Roland R8 Human Rhythm Composer
Roland R8
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! The R8 later became the R8mkII with more memory and sounds. It is used by Orbital, Underworld, Jimmy Edgar, Autechre, 808 State, Dave Holmes, Fluke, Human League and The Shamen.
Roland R8mkII
A single-space rack-mount version - the R-8M - was also available. It had no sequencer but it did have the R-8 sounds and the ability to read R-8 expansion sound cards. There were also 8 individual outputs, 12 voices polyphony and 4-part multitimbral MIDI. Later, an mkII model was released with upgraded features and memory (pictured above).
31 VISITOR COMMENTS
- Demos & Media
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Video 1 - See and hear it in this YouTube Demo!Audio Clip 1 - A bunch of R8 sounds with some tweaking. From the Future Music CD, Issue 56.
Audio Clip 2 - An ethnic demo that shows even the most complex ethnic rhythms are possible. From the Future Music CD, Issue 56.
Manual - Roland has made manuals for most of their products available as free PDF downloads.
- Specifications
- Polyphony - 32 voices
- Sounds - 68 Rom samples
- Controls - tune, decay, attack, nuance, output, etc...
- Patterns - 100
- Songs - 10
- Arpeg/Seq - Sequencer
- Keyboard - None
- Control - MIDI
- Date Produced - 1989
R8 mkII - 1992 - Est. Value - $200
- Websites of Interest
- Resources & Credits
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Images from Synthony.
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I used to tune the percussion instruments and use them as guitar licks down in the mix, as well as using the 808 kick and toms for musical sounds.
This machine was built like a tank and I bought the R8 MkII as soon as it was released in 1993. I still own both to this day.
It was so easy to use and program. The pads were not as comfy as Akai MPC pads but they got the job down. Separate outs as well. Sweet drummer.
charles.copp@sympatico.ca
i own a r8m and have great results using it via midi control
charles
Tried this? : ftp://ftp.roland.co.uk/ProductSupport/R-8M/01_R-8M_OM.pdf
Reg ards
www.endlessshame.com