Roland TR-505

Roland TR-505 Image
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A cheap (budget) drum machine. It features 16 drum tones which unfortunately, are only mediocre samples. Its memory contains 48 patterns and 6 songs. Unlike its TR cousins it does not have individual drum tone outputs. There is no drum tone editing capability either. It does however feature extensive MIDI implementation, even the pads will transmit MIDI data. The 505 works well with a computer and sequencer or as a stand alone drum machine. It is extremely basic and unexciting but does make a good starter or play-along drum machine. Vince Clarke and Aphex Twin has used the 505.

Roland TR-505 Image

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Demos & Media

Audio Clip 1 Here's a short 505 drum fill & house loop, submitted by Dean Nye.
ManualRoland has made manuals for most of their products available as free PDF downloads.

Specifications

Polyphony - 8 Voices
Oscillators - Uses Samples
Tones - 16 drum tones: Kick, snare, open/closed hat, hi/mid/low tom, hi/low cowbell, conga, timbale, etc...
Patterns - 48 user, 48 preset
Songs - 6
Arpeg/Seq - Sequencer
Keyboard - none
Control - MIDI
Date Produced - 1986

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