Oldskool Drum Machine thread

What oldskool drum machines you guys own? I've got a Yamaha RX15 (clap and snare are decent) and a Roland TR505. I really want a Roland TR707 as I love its sounds which I prefer strangely over the 909 and 808.

Own? I guess the MPC1000 is getting about to vintage age these days. I might sell it soon, though, because these days it only leaves the closet for a couple days at a time, with months between.

Owned, past tense? TR-606, TR-626, DDD-1, RY-30, borrowed a circuit bent TR505 for a little while. Almost bought an HR-16.

Have always wanted a RZ-1 and an R-8 but never bothered to hunt them down. Sometimes I miss the RY-30, such a fun workflow, but it's got a pretty weak overally sound and I don't really want to bother putting lipstick on stuff like that anymore.

You gotta be kidding me I think the RY30 sounds amazing. Proper beefy sounding drum machine. Definitely on my want list once I get some decent money!! Used to own a TR606 too but only for a week. I regret not keeping it. :-(

Yeah the sizzlin' 606 hats are something else. Mine had a bad op-amp and I didn't know how to repair it so I had to pass it on in pretty tough shape to someone who knew people who could give it the TLC it deserved. Not sure what its ultimate fate was.

Yeah I have to say it, there's something about the RY30 sound that just never really came together for me. I even had the hip-hop/dance card, which was better but still pretty weak. But I had a great time with it - nice sequencer, great routing, polyphony/multitimbral, and MIDI options, and just enough to play with in the sound department. It was also nice for sequencing synths and samplers, particularly A5000 and Micro Modular (the latter of which I still have).  And I still get a kick out of hearing it in mid-90s Autechre tracks. 

I've got my dad's old HR-16 that he used to use in a country band, complete with home-made 4x memory mod.. but it just sits there on my shelf, as I don't really like the sequencer on it. Sounds are ok, but not enough to need to use the actual machine rather than just samples on my Octatrack/ES-1/Renoise.

I've recently been craving a 606.. a friend of mine has one but never uses it, maybe I'll see if I can borrow it for a while.

I actually like the volca beats better than the (unmodded) 606. It lacks the luscious hats and nice pattern chaining but there's a lot more to play with, and the kick actually has some body. 

Well, the 606's snare is actually pretty great too, especially when you get some accent going. Somehow gives the impression of a real drummer.

Never been a fan of drum machines, owned a few but sold them all pretty much. Still kept an R5 because it broke, a Kawai R 50 because I intended to bend it and an electribe ESmk2.

I pretty much just use the machinedrum and an Ultimate percussion K2x. The rest is sampled from random stuff and synths.

I love my TR606 but don’t use it nearly as much as I should. More of a nostalgia machine.

in terms of “classics” i’ve got a TR-606, TR-626 and a TR-707.

i’ve also got a Novation Drum Station for my 808/909 needs and a Cyclone Analogic TT-78.

I've bought and sold 3 TR 606's. I miss it... Mainly work with samples and compression nowadays. 

I have owned a TR-707 since 2007 that i will never sell.

No classic by any means, but I recently got an electribe em-1 which is basically a rompler-electribe with a lot of stock sounds originating from the classic drumkits (or very close sounding to my ears). Having fun programming it though, still plenty of options left to tweak the sounds and give them your own twist.  

  On 10/12/2017 at 8:32 PM, Mcdergbit said:

I have owned a TR-707 since 2007 that i will never sell.

Nice mate. I really want one!!

I never really got on with the roland sound (or the raw sound of any drum machine to be honest), also I can't get past the hype ha. Always fancied a CR8000 though.

Gripped one of these weirdos for cheap off eBay recently, haven't had any time to get under the hood unfortunately bar an evening's fiddling. Should be fun though, limited but I reckon some interesting stuff can be coaxed out:

Nice mate!

  On 10/13/2017 at 6:28 PM, Chesney said:

I never really got on with the roland sound (or the raw sound of any drum machine to be honest), also I can't get past the hype ha. Always fancied a CR8000 though.

I love using drum machine waves as starting points for beefier/weirder drums. Does tend to require a lot of mangling to get them tuned to my taste but that itself is good fun. Really not into sample packs, feels like cooking in someone else's kitchen.

Also I had an ER-1 for a while and that was a good time. Amazing to think my PO-32 that can comfortably fit in a pocket is in many ways more powerful than that thing was.

  On 10/13/2017 at 6:49 PM, Leon Sumbitches said:

Gripped one of these weirdos for cheap off eBay recently, haven't had any time to get under the hood unfortunately bar an evening's fiddling. Should be fun though, limited but I reckon some interesting stuff can be coaxed out:

 

My friend has one of those. IIRC, add a bit of compression and distortion and you can have some SLAMMING kicks.

Boss DR-660 (my first real electronic instrument was one back in the day, but I traded it for a Commodore 64c years ago and when I eventually got a replacement because I missed it, I ended up with one that had worn out sensors so the aftertouch doesn't work so well on some pads, but it still has THAT SOUND that I've never gotten from any samples - if you've heard any of the probably 3/4 of Legowelt's tracks that use a 660 you know it)

Boss DR-110

Soundmaster SR-88 that recently had the buttons fail so for now I can't program it.

Hammond Auto-Vari 64 that Combustible Edison (that 90s lounge band who did the soundtrack to the documentary Fast, Cheap and Out Of Control and a bunch of crap movies like 8 Heads In a Duffel Bag) gave to some guy who gave it to me. Not used much these days, but I've got a MIDI retrofit waiting to be installed that should bring new life to it.

Roland MC-303 I got free last summer and don't really use.

MPC 2000xl with all of the expansions (except for the unattainable nonvolatile RAM board) and brand new fader, pads and sensors, that I got as a package deal with an Otari MX5050 MKiv for $120 back in 2010 and based my whole setup around until last summer.

Stuff I no longer have:

Alesis HR-16, Roland DR-550 - both were given to me for free in the early 2000s and passed along for free in the early 2010s.

Altogether I paid around $200 total for every drum machine I've ever owned (about $40 for the Sundmaster, $80 or so for the second 660, and the MPC was $100 before I added on the Otari for $20 -all of the others were given to me for free), apart from the first 660 that I got new for Christmas. I have a feeling the days when getting stuff that cheap was possible are gone.