You can pick up the RD-9 and the RD-8 for affordable money and not be afraid to take them out. If something happens... you can get another. Are they perfect replicas? Nope, but they close enough to be useful and cost 1/10 the price. Like Behringer or not, they are bringing affordable products to the market that fill a need.
@@holografik3327 I have a tr8s and I can't stand most of the 909 kicks or most of the kicks for that matter, rd9 is instantly inspirational and could bust a jam right away.
Guys I've discovered something that blew my socks off. The RD9 accepts midi CC. I found this out completely by accident but CC75 affects the RD9 hi hats pitch. Let me know if it works for you guys and if you find out any other CCs that work. Can't find the midi implementation chart anywhere.
This is WAY better sounding than the original, and I know ! Forget about the Behringer primarily emulating the 909 and think of it as a beautiful drum synth in it's own right. The more you will appreciate the value of this brilliant piece of kit.
Apparently they took 5 units - all of which sounded very different - so had to design it to make what could thought to be a ‘typical’ sound. Probably why it doesn’t sound exactly like owners originals. I think 808 state lent them theirs.
Just bought one after watching this vid. Arrived today. To go with my td-3 I bought the other week. Very surprised how sturdy this feels! Great sounds. Now to attempt to bang out some acid house (without fl studio! )
The little Roland digital TR-09 is 2x the price of the RD-9. The Roland Execs INSIST that ppl follow their TECH LEAD. They scoff at the idea of giving ppl analog synths.
Greetings Starsky. The extra decay on the TR-09 is the same sound as the original 909 revision 2 model. I'm pretty sure that is what Roland emulated their TR-09 on. I have done a 'does it work in the mix comparison video between an original 909 and the TR-09. The TR-09 does an excellent job compared to the original. It's not 100%, more like 90% but in the mix, it can definitely work. However, the clone that is a 100% copy of an original 909 is the Nava. That thing is bang on. I'll pick up the Behringer Hi-Fi model eventually.
I LOVE how clean and smooth the RD-9 sounds. They gave it good guts and outputs. It's crazy how the TR-909 sound is still in 30 years later. I like all of its sounds, but the OH is my favorite. It's as part of my life as much as a piano sound.
Sold my 808 and bought a 909 late 80s (had to sell to buy something else) and when I listen to my recordings of those days I still wonder why people like this sound so much. I remember regretting I sold the 808 and replaced it with a 909. They're worlds apart and the 909 sound was never my thing. Nice review though Starsky!!!
I have to admit.. I think I edited a bit out saying something similar. You get the 808 out, plug it in and everything instantly sounds amazing. The 909 sounds don't blow you away in comparison, they don't instantly grab you like the 808. It's only once I start adding instruments and grooves with this that I really feel it. Hence I think part of why I enjoyed adding the bits ad bobs in here. I have to say I really like this though :)
I owned a 707 back in the day, which was PCM samples and Roland’s response to the Linn drum. I got sick of the sound really quickly, though programming was a breeze. These old recreations just seem so limited in comparison to modern groove boxes.
RD-9 just landed on my doorstep last night. I also have a TR-09, which I love. I didn't need the RD-9 but I had access to it, so I figured, why not? How many 909 clones are enough? Criticisms aside, if a musician can make good music, they can do it on any piece of equipment.
RD-9 sounds great to me- it's gonna go thru compression and fx anyway, but the raw sound is close enough. Can't believe I'll own an "808" (RD-8) and a "909". Thanks for the great video.
As I said at the end, I recon if I had a few in here they'd all be slightly different but all have the same character. This is perfect - especially for the price!
Nice review as always! If an artist can get over the sporadic show-off 909 owner bragging about it, the $350 RD9 will probably do for the audience. Add to that no worries about a 909 disappearing from the stage/back-stage. Anyone experienced stolen instruments, gear during/after a gig?
I had a TR-909 stolen from me in 2001.. after 12 months of dealing with the police doing nothing I just beat the shizz out of the guy on his property when he went to his mailbox.. then I had to pay a lawyer $500 to get out of trouble.. I would do it again.. 👊🤣
Just got an RD-9 of my own last week. Never owned one personally but I've worked with the original a number of times over the years. TBH, if I had access to an original and could only use one or the other, it's an absolute no-brainer. The RD-9 is an AMAZING piece of kit.
On the TR-909 the Snare and Handclap share the same noise source so when you played them simultaneously you were listening to the paralleled filters on the Snare and Clap, this produced a characteristic "phasey" quality. Does the RD-9 replicate this?
I love this thing. But the lights drive me crazy because I'm very colorblind and I can't tell the colors apart on the dim little lights AT ALL, which means that I can't even tell if a step is triggering unless I wait for the pattern to come back around and see if it plays (if the step light is on for some other reason). But I still like it. It's convenient that the 606/707 are the ones that are easy to program and perform with because they're the cheap ones. And now we have an 808/909 that are easy to use, too! This made me gain a lot of respect for Behringer. I dunno about the RD-8, though. It's just not right without an instrument select knob. The missing knob really stands out the instant you see it. But I don't hate the missing knob as much as I hate the USB Micro-B power connector on the TR-08...
I bought a 909 from a guy in london in the 90s for 600 sheets purely because Adamski got me hooked. Many years later i sold it for 1k to my inner pain. I moved house and took up djing on a Pioneer XDJ Mixer. Missing these sounds and the sequencer the R9 got me interested again. £242 was a no brainer. I am in love again.
Good vid. Sounds wicked but my tr-8s does all the Rolands and some for only £200 more than the rd-9. Love behringer though. Got a few of their gadgets. The tb-3 costs pennies and is wicked as fuck
Not knowing much about the original machine, I must say I prefer the overall feel of the sounds on the RD-9. They sound warmer and more pleasant to me. Unexpected but cool. Thank you!
I don't understand why Roland hasn't done this... there is obviously a market for it. And honestly, while I don't have a problem with Behringer, if Roland and Behringer both released remakes, I'd get the Roland one! Even if it was $100 more! But they just keep making digital re-releases... 🤷
I have had mine for a week now and am VERY frustrated with it. I have tried following the "instructions" that come from the manual with no success. Their "Quick Start" guide is nothing more than a description of each button. The user manual is not very helpful either. I follow along and still cannot make a beat with this. Your video is slightly helpful but you go through it very fast and it's hard to follow. Is there ANY instruction available out there for a person who is just beginning? I feel I've wasted my money on this. HEEELLLPP!
Watch me, and keep on pausing. It’s all in there. It takes a while to get to grips with this stuff, and even I get frustrated with new kit. Stick with it and it’ll click into place at some point. Once you understand the way it works everything falls into place.
@@StarskyCarr Don't be shy Star, do a house call 😁 Don;t ask me why but the RD9 only caught my eye today, as a serious contender for a drum machine. Analog, 9 outs, cool sequencer and then the price. I am intending in using this for Berlin school, slow it down a ton, also add a P800 for good measure which should go nicely with my existing gear. As a drum machine, and I have had many, this should work if I process externally? I intend to go full pan mode with my DAW.
Bit of time passed since this video dropped. And yes seems people get very involved in the sound of this and that, but the RD-8 & RD-9 are a blast to simply play. This Behringer definitely got right. Thanks Starsky
I struggle to love the sound of the 909, my head says buy it but my heart says different. This is a classic but don't know if it does anything for me. Thanks for the in depth review!
The RD 9 has an interesting sound for certain dance songs. I hear echoes of Phil Collins, Enigma, Rhythm is a Dancer, Pump up the Jams and a lot of other mega hits. It sounds very “squirty” or “splashy” at times. It definitely has a stylistic sound.
Just ordered mine. Say what you want about Behringer but they have opened up a whole world of gear to me that I would have never in a thousand years had access to. I love them. Tha ks for all your amazing vids man.
Not surprisingly the RD9 blows the little Roland out of the water sound wise. All of Roland’s digital emulations over the last ten or so years have been blah to me. And I should know because I have three of the originals to test side by side the newbies and they suck. Roland is really missing a trick just refusing to go down the analog path. Just imagine how many analog synths and 808, 909’s they sell! Not to even mention a new analog jupiter 8! They must have rocks in their heads!
Ah christ !! Somebody borrow our man Starsky an original 909 asap !! If i remember correct the TR-09 doesn't sound as good as the original 909. Excited about this video regardless !!
Great video. The note repeat should have a 3 setting - I don't need 5,000 rpm but need triplets! Did you not find the TR-09 harsh at the top end compared to the rd-9?
This was literally the first time I’d put them together.. so I was just listening for similarities. But I prefer the sound of the RD9 overall. triplets would be great. I sed to use them here and there to break up a beat. great ida.
I watched this 3 Times...Thanks a lot! One question: The Poly Mode doesnt do anything when Im using it....I Set the lenght, but nothing happens... am I missing something?
nice demo but I find absolutely zero reason to buy this with the Roland TR-8s available. the Roland sounds better, has more features, more sounds, etc etc. honestly there's not much room for x0x drum machine recreations with the TR-8s available, as it simply nails everything great about the originals and expands on it. I guess thats why you see them in every electronic music studio and/or live setup.
It’s a good point… they’re not analog obviously … if that’s important to anyone, but I’ve just made an episode for my Clubbing TV show with this, and mention the TR8s as being a less limited option.. even though it’s twice the price it’s sort of in the same price bracket ?!? There’s the TR8 as well of course. But it doesn’t have all the individual outputs etc… different strokes I suppose depending on what you want to do with it. I definitely think there’s a market for this though.
I received my new RHYTHM DESIGNER RD-9 today from Andertons ..Anyways Upon unboxing mine came with a Euro 2 pin rather than UK 3 Pin PSU So i can not use it at this moment :( However a quick call to Anderton over the phone where they apologised & said they would send the correct one out to me asap :) ..looking forward to trying my new RD 9
lol I'd bet 90% of the songs you listen to use a DAW or MPC with 909 samples. very few people produce with a 909 anymore. it's not worth the expense and space it consumes for a pretty limited function. everyone I know has switched to the Roland TR-8 or TR-8s, or they just use samples.
@@REOvolt I bought it but are insturctions unclear, I even do not know if I can use external midi signal to run paticular drums with midi notes from Ableton.
We all have seen the comparisons, and they are just making fools of themselves, you can take two of brand new analogue synths made one right after the other and they won’t sound exactly the same, let alone a 30 year difference, at least. And who cares if they don’t sound exactly the same! They have the feel of one! I ordered one along with a Drumlouge and I’m going to use it as a controller. I would not have got this if I didn’t have the ability to add any drum kits I wanted. When I require an onboard sound I’ll have it!
Yeah… I even demo’d this with 2 vintage Korg Polysix synths. They both had the feel and character of a Polysix but by no means soundend the same. After 40 years it hardly a surprise. So when someone says it didn’t sound exactly the same as their unit - of course it doesn’t. What’s important is that it has the right overall feel and character. I spoke with someone at Behringer about this when it came out. They had 5 units (including 808 State’s) and they all varied - so there’s no single ideal unit I guess.
I like hihats of RD-9 much more than in TR-09. In Behringer hihats are smooth, round, "natural". As I care about hi-end no less than about low-end, this is very important to me. While both use samples, RD-9 sounds less like 'a sample' to me than TR-09. I could get RD-9 even just for the hihats :D
Someone in the comments told me I was using it incorrectly. If you read through you’ll find d it (I’ve forgotten what they said). FYI I bought this it’s not a ‘review unit’ I’ve bought almost every Behringer you see on the channel - others were loaned to me by viewers.
@@StarskyCarr Thank you. Yes I've found the answer in amongst the 288 comments and on relistening I also heard that you'd bought the unit at the end of your video Thanks for your excellent reviews and tutorials. :-)
Sweetwater recommended me to watch your review, them damn Yankees! But yer global and liked fella, yer just need Ian McCullough to knock about while you are doing the vidz or bids I also might have spent McCullough wrong, but yeah yer cool n I'm from the man......r don't hate me for that
Hi I've learned a lot from this video but I can't find out how to play a song I've created or how to restart the song. Hope you can help . Thanks Robert
Hi Starsky, great videos on the RD-9, thank you. On my unit, the note repeat function takes it's volume from the last velocity value transmitted from the pattern sequencer for that instrument. So if the pattern alternates it's accents (including global), the volume of the 'Repeat' roll changes as it plays over the top of the pattern's accent changes. Is that normal behaviour? I've only just noticed it and can't tell from your videos. I'm on the latest firmware and version of the SynthTribe app. Cheers!
There will always be arguments over this one about sound quality. That being said if if works for you have at it hoss. I would like one, and very well may get one..
hi! it seems that each song can have 16 patterns and each pattern can have several loop bars... but it seems that the song is limited to 16 changes between different patterns... right?
Some say yes, others no... The RD9 was based on a best-fit approach to 5 different 909s they had while developing it (including 808 State's). Apparently they all had their own particular tone as you'd expect after living different lives for 40 years. For me it undoubtedly gets that 909 character.
1) That BD in enhanced mode is killer. 2) Has anyone actually tested the triggers outs on the RD-9 to see if they trigger Roland +5volt trigger ins on synths because I know they RD-8 trigger outs were rubbish and didn’t.
Bought one of these after watching this mate. Love your reviews and love how you laugh at yourself when it doesn't quite go to plan. Solid addition to my octatrack to take care of drums instead of using precious octa channels on kicks hats snares etc. One question I do have, is it possible to send pattern change data to it do you know? I'd like to just make a bunch of patterns then have the octa tell it which pattern to play when. Cheers chief ✌️❤️
since I watched this video, I recognized two things after two years: 1. The cat matches with the wall. 2. your hair is getting gray in only two years 3. your content quality is consistent high 😎
