• Roland TR 808
• Oberheim DMX 
• Oberheim DX
• Boss DR 220a (acoustic version)
• Boss DR 110

ROLAND TR 808

One of the drum computers we like best is Roland's TR 808. It's deep bass drum, snappy snare and certainly the cowbell make it an unique machine. We can't stop playing with it almost every day ;-)

The Roland TR 808 is a classic analog drum machine and used in most R&B and Hip Hop records but also in Dance and Techno music. It was introduced in 1980. The following sounds are built-in;

That deep resonating Low Kick
that "snappy" Snare Drum
Low, Mid and High Toms
Low, Mid and High Congas
Rimshot
Claves
Handclaps
Maracas
that typical Cowbell
Cymbal
Open and Closed Hihat

The sound are very pure, dynamic and certainly not as "grungey" as the TR 909. All sounds are editable, tunable and have their own output. The TR 808 is not equiped with MIDI but it uses Sync. (but that is where you have interfaces for)

The "booming" bass kicks, "crispy" snares and that typical cowbell made the 808 famous and one of the most important drum machines in the history of music. The SOS Band, Change, Surface, Loose Ends, 52nd Street, etc. used it a lot. A few years ago Steinberg developed a full software 808 in corporation with Propellerhead Software. The 808 together with two TB 303's and a 909 are put together in one jacket. It sounds amazingly good and of course MIDI is no problem. However, you'll never find those gorgeous buttons of the real machines.

ROLAND TR 808 features:

Polyfony : 12 voices
Effects : auto fill-in
# Patterns : 64
# Songs : 12
Arpegg/Seq : Sequencer
Control : DIN SYNC IN/OUT
Introduction : 1981
Current Value : Euro 900,00 (indication only)

We sampled a few sounds from our own 808. Mind your volume control !

Bass Drum

Snare Drum

Claves

Cowbell

Mid Tom

Listen to a well known TR 808 sequence which we made with our own TR 808 here

Oberheim DMX

Another great drum machine: Oberheim's DMX. Listen to that snare and, of source, that rimshot. It has been used in many dance classics. For example: What's Missing by Alexander O'Neal, Gladys Knight's When You're Far Away and so on. Kurtis Blow recorded a song called "Supersperm" in 1985 consisting of only DMX Drum. Click the DMX Picture to listen to a sample of that song (WMP required). 

The DMX is an old (1984), quite sophisticated drum machine. It's sounds are sampled recordings of actual instruments. The machine has a number of human like feels to it such as a great swing function, rolls, flams and other weird time signatures and grooves. Best of all is it's ease of use, 8 separate outputs for individual processing, 100 sequences and 50 songs. The DMX was the original drum machine of Hip Hop and Rap. Later in 1984, Oberheim introduced the DX, a more affordable machine, nevertheless still quite sophisticated.

Oberheim DMX features:

Polyfony : 8 drums
Sounds : 24 drums effects, individual tuning control / swing function
Sequences : 100
Songs : 50
VCA: 8 level sliders
Keyboard : 24 pads
Control : audio trigger or tape sync
Date : 1980
Current Value : Euro 200,00 (indication only)

The virtual drum machines below you can play with for yourself. You'll need Flash to do so. The Flash movies were made by Joseph Rivers from keyboardmuseum.org. Great work, hence the link. (downloads are max 1mb)

Wanna play with the Boss DR 110 ?  (the last analog drum machine from Boss/Roland in 1983) Just click the picture. We play with it almost every day ;-)

The digital Boss DR220a (1986, acoustic version. There also was an electronic version (DR220e). Play with the acoustic one by clicking the picture below.

Oberheim, famous because of the OBX, OB-1, etc. We think they made one the greatest drummachines ever...the DMX, see above. Hereunder you can play with the DX. It has less voices, but still a great machine.