BOSS DR- 220a

This was one of my very first drum machines.I bought it because it was cute, small, easy to use and cheap. It came out in 1985/86.

It's battery powered.

It's looks understate it's sounds. They are really like my Roland TR 505 & 707.... very 80's sounding.

The "A" version of the 220 is grey plastic.

The "E" version is a silver colour. The "E" stands for electronic and it has Simmons-like sounds

 (Simmons SDS-V from 1979)

The Dr.220 has Roland's famous Matrix Display.

You will find this in many of Roland's and Boss' drum machines starting from the Roland TR-707 in 1984. 

 It had 12 pads for 11 drum sounds (the 12th one was for accessing the setting functions). 

The sounds are LT, MT, HT,  CCY, Rim, HCP, CH, OH, BD, SD, RCY.

Trig In & Trig Out.... for syncing with external gear. There is no MIDI or DIN.

In Trigger in mode, the external trigger signal controls the steps.

So each time the trigger in signal is fed in, a step of the rhythm pattern is played.

The trigger output is +5V, Max 8ms

The trigger in is +5V to +15V

Possible sync examples include:

1. Syncing multiple DR-220s, or a Dr-220 to a DR-110.

2. Playing with a drum pad like the BP-1

3. Trig out of a Roland 707 ---> trig in of the 220 (you can chain such machine up)

comes with a silver padded case

Though everything is lo-fi 12 bit it doesn't sound weak. Once to put this through some distortion & delays

you can get some wicked sounds. 

It has mono output only. There is an individual level adjustment for each sound.

 

Here are some cool mods:
http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/newsarchive/DR220A.html

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For more info on the history of Roland Drum Machines click here