ROLAND R-8

One of the very best drum machines ever. It has excellent sounds which can be expanded by adding additional sound cards (808 and 909 cards). Great rock, electronic, ethnic and industrial style drumkits! Most of the sounds are editable - tune, decay, attack, nuance, output, etc...

But its coolest tricks are the Feel Patches which give your program a human-like groove! The sounds are ROM based samples, the R8 has 32 note polyphony, 68 instruments, 100 patterns and 10 songs! It is used by Orbital, Underworld, Jimmy Edgar, Autechre, 808 State, Dave Holmes, Fluke, Human League and The Shamen.

Roland R-8 Specifications

• Type: Drum-machine/ module/
• Synthesis Type: PCM Samples, 16-bit, 44.1 khz
• Polyphony:
  • Max: 32
  • Typical in use: 12
• Multi-timbral (number of parts): 16
• Controllers : Value Slider, Volume Slider
• Drum Section :
  • Number of Drum Kits : 5 banks of 16 sounds each
  • Number of Drum sounds : 68 internal, 26 copy, 26 external
• Keyboard :
  • Number of Keys : 16 pads
  • Can send on 16 simultaneous MIDI channels
  • Responds to : velocity
• Inputs and Outputs :
  • Number of Audio Outs (excluding Phones) : 10
  • Number of MIDI Outs (excluding Thru) : 1
  • Number of MIDI Ins : 1
• Upgrade Options : PCM Sample ROM cards, RAM Card (M-256E/M-256D), Pedal Switch(DP-2), Footswitch (FS-5U), Foot Volume(EV-5/EV-10)