The DR-202 from BOSS is a compact programmable rhythm/drum machine from the Groove Zone. It features 256 drum and bass sounds (207 drum, 49 bass) arranged into 128 kits exclusively developed for groove music production--from hip-hop to jungle, drum 'n' bass, trip hop, house, Latin and more. Classic TR-808, TR-909 and TB-303 sounds, vinyl sounds, Lo-Fi drum samples, various synth basses, sound effects and more can be found inside. Its authentic groove music patterns can be used "as is" or broken down into User patterns. It's compact, easy to use and can run on batteries or AC power.

Included are 400 authentic groove patterns organized into categories like "Old School," "Slow Tempo," "Medium Tempo," "New Jack," "Trip Hop," "Jazzy," "Abstract," "East Coast," and "West Coast"--each with many variations. There are on-board realtime control knobs for adjusting cutoff, resonance and decay parameters (for instant tweaking of individual instrument sounds); reverb and delay effects; Tap Tempo control for realtime BPM adjustment and 13 pads for triggering sounds from any of its 128 kits. The way the pads are laid out gives you 2 kicks, 2 snares, 2 hi hats (one open, one closed), a ride, a crash, 2 percussion, and 3 hit pads. Each pad also has a separate send to the effects which is nice but the effects can also be applied to all the drums at once.

A 3-track sequencer (which offers a 13-part drum track and a dedicated bass track) lets you build a rhythm from scratch in either step or live edit modes. Up to 20 complete songs can be stored in the DR-202's internal memory. There's even an external source track for triggering external MIDI gear like samplers and other instruments. It doesn't have a backlit display so it may be hard to read on stage.

Aimed straight at dance music producers and DJs, the DR-202 is a cheap but awesome little tool for sketching drum & bass patterns, accompanying DJ sets or building up your music tracks. This is one drum machine not designed for guitarists or drummers to play along with - it's a full fledged Groove Machine for the budget conscious bedroom producer or DJ on the go!

Janus

August 10, 2011 @ 3:36 am

I just found that it is possible to midi-control each instruments cutoff, resonance and decay among other stuff. that is just awesome! no longer do i need to use the instrument selector knob to tweak individual sounds. i am using a Doepfer pocketDial (customized preset created with the editor) to control those values directly.
the sequencer allows to play (and to record from) external instruments too, making this a handy little jam/groove-box for me.

smingnoi

June 10, 2011 @ 5:35 am

Once I saw it on youtube, I decided I gotta hav one. And today it has arrived right in front of me. it's surprisingly easy to use. With only default setting u can hook it up & beat it to your dj set. What i really love about the most is the power can be run by 6 aa batteries. So i can bring it with me when i need to get some smoke out door like SH101, tr series & so on

Haroon

May 31, 2011 @ 2:09 am

I have nothing bad to say about this little guy. The hissing -- I guess I just adapted to it. When you have it in the mix with a bunch of other machines it's not really noticeable.

I really use it for the synth to make basslines in conjunction with my other samplers. I don't have room for a full blown keyboard and it does exactly what I need. Have made some fun stuff with this.

Raelonda Kelly

November 29, 2010 @ 1:55 pm

Looking to purchase dr202 drgroove beat machine

Peter

November 20, 2010 @ 1:56 am

ditto what lots of people said - if you like simple, cheap, to the point machines it's awesome, just the right balance of features. you can change what you want to get what you want, but there aren't a ton of other options to distract you. has some cool features that aren't obvious - 2 midi sequencing parts (including the bass) and automation recording for it's internal sounds. I don't the pads too much, they just feel like buttons, but they are sensitive to note on/off time which is cool for gating the bass part. a couple things are a little counterintuitive (like recording portamento) but basically it's very functional and pleasant to use.

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