Oh man, the first drum machine I ever owned! Saved up for weeks as a teenager back in the late 90's and thought it was just the coolest thing ever until the DR-202 came out. Great to see this old baby in action again after all these years....
Funny that you mentioned the zap. My friend owned a DR-550 in the early 90's and I used to borrow it just to have access to that sound. I would program beats and sample into my Ensoniq EPS. This machine is underrated. It has a very distinct sound that you can't get from using the samples in a hardware or software sampler. The drums are very punchy and tight, the overall sound is very crisp and has a glossy sheen, as if the output a sort of narrow peak in the treble frequency at the perfect spot.
please synthmania - every day i go to youtube first thing i search is your videos - dont stop uploading tutorial and composing - we all learn from you and spend so much fun time with you - god bless you my friend
I had one of these. It was a nice little drum machine, but a gave it to my friend's sons because they were learning to drum and do music for our church youth worship. I had a DR 880, too, and sold it to my guitar player friend. I still have my DR 5
I own a BOSS Dr. Rhythm Section DR-5 . From Sam Ash, 48th st NYC. 1996. the buttons are placed in a six string guitar configuration. it also has guitar input with pitch to MIDI conversion. I am still using it in 2017. :-)
Great vid!! (as always) I love that you're showing of a piece of gear that everyone can afford. I just recently picked up a DR-670 for under $100 used and I am amazed with how much I can accomplish with such a simple gear like this.
I don't know who this guy is- I stumbled across this video because I just inherited this machine and don't know much about drum machines... Great video, but even more important, this guy is very handsome. No, I'm not kidding. Good for whomever he's dating! A very sexy man with a boatload of electronic gear... Heaven!
I used to do concerts with that thing back in the day, I mean. 10 thousand people and most of my songs came from there with an Atari ST as a sequencer.
I had one of these, in my opinion the sounds are a bit different to the "Roland sound", seems a lot more lofi than say, a Roland R8, R5 or R70 (or even the JV sounds). Funny enough, that "Zap" sound was also one of my favorite sounds, the 808 sounds are not too bad either!
Nice! Still I think it lost some of the Mild und Leise character of DR-55 that producer Tony Mansfield used to perfection, while not measuring up to the Linn (of course). But it fits perfectly for some smooth disco music of those times, I'm sure.
Another great video...you should do a tutorial on how they created that BIG snare sound in the 80's using the drum machines you have. I'm talking Lucretia My Reflection by Sisters of Mercy and Kyrie by Mr Mister type stuff!! :-)
Did you make rave / music back in the 90's if so under what name, Love the channel as i'm a old raver myself 88-93 and you got the gear most of us only dream about owning or learning to use !
I did but never went anywhere in the '90s :-D My time is now on RU-vid ;-D The only difference is that I still use the old gear instead of Ableton, hehe - thank you
Hello, can you tell me if the tempo in bpm matches to tempo of other machines (computer, keyboards)...I ask this because I have an Alesis SR-16 and the internal clock doesn't matches, I set for example 110 on the sr16 and record a loop on my PC or Multitrack recorder and is a few faster, more or less the 110bpm on the Sr16 corresponding to 110.5bpm on the other machines
So, is this more for certain electronic type music as opposed to more organic, songwriter based stuff for best use? Sounds less humany to me--correct? cool sound nonttheless, just curious; thanks!
that's funny I just went in my basement and got my Dr 220e and Dr 550 mk1 after watching your Simmons fill video. the Dr 220 sounds very Simmons like. I am debating selling them but it's probably not worth it
Now just put it through some fx, comp/limiters, sonic maximizers, aural enhancers, etc. and craft your own big creative sound from this tiny little puppy!! Roland/Boss are BOSS!! RIP Ikutaro Kakehashi
hello :) i always love your videos :) and can you help me out? i'm in the market for some vintage drum machines, and i would like to ask which one is better for Synth Wave or Synth pop The Boss DR550 MKII? or the Boss DR670?
Yes, I had and liked the Electribe series a lot, and was going to buy the Rave-O-Lution after playing it in the stores but never got around to getting it. I'm a big fan of drum machines and grooveboxes.
hey! great vid, anyone knows how to connect it through midi to TR707 but without taking its note values, JUST the tempo bpms??i hope somebody knows thay coz im struggling with it, thanks!!
Hi, I have it here, but I have a problem with an undesired background noise like a turntable mass when switch it on, do you think it's normal or I need to service it?
Someone else has the same problem in the comments below, and I told them the same thing: make sure that you're using a compatible power adapter for it, a wrong type *might cause the hum noise
I just got one of these last week. Paid $87 AUD for it shipped from Japan because it was untested. Works just fine. Not sure if that is overpriced but I'm happy with it. I was actually surprised how quiet it is with headphones. I'm powering with one of those cheap Joyo/Caline pedalboard power supplies. Great channel Synthmania. Cheers mate.
Nevermind , I don't know what I was thinking, this is the DR-550, on the unit you have maximum grid - so this what you do - open your DAW and go out from DAW MIDI Out to DR-550 MIDI In. Use the built-in sounds from the unit but use the DAW sequencer without quantization.
