drum-like noises. You can teach yourself a series of drum noises and use them to sequence a beat with your mouth. See the Resources below for a video about how to learn to beatbox.
At its core, a drum beat is probably going to have a bass component, like a bass drum hit, and a treble hit component, like a snare drum. Bass refers to the lower-toned range of sound, and treble refers to the higher-end range of sound. A basic beat sequence might include a bass drum on the first and third beat and a treble, or snare, drum on the second and fourth beat. Using this basic form, you can add and take away beats and sounds to create your own sequence.