The Arturia Drumbrute Impact (not sure about the original Drumbrute) has one of the BEST sequencers I have used. But I am not a fan of its limited sound palette.

Some places suggested- a) guitar pedals etc. but they can't really change the fundamental sound of the Drumbrute b. using the sequencer to trigger MIDI, but that's not something I am keen on doing.

I used an Elektron Model: Samples and didn't gel with it so that's off my list. (So is Analog Rytm, Tempest because those are expensive)

My research hints at AKAI MPC One (it has a step sequencer in it).

Any hardware drum machine/sampler with a similar sequencer to the Arturia Drumbrute Impact? (Doesnt matter if it is old/new, analog/digital within 600 CAD)

 

if you don't like the drum sounds from the Arturia, I would not buy one. If you have to end up back on the computer doing drum replacements, you won't use it. It's no longer fast and convenient. the roll ribbon controller is a nice feature for fills and breaks, but anything else midi you can already do easily on your computer.

 

I've got a Drumbrute Impact and enjoy using it immensely, although as you mentioned, the limited sound palette is a discerning factor...but I've embraced it. The FM drum is tweakable and can add a larger feeling of change in the overall aural scheme than I'd anticipated, while the ability to manipulate the division of individual lanes creates for me a blissful and rewarding in the moment beat making on the fly of a kind of controlled chaotic experience. I've been pairing it with the Moog DFAM and Subharmonicon plus the Arturia Polybrute for color that it's lovely filters and tonal tweaking musters so sweetly. My experiments so far have been rewarding and I do not feel that the Drumbrute's tonal constraint is in any way an impediment in my ability to, at least in my own aptnes to express the cachophonic nature of my current thought process while simultaneously expressing the trifecta of my existential demise by way of physicial, emotional and psychological/spiritual angst and impending doom.

It's fun to use and helps to keep me in the moment. Go for it, you can always flip it. Try it, you just might like it.