Round-the-neck drum machine

I am new. I registered to ask this question. What drum machine can I buy to wear around my neck as a stand-up solo singer. I want to set the beat and then drum around it.

Background. I am basically an a capella singer, doing old time, folk, and gospel. I sometimes set the beat with an array of traditional percussions: washboard, tamborine, maracas, guiro. But I mainly pound my body in different places with different hand techniques (flat, cupped) to make different sounds. This was -- still is I guess -- called hambone. By the end of the night, it is hard on my hands and hard on the 5 body places that I mostly slap on. I am getting too old for this. I have seen a you-tube clip of Jonathan Coulter in concert with a drum machine hanging around his neck. What is that? How much does such a thing cost?

Hi, welcome to the forum. Not fimilar with Jonathon Coulton and cant find clips you mentioned. There's a couple of cheapish, portable electronic drum pads that I am aware of, both from Alesis - the Perpad (RRP £79) and the Samplepad (£99). The latter allows you to import your own sounds into it. However they still need amplification. Whether they can be played round your neck is anoither matter, I would imagine that they could be mounted on something(mikestand maybe?)
Anyway the're worth a look at, if only to get a better idea whats available. There are smartphone apps available as well.
Click on the links for further info
http://beta.musicradar.com/gear/drum...-543719/review

http://beta.musicradar.com/gear/drum...-509931/review

http://www.palmsounds.net/p/iphone-drum-dj.html

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easyb...329472198?mt=8

These two Alesis ones look real good. Thanks. I already lug around a small amp and one stand with two mikes, at mouth height and belly height. I could plug in the machine instead of the lower mike, use a more modern head mike, get rid of the stand, and be able to move around, which would be great.. My idea is to put down the basic beat track for each number in advance, and then play over it live. Have to see them in person, but I don't see why I can't rig up some kind of lanyard/harness, hang them vertically, and play them by feel instead of sight, as if it was a four-key concertina or accordion. If there is something impractical about this, because of my non-experience with the electronics, please let me know.

By the way, it's Coulter, not Coulton. I don't know anything about him really, either. He normally plays guitar, with a few pieces using the drum machine.