Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer

Roland TR-909 Image

The TR-909 is an awesome analog drum machine! THE standard House and Techno beatbox. Sounds include kick, snare, hand clap, open and closed hi hats, low mid and hi toms, rim shot, ride and crash cymbals. Sounds are tweakable - attack, tone, tuning, decay, snap and accent. This machine does not sound like true acoustic drums, and we don't want it to. It has a unique and very loveable analog sound that's all its own!

It is armed with Roland's DIN Sync and MIDI, individual outputs, external memory cartridges, and an essential shuffle & flam for great grooves. Use it as a sound module or program patterns, songs and beats into it...either way you'll be in analog drum heaven with the 909!

Roland TR-909 Image

Extremely popular today, especially for dance, it is used by 808 State, Air, Bushflange, Future Sound of London, Moby, Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim), Orbital, Hardfloor, Überzone, Underworld, The Prodigy, Faithless, ATB, Eat Static, Jimmy Edgar, Sense Datum, Richie Hawtin, A Guy Called Gerald, Astral Projection, Josh Wink, Freddy Fresh, Jean-Michel Jarre, Luke Vibert, the Chemical Brothers, and many more!

49 Visitor comments
4/4
May 20, 2011 @ 6:23 pm
The Jomox Xbase09 is half the €£$ of this and sounds even better with more options on tweeking the sound. Who use the tomtoms anyways?
Wordbabcock
May 18, 2011 @ 7:36 am
@john xero. You're right of course but don't believe everything you read on Wiki!
Han Solo
April 23, 2011 @ 1:24 am
Daft Punk used it extensively in the 90's.
JEREMY
April 14, 2011 @ 3:10 am
YOU FORGOT JEFF MILLS!Where can i purchase a vintage 303 and 909 online?
john xero
April 12, 2011 @ 4:28 pm
saying that a 909 is analog is extremely misleading. its only partially analog. the hihats and cymbals are digital samples. from the wikipeda article:
"The hi-hats and cymbals are 6-bit samples, compressed and combined with a volume envelope curve (and tuning) to allow slight modification"
 
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  • Demos & Media

  • YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 1     - Roland TR-909 Drum Machine demo

    YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 2     - A close up look at the Roland TR-909 part 1

    YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 3     - A close up look at the Roland TR-909 part 2

    Audio Clip 1 - A pretty standard beat. However this 909 is running through a RAT distortion pedal which will fade in and out heavy distortion, making this seemingly shy drum loop more and more hardcore!

    Audio Clip 2 - A busy 909 pattern. Typical 4-on-the-floor! It's short and sweet but gets the point across.

    Manual - Roland has made manuals for most of their products available as free PDF downloads.

  • Specifications
  • Polyphony - 12 voices
  • Sounds - Kick, Snare, Low/Mid/Hi Toms, Rimshot, Hand clap, Cymbal, Open hihat, Closed hihat, Accents
  • Controls - Individual level, tuning, attack, decay, and tone controls for some sounds
  • Patterns - 96
  • Songs - 8
  • Arpeg/Seq - Sequencer
  • Keyboard - none
  • Control - Midi In/Out & DIN Sync In
  • Date Produced - 1984-85

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