Roland TR-1000 drum machine

General

Oooh, where are all these memories anyway! Early extremely expensive organs had a bizarrely simple drum unit, of the calibre "plonk-chickie-plonk". Even Roland's old CR-78 drum machine could still be placed in that group in terms of sound - though still a very cool thing for real vintage synthpop. The Roland TR machines of the 1980s were much more fun than the simple drum units in all those organs, but still less hip during their release than they later became in the dance world. Hip? Just say legendary. Prices on the second-hand market went nowhere, so astronomically expensive were they. And now our current era, where one clone after another appeared, both from Roland and their competitors. For some reason, the drum computers just keep appearing, the market is for it anyway. And then Roland themselves are now making another appearance with the TR-1000. Not exactly a small device, nor exactly an occasional pick-up in the queue at the box office. This must mean that it really is something special, fitting into the now illustrious TR legacy!

Features of the Roland TR-1000

Roland itself calls this product the most comprehensive drum computer in Roland history. Under the hood, you get the TR-808 and the TR-909, and apart from the 909 samples, the oscillators are truly analogue. Furthermore, you get the (now familiar?) ACB system for modelling the remaining 'old' sounds, as well as FM synthesis. So furthermore, there is a PCM engine for stereo sample playback. Once upon a time - that of the TR-909 - a cymbal or hi-hat was stored in kilobytes. The TR-1000 has 64 gigabytes(!) of memory, 46 GB of which is available for your own samples. The rest is spent on a huge number of good sounds, and you might even wonder if you don't already have more than enough sounds 'out of the box'. Anyway, sound-designers want sound-designing, and producers always want more sounds. And then there's the sequencer, of course. Surely, in history, two models have emerged as the de facto sequencing methods in this kind of product. The MPC is one well-known method (a 2D grid with pads), the x0x is the other. The TR-1000 offers - obviously - the x0x method; fast, easy to understand, a tried and tested method.

The physical look

It was touched on briefly, this is a hefty one. And it has to be, after all, there are rotary knobs, push buttons and faders that want a place. Because of this format, everything is nice and hands-on, and because of the quick interaction (the sequencing, the quick adjustments of the important sounds) you'll have created a groove in no time. On the back you'll find a forest of connectors, including individual outputs. Who is the TR-1000 for? Obviously, it's for producers who can afford it and actually do something with it. Chances are it's for the dance/EDM scene, the genre in which the classic TR made its name.