My TR606 Arrived

1st day with the 606. Just to be a nerd I made a track to compare it with my other analogue drum box, the vastly more powerful JoMoX Airbase 99.

I have to say I prefer the 606's snare - it's meatier and it has waaay more presence. The JoMoX snare is classier and way more tweakable, but it needs a lot of TLC to cut through.

I'm pretty sure the JoMoX can do a 606 kick without really trying.

I like how the 606 hats are bright but not too harsh right out of the box. This is something you need to tweak a bit for on teh JoMoX (it wants to do nasty 909 hats most of the time). The JoMoX has proper velocity on its hats tho, which is hella cool for hip hop.

Lastly, the JoMoX has cowbell and handclap!, even if they are not fully analogue.

I can't wait to MIDI-ize the 606 so I can use both boxes together in sequenced harmony :innocent:

In the meantime, you'll have to endure me jamming along live on the JoMoX. Panned left and right for further nerdiness.

TR606_vs_AirBase99.mp3 1.18 MB · 84 downloads

ohhhh how i want a 606!!! the kick is really weak though huh? what's the main difference between the 606 and 808 kick? i mean besides the tweakability which can be modded into the 606.

http://machines.hyperreal.org/manufacturer...info/drumantix/

I found this modding guide maybe you'll like it. I meant to give it to Chris Moss but never got around to it

It tells you how to fatten up that kick amongst other things. But I reckon it's sounding pretty bloody good as it is. You analords.

  kokoon said:

ohhhh how i want a 606!!! the kick is really weak though huh? what's the main difference between the 606 and 808 kick? i mean besides the tweakability which can be modded into the 606.

I like the kick! But that's cos I have the 808 "boom" covered already.

The main thing to 808ize it is to make the decay longer, which is a really easy mod. A bit of EQ doesnt hurt either.

There's heaps of easy (like 1 component) mods for the 606. I'll probably try a couple but I dont want to chop it up yet - I just got it!

what about the snare? i think i read somewhere that tr-808 has 2 VCOs for snare or something like that... or maybe that the 606 has none... but i doubt that.

no mention about one of the best "features" on a drum machine ever

play and write pattern mode you can swich between both with out turning it off

i find this priceless

yeah i love how it's so simple and convenient like that. i don't think you could make a drum machine easier to use.

  chris moss acid said:

no mention about one of the best "features" on a drum machine ever

 

play and write pattern mode you can swich between both with out turning it off

 

i find this priceless

hey, it's only my first day!

but, yeah, I've noticed you can pretty much hit "Run" whenever and it'll run...

does it have a copy pattern function btw?

  kokoon said:

what about the snare? i think i read somewhere that tr-808 has 2 VCOs for snare or something like that... or maybe that the 606 has none... but i doubt that.

The snare sounds more like the 808 snare than the one in my JoMoX, which is based on the 909 snare.

  Analogue Wings said:

  chris moss acid said:

no mention about one of the best "features" on a drum machine ever

 

play and write pattern mode you can swich between both with out turning it off

 

i find this priceless

 

hey, it's only my first day!

 

but, yeah, I've noticed you can pretty much hit "Run" whenever and it'll run...

 

does it have a copy pattern function btw?

there is no copy pattern function... its easy enough wiht out in my opinion

BUT!!!!

THERE IS s few cool things.. if your in write mode and you want to delete somthign fast make sure the instrument slecter is on the instrument you want [say snare] to clear and just press pattern clear and it deletes the snare

to make the step shorter then 16 while in write mode press down "funtion" and any step button say 12 and it'll be in a 12 step bar mode

the tap mode is another fresh way to programe in beats.

simply while the pattern isrunning choose the part fo the drum track you want to use and just press tap

  chris moss acid said:

to make the step shorter then 16 while in write mode press down "funtion" and any step button say 12 and it'll be in a 12 step bar mode

got that one (it's on the cheat card), but I dont know how to set a Last Step of 21 or 32 like in the example rhythms?!?!?! :confused:

  Analogue Wings said:

  chris moss acid said:

to make the step shorter then 16 while in write mode press down "funtion" and any step button say 12 and it'll be in a 12 step bar mode

 

got that one (it's on the cheat card), but I dont know how to set a Last Step of 21 or 32 like in the example rhythms?!?!?! :confused:

chain 2 patches up

one in 16 and one in 5 steps

scale 1

1 - last step -> 16

2 - last step -> 5

32 step

Scale 2 [in write mode - change the scale to 2 and press function and wait a bar]

1- last step ->16

2 - last step ->16

  chris moss acid said:

  Analogue Wings said:

  chris moss acid said:

to make the step shorter then 16 while in write mode press down "funtion" and any step button say 12 and it'll be in a 12 step bar mode

 

got that one (it's on the cheat card), but I dont know how to set a Last Step of 21 or 32 like in the example rhythms?!?!?! :confused:

chain 2 patches up

 

one in 16 and one in 5 steps

scale 1

1 - last step -> 16

2 - last step -> 5

 

 

32 step

Scale 2 [in write mode - change the scale to 2 and press function and wait a bar]

1- last step ->16

2 - last step ->16

is that all it means? ok then. ta!

  Analogue Wings said:

  chris moss acid said:

  Analogue Wings said:

  chris moss acid said:

to make the step shorter then 16 while in write mode press down "funtion" and any step button say 12 and it'll be in a 12 step bar mode

 

got that one (it's on the cheat card), but I dont know how to set a Last Step of 21 or 32 like in the example rhythms?!?!?! :confused:

chain 2 patches up

 

one in 16 and one in 5 steps

scale 1

1 - last step -> 16

2 - last step -> 5

 

 

32 step

Scale 2 [in write mode - change the scale to 2 and press function and wait a bar]

1- last step ->16

2 - last step ->16

 

is that all it means? ok then. ta!

yeah try it out.. also for a bit of fun [maybe diffrent if you cleared your memeory] but put it into track play and ehar an amazing tr-606 drum solo! it's a lol indeed

I just started demodifying my 606, the guy I bought it from had made individual outs on it but did a really shoddy job so I've disconnected the outputs and was just about to solder the pots back to the main output bus, but found out I have no solder and it's friggin 4 am.

Bah.

  user said:

I just started demodifying my 606, the guy I bought it from had made individual outs on it but did a really shoddy job so I've disconnected the outputs and was just about to solder the pots back to the main output bus, but found out I have no solder and it's friggin 4 am.

Bah.

I suspect that the 606's internal mixer contributes to its sound (like how everything gets blattier on an accent). I think it could well be clipping the sounds in a nice soft way and making the whole thing sound fatter. Individual outs would preumably bypass the internal mixer entirely, thus (possibly) changing the sound.

Well the individual outs were using closed ciruit jacks so everything still went through the output bus, it just took a detour via the individual out box and if no jack was plugged in went to the output bus of the 606.

This undoubtedly also affects the sound but I'm not sure if that's in a way my ears are able to perceive.