(click to enlarge)

The LinnDrum was the second machine from Linn Electronics. It's basically an upgraded version of the original LM-1 with added crash and ride cymbals to the kit. The LinnDrum uses samples of acoustic drum sounds. At the time, they sounded great and much more realistic and they were a fresh alternative to the analog drum sounds of the '80's drum machines. The LinnDrum also had a handy upgrade option, a well designed layout and interface, and live drum trigger inputs.

The LinnDrum had beefed up the sampled sounds from 28 to a 35kHz sample rate. It features 15 sounds including bass, snare, rimshot, hihat, crash, ride, three toms, cabasa, tambourine, high and low congas, cowbell, and clap. Up to 12 sounds are available simultaneously. Individual controls are available to tune, pan, and mix each drum sound via dedicated knobs and sliders. An Accent is available for the kick, snare and hats. The handy upgrade options involve inserting new chips containing new sets of sampled drum sounds created by many session drummers of the time.

(click to enlarge)

The sequencer had some innovative features (for the time) such as swing, quantizing and memory storage! Two-bar patterns can be recorded in real or step time, with or without quantizing. There are 56 user patterns for storing your drum patterns. There are also 42 preset drum patterns. Patterns can be arranged into Songs for which there are 49 memory locations. Old songs and patterns can be off-loaded to cassette tape for storage. Designed for the studio, there are 15 individual outputs for each sound around the back as well as external sync and trigger but no MIDI (unless modified by a 3rd party). The LinnDrum's features made it the most professional drum machine of its time. It was widely used throughout the 1980s and there are about 5,000 of them which have been used by professionals (such as Sting, Prince, Jean-Michel Jarre, Sheila E., Todd Rundgren, Jimmy Edgar, Jan Hammer, Peter Gabriel), hobbyists, and educators alike!

22 VISITOR COMMENTS

elroy weebler

May 14, 2012 @ 1:25 pm

by the way, i want to help clear up the misconception that the LinnDrum has a 35 kHz playback rate for its samples. i don't know who originally claimed this, but it is simply not true. the master clock frequency, as set from the factory, is about 24 kHz. the individually tuned sounds also sound best at or near this sampling rate. machines like the LM-1 and DMX were also sampled around 24 kHz, so why does the LinnDrum sound much cleaner and crisper? it may have something to do with the master clock being a true analog VCO, as opposed to say the DMX which uses nasty 555 timers for its clocking.

christian

April 25, 2012 @ 4:48 am

Hi. I am looking to buy a Linndrum. I'm in Denmark, Europe. If you have one for sale please e-mail me: cybercardinal@hotmail.com

elroy weebler

March 1, 2012 @ 9:06 pm

legendary machine. used all over the world, by producers of all genres of music, well into the 1990's even. probably the most ubiquitous drum machine ever. build quality is ridiculous. you can kill someone with this machine. chassis is thick steel; the whole thing weighs over 20 pounds. being from 1982, it packs a serious punch sound-wise. it certainly does not have as much individual character as its contemporaries (DMX, 808, Drumulator, etc) but it makes up for that by being far more adaptable than any of them. which is especially astonishing considering you can't tune most of the sounds.

eduardo becker

December 19, 2011 @ 5:44 pm

O modelo acima (foto) é similar ou o mesmo utilizado por prince entre 1981 a 1986, época da the revolucion?

VCO8

December 15, 2011 @ 11:09 am

George: didn't they use a DMX for Mama?

<54321>

 

Post Comment!

Your Name: (required)

Email Address: (required)

Image verification: (required)

Message:

 

Posting Rules:
Please keep your comments relevant! Do not post requests for help, do not use for sales, do not post unless you have something interesting to say about this instrument, or we may delete your post.

I have read and understand the posting rules.