Roland Tr 707 Drum - Basic programming

The Roland TR-707 dates from 1984.
It's part of the venerable line of Drum machines bearing the TR (Transistor Rhythm) name.
These included the TR-808 from 1980 & the TR-909 from 1983.

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It's a very underrated piece of kit, and you can still pick these up on ebay for around the $600AUD price.
It has lots of the sounds of the 909. I love it's matrix display & it is a great way to connect midi & din gear.

It even has individual outputs for each of its 15 drum tones.

It's been used by artists such as Aphex Twin, Laurent Garnier, Squarepusher, & Phil Collins.
It features memory backup using two 1.5v UM-3 batteries. Keep these in even when using AC  & always replace once a year, even if you rarely turn the machine on.

You can create 4 tracks (tunes) out of  up to 64 patterns

If you have recently bought one, congratulations.

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Play V Write   &   Track V Pattern

There are two play modes & two write modes (Pattern & Track)
(This is common on many Roland drum machines, such as the 606 & 909).

You jump between the two with the shift button.

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Demo Mode

When you first turn the 707 on, it will go into Track Play Mode.
You won't be able to program any new patterns while here, but you can still hear the sounds by pressing any of the 16 step buttons.

 If you don't hear anything, make sure the volume for each of the tones is up.

When the machine was new, it was shipped with a demo program. It's probably deleted by now.

However you can restore it by pressing The TRACK mode button + Track Number button I while turning the machine on.
Now press start. You will hear the complete complete track which is made up of different patterns.
To hear the individual patterns, :
Press Pattern + one of the 1-16 step buttons.

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Programming your 1st beats

So before you can program anything with the 707, you will need to do these things:

1. Choose the sync/tempo mode.
2. Choose the pattern bank
3.  Select Pattern Write
4. Clear old patterns.
5. Enter the notes.


1. Choose the sync/tempo mode.
         (The composer must be in Track Play Mode, without the composer running).
         Press Shift + Sync/Tempo button

         There are 4 options & you can cycle through them by pressing the tempo button
         while holding down sync.  (Din sync, tape, Midi, or Internal)
          

Choose internal, if no external midi, or din devices are connected.

2. Choose a pattern bank.
    I like to enter Pattern Play mode first.
    Press the pattern button.
    (I do this before jumping straight to pattern write as I like to review the stored patterns
      before I over write anything).
      You find a blank pattern memory slot by pressing banks I to IV & slots 1 - 16.

 3.  Select Pattern Write 
      Press  Shift + Step write

The display will cycle through step , tap write.
 I'll use step write mode in this example.


4. Clear old patterns.
    Press Clear & step (1-16)
    Each of the 16 steps in the 4 banks holds a pattern


5. Enter the notes.
     a. Start the sequencer (press START)
     b. Choose your sound to add.
          Press Instrument + Step (1-16).
     c. Enter the beats (while the sequencer is running).

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