In this episode of Bad Gear, the show about the world's most hated audio tools, we are going to talk about the Boss DR-550 Dr. Rhythm drum machine. Can this Roland offspring deliver some human feel?
TPerhaps the overarching rule here is that as human beings we are flawed and we don't often pay attention to those flaws. IN these cases, you'll pick up a crap piece of gear play it ON ITS OWN and think "eugh, that sounds nasty". But the reality is because the frequencies may be a bit thing or weird, they work BRILLIANTLY in a mix, as it's far easier to stick a sound in a mix with other things if the frequency range is quite narrow. Prince made a living out of that sort of approach.
And if its acid house, soke pitched down voice has to say acid, that title needs the word acid in it and the ep is also named something with acid. Otherwise how would you know what you are listening to?
AudioPilz It’s a late model VA that’s largely been ignored in the analog craze, the interface is not geared towards synthesists and more for “performers” which is odd considering the keybed feels terrible. BUT has a great synthesis engine under the hood with some pretty special oscillators, three of them, with multiple types from VA, VPM, WDGS, and even PCM. I keep it around for the crunchy digital sounds
I have my Dr. 880 since 2009. I love it. Has the Bass, reverb, mini-GT-6 guitar processor - in there too. I've done Live shows in NYC (just me and the Dr.880 & (2) FS-6). I'd much rather jam/practice with: Drums, Bass, Conga's, Shakers ect . . . vs. a boring metronome. Only downside is You Can't Add/ Expand the Memory. Your 550 sounded fantastic. I love drum machines. (never gets drunk, never gets tired, never refuses to rehearse, never shows-up late, and does not ask for a share of the gig Money) - oNe LovE from NYC -
I appreciate what you do, man. I know for sure if you just keep releasing content it will catch at some point, you get great engagement and fortunately so many of your watchers are really polite and cool. I would love for this to pay for all of your gear and open up new things to explore, because your editing and production are 100% on point. Thank you for all of your work!
my first drum machine. Some tricks i discovered: Using two snares. I used a warm snare, then added that big snare at a lower volume to give it more attack. I used decay to make the song dynamic. On the verse, zero decay, then for the chorus or solo i added lots of it. For consecutive snare hits, i used the color so it sounded like every hit was different. I think i want to find one now. 👍
Finally a Bad Gear episode about something I actually have! I got this from a classified ad when I was a teenager and knew nothing about drum machines, I had no idea what to make of it. May have to make a video with mine.
I have this one. The signal to noise ratio is very good: very clean signal. So this means, like you prove, that it is great for adding external effects. It works great with distortions too!
I literally just got the MKII version of this as my 1st drum machine. So far I enjoy it a lot! But then again, it is my first hardware drum machine so I don't have too much to compare it to to.
It was my first drum machine. My father bought it for me in 1991. Later in 1992 I got a JV-30 as well :) I loved them and I used them with a C64 + a MIDI interface and the C-Lab SuperTrack (16track pattern sequencer program). I still have the disk and its manual. Unfortunately I lost somewhere the C64 MIDI Interface. . . . . . . (22.08.19: I found the C64 MIDI Interface + the floppy drive in the basement :) ) This year I bought a Boss DR-880 just for nostalgia.
Pilz never disappoints! Spoiling us with several meme jams, & they sound great, too! You know in all sincerity, I feel like your good faith approach to all of these pieces of gear & the aim to have fun making both the grooves & the videos contributes to the hardware pieces themselves ending up sounding fantastic, it's almost as if it's not the gear that matters, but the spirit of the musician......... ;)
Great video! I used my DR550 live for years in the early 90s in a covers band (trio). I was using an ESQ-1 to drive it but the ESQ-1 couldn't hold enough songs to last one whole set (12 songs) so I would use the DR550 sequencer for a couple of songs each set. The problem was, as you said, when programming the DR550 it assigned full velocity to every hit and you had to go back and adjust the velocity manually after doing the sequencing. Unless you forgot - which I did for one song. When the DR550 would play that song, people would move away because the drums were painfully loud. I never did remember to adjust that, I used to dive over to the drum machine and turn it down every time we played. I still have DR550 (and the tape backups!) - I just don't know where it is.
Just bought a Mark II. I had the 550 and used it on many recordings, jams and live performances. Lost it and most of the recordings. This one I plan to customize each pad bank and set up 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, 8 beat patterns, differently voiced for any combination of poly-rhythmic patterns. The results will appear on my channel.... serendipitously.
A good friend used one as "the rest of the band" for a one man punk band , for years . Pretty sure he ran it through the cab with his bass and just mic'd it all on stage so it definitely got some added punch . Fairly sure though , the samples were more in the "good enough to use for punk" category , not really audiophile level stuff . When his original was gone he tried to get a newer Dr. Rhythm only to find they'd changed the interface so much that it was even more of a pain to program .
I have a Boss DR5 which I believe was the next step up from this. I love it and still use it. The drums, strings, basses, horns and percussion sounds are fantastic. I never had a chance to try the DR550. Dig the videos!
@@AudioPilz True. I got it a long long time ago at a music store I worked at. It must've sat there over 6 years! I liked the pads at the time cuz of the layout. If you were used to a guitar fretboard, you could run through scales easily. Now i sample it or use it with my Keystep through fx.
DR5 is an awewome machine. I composed over 100 songs using the DR5. Also when you combine the DR5 with a good recording digital workstation it increases its capability beyond its limitations. I have 2 now and use them both to expand its range.
I downloaded a pack full of DM samples and the DR550 are one of the best sounding and also very complete, this is why I'm here thanks for all these infos, will def keep using it, impossible to not sound classic with them
I'm glad you were kind to the little Boss. It was my first brand new pice of kit. It came out in 1990, a year after Roland's R8 and R5, neither of which I could afford so I bought a DR550 instead based on positive magazine reviews at the time. As demonstrated in the video, they sound good though guitat fx pedals. The Mk2 came out in 1992 and added a few 909 sounds to the presets, something I wish the Mk 1 had.
Had a DR 202 back when it came out and loved it. Few years later it just wouldn't power up anymore and I gave it away to someone who might be able to fix it.
In 1989 i had a Metal-Band Firstly we used the Commodore 64 with a Drummer Software. After that we switched to a Boss DR-550. I think no one else uses this for Metal 😂😂 I still got the Demo-Tapes with the DR 550 Nice Flashback
Tape backup is super convenient because you can have your gear's settings saved as a muted track in your DAW. Your setup for the project can't get mixed up or lost when it is saved as part of the project. "Tape" backup works great for me.
I got an original yellow Kaossilator, a KP3, and a K-Pro. They're a lot of fun. I spent years making what I call "kaoss doodles". Sometimes just kaoss pads, sometimes with a synth added, which I called "Two Kaoss Pads and a Microkorg". Has a nice ring to it, no? Like two turntables and a microphone. It's fun and easy... but also very very limiting. It's not great for making full songs on, since it has only 4 tracks and a maximum of 16 beats, and it's nearly impossible to play anything precise... but it's very nice for some things. It makes music composition an intuitive process since it removes most of the technical side of performance. Would be nice to play some other instruments that way, so I've been meaning to add support for its X-Y pad in a midi processing daemon I made. The sounds are fun, with a decent amount of variety and expressiveness. The key/scale quantization makes it particularly good for improvising real-time. The gate controls on the K-Pro are weirdly a downgrade compared to the original yellow model, but it's still at least usable. The enlarged control surface and underlying grid are very helpful when attempting to play specific notes, though the original textured pad was also nice and tactile. Also, the continuous loop recording works really well. Would be nice if it didn't take so long to erase old loops though, and the way it handles loading/saving loop data is pretty bad in multiple ways. And the presets get old after a while, with no way to add new sounds. Diminished and blues scales work the best on this type of device, since in those there are actually no wrong notes. Other scales (except pentatonic) are somewhat more difficult to use though, since only some of the notes will sound right at any given time. The Spanish scale is handy for songs which use a relatively simple major/minor modal interchange. Overall, I'd definitely recommend it for meditative purposes, and occasionally for adding crazy riffs to songs. It's good at adding an organic element to otherwise rigid songs. But if you want to make anything precise, or more complex than a one-pattern loop, look elsewhere.
@@ToyKeeper I have the yellow kaossilator. it's.... doing nothing *lol* ;-) if I'd just held out getting the kaossilator 2 just a few months later (the one with all the whistles, bells, microSD card slot and audio input) I'd be a happy bunny. damned thing is a battery hog. still a good tool for derpy moments when you're looking for inspiration.
Yeah, the v2 looks nice. Not revolutionary, but definitely has some nice features and quality-of-life improvements. About batteries, Eneloops FTW. I got some around that time, plus a BC-700 charger to keep them in good condition, and they're still working great more than a decade later.
Great episode ! You really have to get your hand on a Boss DS-330 (Doctor Synth) Thank you, your channel is the best thing that happened during this rough time that seems to never stop
Is it me or is the fact that our Bad Gear expert uses the same theme song with each bit of gear he reviews a hilarious bit of genius? PS, the 30 seconds 'retro madness' video is an audiovisual masterpiece. How? Just how! Haha.
This was my first drum machine. I bought it for very cheap in early 2000 so I had a beat to play guitar with. These days I don't use it, but I sampled all of it's sounds onto my Digitakt. I would describe these (Roland) sample as consumer-grade with industrial music sounding qualities, and that's exactly why I like it.
This was my 1st piece of electronic gear. Dug it up recently and now I control the DR-550 using my SPD-SX as a MIDI controller/Drum trigger. DR-550 doesn't need MIDI out IMO because the MIDI you'd get from the pattern sequencer is basic af. But the MIDI in allows the DR-550 to be an authentically retro sound module.
I have a DR-660 and even though it's missing a lot of features that it really ought to have (*ahem* pad mute...) there's just something incredibly charming about it. The TR808 and 909 sounds are really solid and the lack of features means that the interface is really streamlined and easy to use. It never gets in your way because it just doesn't do a lot, and it helps me to be creative when I feel overwhelmed by uber-powerful wavetable soft synths. And I think there's a place for tools like that. Plus for $99 how bad can it really be?
@@AudioPilz Heisenberg's gear review? States of quantum musicality? The universe is composed entirely of bad gear, all interconnected by cosmic superstrings? I didn't get enough sleep last night from watching too many back BadGear vids?
I would like to see that too. The roland sc33 is identical in appearance, I was always confused by this, I know Boss and Roland are the same company but why did they do this?
Your videos keep getting better and better! I have always wanted a DR-550 or an SR-16. I wanted to be able to program my own rhythms rather than be limited to drum loops, although thanks to the magic of Acid Pro, I found I was capable of doing a lot of cool things when cutting up loops. But it's always just a bit different than actually being able to trigger individual samples at will. I'll admit right now, had I gotten my hands on one of these years ago, it probably would have been long gone. I honestly don't think it sounds bad today though. I like how it sounds through the pedals. And it's ironically a much more unique sound than what you hear in a lot of new music. You're so good at demonstrating how it's not necessarily the gear that you use but how you use it that makes music good. Thanks!
The maligned and misunderstood DR rhythm. Accused of misappropriating vital hospital supplies and quietly retired from active surgery during the late 90s in rather suspicious circumstances after some awkward patient mishaps. Now back for this Halloween freak show. Love it
one of the best 30 second music video clips yet - fantastic! There is a fair selection of mid-80's digital synths with next to no displays and only buttons to change parameters to delve into yet - Korg DW 6000/8000 for instance.
Nice one! I don't know if this belongs here, but I recently watched the movie "Conjuring" and the Radio-Szene is literally made for your awsome intros. Thanks for these great videos, keep on going!
I bought on of those new, and paired it with a thing from Oberheim called the Drummer, which did a great job of “humanizing” it’s patterns based on what I played on keys. Loved the DR-550, and loved the Drummer.
It's super refreshing to see someone using the built-in sequencer on one of these, most people just trigger it with an external sequencer and that kind of defeats part of its charm imo
Personally I love the Boss DR line of drum machines. They sound so great for their price point. The best of the bunch are most definitely the DR-5 and DR-660. Great video!
I bought mine for $30 at a local pawn shop as my first drum machine back in 1997 and I use it once and a while as it packs a punch with some of it's samples. Now with the TR8s, Digitakt, Model:Samples, eurorack modules and so on it stays on the shelf mostly but for live drumming it's my go-to machine.
Never used the DR-550, but the DR-880 was my first drum machine, and I still use it a lot! From your demo, I think the DR-550 sounds quite similar, but the 880 of course addresses some of the issues you discussed like the lack of velocity sensitive pads. I bought the MC303, thinking that it might replace the 880, but the sounds were almost identical, and I actually like the workflow on the 880 better, so I returned the 303 to the store. It's a shame that Roland discontinued the DR Rhythm series.
Thanks fr the video. My second drum machine after the Yamaha DD10 :) I can't remember exactly how long I used it (not THAT long) but I remember the day when I walked out the door of the shop with the DR.660. Now THAT was a drum machine. Had a lot of with it.
I had a Dr 550 way back in the day. Bought it for like $10 used. I hated metronomes but liked playing guitar with live drummers. This was the next best thing for my pre-teen self to practice with. Later in the mid 90's when I started DJing, I could only afford one 1200 and a mixer so I used it to learn how to beat match. Don't remember what happened to it.
Not a hated piece of gear, but an interesting one for a bad gear/better gear feature: The Korg Monotribe. Internal synth sounds great, kick drum not so much. No individual outs, no Midi, and only a ribbon controller for the synth...BUT mods can fix all that. Some people love it, some deride it as a toy.
Oh, I was sad to see this in the title. I love this little machine. I got mine in 1994 to make EBM (not to be confused with EDM). My friend broke it and I forgot about it but this Roland drum sound is what I've been using ever since in other devices. Earlier this year I bought one for 300SEK (~30€) and it still sounds great.
This was the exact same drum machine that my dad had back when we were living in Missouri over on 9th street at that time. and I'll be picking one up myself, not to replace the drum machine in my Digitech RP 250 but to further compliment it.
Check out the DR-5 marketed to guitar players it's one interesting little machine some may call it bad but beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose!
Wow! Still got one of these all originally boxed somewhere. 29 years after I first bought it. There’s probably a dozen patches that stand the test of time.
