Who needs any excuse to play with some old drums.
I'd thought I'd try to pair my old Roland (Ace Tone FR-1) from 1967 and
Korg mini-pops with some Buchla. Neither drum has a trigger out so I had to
use a Buchla 230 envelope follower.
It works quite well.
First the Korg MiniPops. It's from 1972.
Next the old Roland (Ace Tone) FR-1
Saturday, 22 November 2014
Thursday, 20 November 2014
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.
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
Ace Tone FR-3
The Ace Tone FR-3 was released in 1967.
The FR3 was also sold in the USA as the Hammond Rhythm 2.
To make matters more confusing the newly founded Roland Corporation released an improved version of the FR3 in 1972. They called it the Roland Rhythm 33 ( TR-33)
Anyway, this pre-Roland made rhythm box was designed by the great Mr Kakehashi. . It has beautiful percussion sounds !!! Pure analog. A common problem however is a hum caused by the power transformer. It appears that the position of the transformer is too close to the gyrators (coils & caps). A easy fix is to move the transformer ... outside the case or away from those coils.
At the moment, this machine is all original, with faults and all. I think the hum is part of the charm.
There are mods out on the net for adding drum triggers, midi clock, etc.
https://tubbutec.de/blog/unipulse-installation-ace-tone-rhythm-ace-fr3/
Ace Tone itself was was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in 1960. Their first products were amplifiers.
They became the Roland Corporation.
The Rhythm Ace series of drum machines were sold under multiple names: Hammond & Multivox in the USA, Bentley in the UK
For example the Roland Rhythm 77 (1972) was sold in the UK as the Bentley & in the USA as the Hammond Auto-Vari 64 (1964). The equivalent Acetone was the Ace Tone FR-7L.
The Ace Tone FR-2L as called the Hammond Auto in the USA (1972).
So in 1972, when Kakehashi left Ace Electronics and established Roland Corporation.
he released improved models of the FR-3 & FR-7
The Ace Tone FR-3L became the Roland Rhythm 33 (1972, TR-33)
The Ace Tone FR-7L became the Roland Rhythm 77 (1972, TR-77)
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For more info on the history of Roland Drum Machines click here
The FR3 was also sold in the USA as the Hammond Rhythm 2.
To make matters more confusing the newly founded Roland Corporation released an improved version of the FR3 in 1972. They called it the Roland Rhythm 33 ( TR-33)
Anyway, this pre-Roland made rhythm box was designed by the great Mr Kakehashi. . It has beautiful percussion sounds !!! Pure analog. A common problem however is a hum caused by the power transformer. It appears that the position of the transformer is too close to the gyrators (coils & caps). A easy fix is to move the transformer ... outside the case or away from those coils.
At the moment, this machine is all original, with faults and all. I think the hum is part of the charm.
There are mods out on the net for adding drum triggers, midi clock, etc.
https://tubbutec.de/blog/unipulse-installation-ace-tone-rhythm-ace-fr3/
Ace Tone itself was was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in 1960. Their first products were amplifiers.
They became the Roland Corporation.
The Rhythm Ace series of drum machines were sold under multiple names: Hammond & Multivox in the USA, Bentley in the UK
For example the Roland Rhythm 77 (1972) was sold in the UK as the Bentley & in the USA as the Hammond Auto-Vari 64 (1964). The equivalent Acetone was the Ace Tone FR-7L.
The Ace Tone FR-2L as called the Hammond Auto in the USA (1972).
So in 1972, when Kakehashi left Ace Electronics and established Roland Corporation.
he released improved models of the FR-3 & FR-7
The Ace Tone FR-3L became the Roland Rhythm 33 (1972, TR-33)
The Ace Tone FR-7L became the Roland Rhythm 77 (1972, TR-77)
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For more info on the history of Roland Drum Machines click here
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Korg DDM-110 (Digital Drum Machine)
This is a vintage 8-Bit Digital Drum Machine from 1985.
It was one of the early drums to use PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) samples.
(It's brother & compliment drum was the Korg DDM 220 - this was a more Latin/organic sounding machine with sounds such as Conga, Timbale, Wood Block, & Agogo).
(The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer released in 1980 was the first drum machine to use digital samples. Only about 500 were ever made and they retailed for $5k).
Today we tend to look down on these kinds of sampled sounds. The current "fashion" is all analog. But back in 1985 PCM was really cutting edge and the 110 was relatively cheap. Today PCM is the standard form of digital audio in computers, Compact Discs & digital telephones.
So the Korg DD110 is one of the worlds early & affordable Programmable Digital Drum Machines (also called the Korg Super Drums). For this reason I think it's very special.
The 10 buttons are from left to right: Accent, Bass (kick), Snare, Rimshot, High Tom, L Tom, Closed High Hat, Open HH, Cymbals, Claps (Trig).
But if this was hooked up with for example a Roland TB 303, with the drum being the master, the 303 will run at twice the speed.
Anyway,the sounds are rather cheezy & Lo-Fi but I like them and because this drum uses samples of real drums rather than trying to synthesize them with analog circuitry they kinda sound realistic.
The tempo control is pretty basic. It would be nice if there was a proper BPM counter but you can't have everything.
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For more info on the history of Korg Drum Machines Click Here
It was one of the early drums to use PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) samples.
(It's brother & compliment drum was the Korg DDM 220 - this was a more Latin/organic sounding machine with sounds such as Conga, Timbale, Wood Block, & Agogo).
(The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer released in 1980 was the first drum machine to use digital samples. Only about 500 were ever made and they retailed for $5k).
Today we tend to look down on these kinds of sampled sounds. The current "fashion" is all analog. But back in 1985 PCM was really cutting edge and the 110 was relatively cheap. Today PCM is the standard form of digital audio in computers, Compact Discs & digital telephones.
4 bit PCM - sampling & quantization (wikipedia).
In the above diagram a sine wave is sampled and quantized at regular intervals. The wave is reduced to a set of numbers. In this case : 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 15, 15, 14, 13, 12, etc etc.
The process of Pulse Code Modulation is usually carried out by a ADC (Analog to Digital Converter).
So the Korg DD110 is one of the worlds early & affordable Programmable Digital Drum Machines (also called the Korg Super Drums). For this reason I think it's very special.
The 10 buttons are from left to right: Accent, Bass (kick), Snare, Rimshot, High Tom, L Tom, Closed High Hat, Open HH, Cymbals, Claps (Trig).
There is no midi. - only Korg DinSync. Though both Korg & Roland Din Sync look the same they aren't. Roland uses 24 PPQN (Pulses Per Quarter Note). Korg uses 48 PPQN.
If you are hooking it up with other Korg gear (like a DDM-220 or KPR-77) syncronization is a breeze.
But if this was hooked up with for example a Roland TB 303, with the drum being the master, the 303 will run at twice the speed.
Anyway,the sounds are rather cheezy & Lo-Fi but I like them and because this drum uses samples of real drums rather than trying to synthesize them with analog circuitry they kinda sound realistic.
The tempo control is pretty basic. It would be nice if there was a proper BPM counter but you can't have everything.
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For more info on the history of Korg Drum Machines Click Here
Cuba - Havana 2
A nation in transition.
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For more on Cuba Click Here
Monday, 17 November 2014
Korg Monotribe - 2011
The Monotribe is described as an "Analogue Ribbon Station”.
It's basically a Monotron with three drum voices (bass drum, snare, high hat) and a simple 8 step sequencer.
I've modded mine to send & receive MIDI clock.
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For more info on the history of Korg Drum Machines Click Here
It's basically a Monotron with three drum voices (bass drum, snare, high hat) and a simple 8 step sequencer.
I've modded mine to send & receive MIDI clock.
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For more info on the history of Korg Drum Machines Click Here
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