Boss DR-5 Drum Machine

Had mine since 1999. Very easy to use. I actually composed something within the first hour of use. I have it hooked up with a dr-550 now.

Fantastic sequencing. Wish it had even two more tracks

Wish it had more sounds

Has skipped a few times during song play back.

Do they exist for a perfect product?
I dont think i'd have to call them re DR-5

If I cant afford a good synth I'd buy two used dr-5 just for the track.

If it is the first time for you to use a sequencer/synth/MIDI device it can be a bit daunting...people with low experience levels should buy the Video Manual to get going.

If you understand basic sequencing, mixing and MIDI concepts learning it is easy IF you read the manual. Certainly this device favors guitarists (which I am) and works best for them.

Generally any of the things that make it difficult use are solved by the DR5Edit program available via shareware. I'll give the DR-5 a 10 due to availability of this sofware...otherwise I'd give it a 8.

This thing is amazing. I use it for my home studio and composing. I can build four tracks of music, then record each individual track to my BR-8 digital studio. Awesome results.

The unit does need some effects and some updated sound libraries, but it is does a good job if you run external effects on each track.

The guitar fretboard interface is great..I often wonder though if I would achieve the same results if it had an inexpensive keyboard built in to it instead.

I've never ran out of polyphony, but it is limited.

The sounds are pretty bland as they come, but if you process them independantly you can make it sound pretty good.

The buttons are not velocity sensitive as is the case on most drum machines these days. This is a liability and asset as you can get it sounding pretty good without learning to 'play' it.

I've owned two of these units and they were both reliable. They take abuse and come back for more. I'd use it to gig with without backup. I use it more for concepts/composing though.

Never dealt with Roland after years of using Boss/Roland stuff.

As I said before, this is the second one I have owned. I had one before and used it with a cassette four track recorder. I decided to upgrade to a digital portable studio, so I sold the DR-5 to raise the funds. I missed it within a week of shipping it out. I then tried buying a keyboard synth to do the same work, but I am a guitarist, not a keyboardist, and the synth thing didn't work out. I ended up buying a DR-5 again off of eBay and with 24 hours was composing better than before. The combo of the BR-8 and the DR-5 is awesome! I'm going to re-record stuff I did in the keyboard phase of life with the DR-5 to get the compositions back to the tightness I like.

No problem -this was my first sequencer ,and it remains my second instrument after my guitar. I read the manual thoroughly, and set myself the task of programming a "classical rock" version of Mountain's Nantucket Sleighride as a learning project .Project successful, and I now write original material on it ,and I've also programmed about three hours worth of live backings for the Desperate Dan Trio (UK) which has kept the band in work for over five years.I occasionally knock out a boogie piano or hammond organ solo (over a programmed left hand keyboard part with bass and drums) which no other instrument on the planet allows me ,as a guitar player ,to do (especially midi guitar!)

Polyphony- sufficient for simple (i.e.effective) live backings. For recording purposes, sync it to your recorder via midi and record each instrument in turn, adding FX on your recorder. Massive result if you've got enough tracks.No built in FX , emphasis is achieved during programming with accent buttons(4 levels).For memory live we use a simple Yamaha Midi Data Filer with floppy disc for some songs, Internal song memory for others, and specified pattern play for yet more . We prefer to keep backing really simple ,and add the excitement with the real instruments- is anybody at all interested in how clever a programmed drum fill sounds? This devastating realisation has given us about 75% more memory, simply by looping patterns .We also run in mono, which means we have drums and bass panned left(in the DR5) on one mixer channel and other instruments panned right with reverb on another fader so instruments can come in and out of the arrangement without programming by simply bringing them in and out on the PA.

Instrument sounds are solid on the whole, rarely cheesy. For the best drum results ,don't use the eighties rock kit, use the biggest, reallest dry sounds and ADD REVERB EXTERNALLY with a digital FX unit.HUGE sounds are possible.The DR5 suits realistic sounding music best, which it does better than the most expensive QY series Yamahas.We have people leaping about to our blues and rock numbers on a regular basis, which they don't do,however drunk, if the backing grooves sound fake.

You can depend on this unit,but your Wall Wart will need to be treated gently and replaced on occasion.Forget batteries! We have two DR5 units ,but one stays home for writing purposes, so yes we gig it without back-up.

I work in a music shop and I continually pester our Roland/Boss Rep( a most helpful person) about the need to reintroduce this product , preferably with more memory, onboard effects (chorus and reverb) ,an extra assignable output which would enable us to separate our bass sounds and add reverb to our drum sound live via our PA's FX unit without muddying the bass sound, and no more Guitar Triggering ,which simply doesn't work and has put some stupid people off using a DR5 altogether! IS ANYONE AT ROLAND CORP. LISTENING TO WHAT WORKING, THRIVING GUITAR PLAYERS NEED? Oh, and please ask the programmers to be less creative, and keep the presets to simple, short traditionally acceptable and universally adaptable patterns with no internal chord changes so we can actually USE the bloody things in our song programming (like Zoom do on the rhythmtrack machines) without wasting memory and effort on some tiny edit to remove a silly bit from a nearly useful pattern. One more thing- a smartmedia slot so we can store song, pattern and kit info for each song as a file, so we don't need to buy a Yamaha product for data storage !NO repairs have been necessary,and no upgrades are, I believe available up to now.Does the man who designed the DR5 still work for Roland/Boss and if so does he care about this design classic?

I would buy it again, but I deeply resent the way Boss have allowed this unit to die off in this format.The PMA 5 stylus interface was an unpleasant one, the DR770 was too expensive (and after all only a drum machine,) the DR670 is only a bass and drum machine, not something a guitarist unfamiliar with the piano keyboard can write entire arrangements on and record with. As for the dreaded Jam Station JS5, the sound sucks like a hoover, the interface looks like a toy, and the preset patterns were programmed by someone who has obviously never done a Pub or Blues club gig in his or her life.WE DON'T NEED A MACHINE THAT CAN PLAY BUSIER ARRANGEMENTS THAN FRANK ZAPPA, WE WANT SYMPATHETIC BACKING THAT DOES AS IT'S DAMN WELL TOLD! .I have a powerful synth workstation which remains unused- I am a guitarist so I write on the DR5 fretboard interface for preference, despite its age (and quite probably because of mine!) If Yamaha can regularly update and improve the QY machines, why can't Boss improve on the old DR5 .It can't be too complicated ,after all it's only for GUITAR PLAYERS ,for goddess'sake ! Despite the moans, however it's the only one of its kind, so it has to get first place till someone raises the bar.

Not so easy to use, you can use it at 100% only after reading manual a few times.
Too much sub-menu and not so very intuitive commands, such as SHIFT button commands. But when you will learn to use, you can do EVERYTHING with the drum & the instruments. Manual is easy to use (the english-italian translaction is good)

Sometimes the poliphony doesn`t work very well, for example among the chords of a song the sound seems "not continuos". The guitar in is very good for play into DR-5, but you haven`t any kind of effect. I don`t like playing guitar assigned to another instrument in DR-5: it doesn`t sound good. The internal memory is TOO SMALL. You have to transfer your work on the PC when it`s full.

I simply never heard an electronic drum machine sound like this. I will use the sounds of DR-5 even if i have an integrated sequencer on my digital multitrack recorder. The bass sounds are great, expecially the finger bass and the synth basses. Most of the instrument are great too, and don`t forget you can always change all the parameters of the sounds (ex. PAN, VOLUME, DECAY etc)

Never had a problem, considering the 9vdc power supply is not a BOSS original.
Be careful to use rotary dial !!!!

Never repaired, never ask helpful.

I owned two of this. I think i will replace it if it was stolen !!

There are some stupid issues regarding the interface on this machine. For instance - The "erase" pad is also the "shift" key. That's just stupid engineering design. Having said that...this machine is like others - once you get used to it, the moves become natural and it's as easy to use as the very first Dr. Rhythm ever - that grey/silver bar shaped thing with like 24 sounds. If your'e techno savy with these things...youll find it's like the rest - it's tedious to get past the learning curve, but once you do it's well worth it - because it's got some incredibly cool features to exploit. It's not an easy machine to learn to use - but what do you expect for all of the cool shit it can do ? Use your head and dig in...it's worth learning to use. I hate these lazy people who complain about machines being too complicated - it's not going to write music for you...but it comes pretty damn close once you get fluent with it. As far as the manual ? Again, if you are techno savy...you wont need to study the manual. You'll need to reference it. Its not an easy machine to program, but my god it is worth it.

It's got everything. One thing that pisses me off about it however, is that there are only 4 nuances in volume. You can't screw with each individual note - for instance...With the R-70, the user could dig deep into every single beat and screw with a whole range of parameters on every single note. But on this machine - You'd have to assign the same instrument to 5 individual pads...and set the volume for each pad differently if you want to extend upon those nuances. But beyond that as a shortcoming...it's advantages are by far superior. And yes - the pads are tiny...that annoys me. But they are laid out like a fret-board which is really cool. There are zillions of presets - so many that you will almost alwatys find what you need. I am usually anti-preset. Ordinarily I want the flexibility to do it myself, and fine tune as I see fit - but I have to admit...the presets cover alot of ground with this machine. It has what you need.

What can I say - this category rates a 10. Sounds amazing...from rock, to rap, to country, to jazz...in fact, the jazz sounds are intense. Its unreal what comes out of this machine. I couldnt believe this machine was a sequel to the original Dr. Rythm...The doctor has come a long way.

It will cut a gig. Serioulsy...if you can program it....you can count on it.

I have no idea - Havent needed it yet.

Buy it - great for live as well as for making demos. It does a hell of a lot. Its drawbacks can all be worked around.

PRICE PAID US $500.00 I BOUGHT THIS DR5 NEW WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT TO WRITE SONGS ON(I HAVEN'T FOUND ANYTHING BETTER SINCE) AND I HAVE TRIED JUST ABOUT EVERY NEW PRODUCT THAT HAS CAME OUT FROM QY'S TO SAMPLERS TO GROOVE BOXES.THIS WAS BEST FOR THE PRICE.THIS IS VERY EASY TO USE IF YOU WILL SIT DOWN WITH THE MANUAL AND DO A STEP AT A TIME JUST LIKE IT SHOWS BUT IT WON'T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT,I'TS GOING TO TAKE A FEW TRYS,BUT ONCE YOU GET THE HANG IT IS REALLY EASY.

19 VOICE POLYPHONY(I USED THIS MACHINE AS A ONE MAN BAND-4 PIECE BACKUP PLUS PLAYED MY GUITAR THROUGH IT WITH A DIGITECH VOCAL HARMONIZER AND MADE OVER $10.000 IN 1999 DOING ROADHOUSE CLUBS,AND I'M NOT TALKING COFFEEHOUSES BUT REDNECK ROADHOUSES PLAYING SKYNARD,SEGER,CLAPTON STONES,ROD STEWART,ANYTHING I WANTED AND PROGRAMMED IN EVERY PART MYSELF AND WAS TOLD BY MOST CLUB OWNERS AND THE CROWDS I SOUNDED BETTER THE MOST OF THE ROCK BANDS THEY HAD IN THERE)FUNNY I HAD NEVER EVEN CHECKED ON THE POLYPHONY.IF I HAD KNOWN IT WAS ONLY 19 VOICE POLYPHONY I WOULD NOT HAVE EVEN BOUGHT IT.--NO EFFECTS YOU CAN APPLY-BUT THERE ARE EFFECTS BUILT IN TO THE SAMPLES,BUT IT HAS A WONDERFUL CLEAN DETAILED STUDIO SOUND LIVE ON STAGE THAT DOESN'T DISTORT WITH VOLUME WELL BALANCED(I HAD NO SOUNDMAN)DIDN'T NEED ONE START AND STOP SONGS WITH FOOTSWITCH,LOTS OF PRACTICAL FEATURES.I STARTED OUT DOING SHOWS ON MY ROLAND XP 80 AND I NOTICED THE SONGS WERE SOUNDING BETTER WITH THE DR5 AND THE PEOPLE WERE COMMENTING AS WELL.I LEFT THE ROLAND HOME FROM THERE ON OUT-TOO MANY EFFECTS TOO CLASH ON THE KEYBOARD-THIS IS ALL YOU NEED AND BROTHER IT HAS THE BEST SOUNDING ACOUSTIC GUITAR ON IT THERE IS (BAR NONE INCLUDING THE $3000,00 KEYBOARDS-MIDI IN AND OUT-YOU CAN COPY PRESETS TO USER PATTERNS THEN ADDS PARTS,MELODY LINES,ERASE SECTIONS OF THE ORIGINAL PARTS,MUTE PARTS,CHANGE THE MIDI INSTRUMENTS TO ANY OF THE 3 CHANNELS(DRUMS ARE STATIONARY),OVERDUB AN AMAZING AMOUNT BEFORE DROPOFF-IT SURE DOESN'T SOUND 19 VOICE-IT IS SETUP FOR 20 SONGS BUT I COULD ONLY GET 10 ON IT IF THE SONGS ARE DECENTLY LAYERED,I DID HAVE TO INVEST IN A YAMAHA DATA FILER TO STORE MY SONGS ON FLOPPY BUT THEN I HAD UNLIMITED STORAGE FOR LIVE GIGS.BY THE WAY THEY HAVE STOPPED MAKING THESE THOUGH THEY AREN'T BEING CLOSED OUT YET AT THE MAILORDER DEALERS,I KEEP WAITING FOR A NEWER MODEL,BUT INSTEAD BOSS HAS COME OUT WITH GARBAGE LIKE THE JAMSTATION INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING UP ON A REALLY AWESOME MACHINE-(IF ANYONE HAS ONE OF THESE AND YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT FUNCTIONS ON IT,FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME AT --THEMUSIC.MAN@VERIZON.NET

MOST REALISTIC INSTRUMENTS ARE THE ABSOLUTELY AWESOME ACOUSTIC 6 AND 12 STRINGS AND THE HAWAIAN GUITAR WHICH I USED TO GET A SOUND SIMILAR TO -THE MAVERICKS-ALL GUITARS ARE GOOD THOUGH AND ABOUT 80 PERCENT OF THE INSTRUMENTS ARE GOOD SOUNDING THOUGH NOT LOADED DOWN WITH INSRUMENTS-BUT IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE A DRUM MACHINE-BROTHER THAT'S AN UNDERSTATEMENT-I ALSO USED THIS MACHINE AS A PRAISE AND WORSHIP LEADER IN A 500 CROWD CHURCH FOR A YEAR BEFORE MUSICIANS STARTED COMING TO THE CHURCH-I'VE WRITTEN OVER 100 SONGS ON IT AND DONE RADIO JINGLES AND COUNTLESS YOUTH REVIVALS WITH JUST THE MACHINE WITH AMAZING RESULTS.

NEVER EVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH IT GIGGED WITHOUT BACKUP TO THE TUNE OF 10.000 DOLLARS--THE ONLY THING I CAN SEE YOU NEED TO WATCH FOR IS THE ROTARY DIAL CAN BECOME FAIRLY STRIPPED OUT IF YOUR TOO ROUGH AND TURN THROUGH THE PRESETS 90 MILE AN HOUR BUT YOU CAN GO INSIDE AND TIGHTEN BACK UP-I DID THIS ONCE-OTHERWISE NO PROBLEMS.

NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH THEM

I DONT PLAY ANYWHERE ANYMORE BUT THE HOUSE-BUT I HAVE BEEN PLAYING LIVE SINCE 13.I AM NOW 46.I WISH BOSS WITH COME OUT WITH ANOTHER VERSION BUT SINCE THEY HAVE QUIT MAKING THIS MODEL I AM GOING TO PICKUP A COUPLE MORE TO KEEP AROUND.I KNOW I COULD BUY SOMETHING LIKE THE YAMAHA RMIX OR GROOVE STATION FOR THAT BUT I"VE TRIED THEM AND I'M STICKING WITH THIS-FOR MY STYLES,SOUTHERN ROCK.BLUES.TOP 40,COUNTRY ROCK,COUNTRY- STUFF YOU CAN REALLY ROADHOUSE GIG WITH IT CAN'T BE BEAT THOUGH THE PRAISE AND WORSHIP STUFF I DID WITH IT WAS COMTEMPORARY AND ULTRA MODERN-A VERY SURPRISING LITTLE MACHINE IF YOU STICK WITH IT AND DON'T GIVE UP AND QUIT AND USE THE EXCUSE THIS THING SUCKS.

Ok, this thing isn't easy to master on the beginning, it takes some time to master it. I did it by downloading my favorite's bands drum tablatures for guitar pro and then I tried to write it myself on DR-5... and by some time (few days to week) I finally did it and it's really a child's play, very easy to use! I'm playing a guitar and with Boss DR-5 I can write whole songs by myself, from all process of songwriting it's easiest for me to make a drum kit for all song.
Manuall is OK, it has everything - you just have to be patient and read! :)

I'm giving it 8 cause I tried to put my guitar in it but it didn't responded to me well... effects are good enough for me, well it's a drum machine and it's basic function is to provide drum set and that really works GREAT!
I didn't get any software with it but I foun on internet some software that uses me to save my drums and bass from DR-5 to PC cause it has memory for 3-4 songs only :(. I also found on the net scheme for electronics needed between DR-5 and PC and it works fine (MIDI support)

I'm in metal and it's pretty easy for me to adjust metal drums although this drum machine supports very larg variety of drum music stiles

This thingy never let me down, it never happened that it freezes or something, but I would like if display would have more contrast.
I wouldn't use it on gig cause it doasnt have enough memory to store more than 3-4 songs I make, but I'll record it on CD and use it that way :).

It's worth the money I paid it, even more, the goy that was selling it needed the money badly so I got it under price :), I recorded some music with it and I intend to keep on using it, I use it for drums and bass both

Entering simple patterns is easy enough, but creating complex patterns or chains is a complete nightmare. The 'menus' are unnecessarily deep, screen space on the already tiny display is frequently wasted, and long patterns can only be entered one measure at a time -- this completely destroys my flow. Others have posted decent ratings in this department; I can only assume they use external sequencers to drive the thing. I create user interfaces professionally (I'm a software engineer), and I tell you, this interface is PATHETIC.

The guitar features that make this unit special -- the pitch detector, the tuner, etc. -- are simply awful. Read the other reviews; you'll find that no one has had a good experience with these. The buttons are stiff and often unresponsive. Other standard features are adequate but unremarkable.

The patches sound fine though, as usual, there are too many turgid, overly-reverbed metal sounds. The pads are not velocity sensitive.

Haven't subjected it much abuse in the four months since I got it; can't really say.

I strongly recommend that you NOT buy this machine. The special guitar features are so crappy as to be worthless. The patches themselves are fine, but the DR-770 offers more sounds and better articulation (i.e., reverb, EQ, etc.) for the same price. Please do NOT make the mistake I made; no amount of wishful thinking will ever make this unit better than average.

The Presets sound amazing for it to be coming out of a digital box like this. But it is really tedious to enter complicated drum tracks (with rolls and offbeats). The Preset songs have no corresponding patters which can be copied and modified for use - they seem to be 'hard coded' in the machine.

The keyboard action is pretty good. There are no builtin effects which can be used on the guitar.

The instruments sound very realistic - especially with other tracks filled in, the drums sound very real. Works well for Rock for me. The reaction to playing is bad though.

Very dependable.

It's a treasure. I love the realistic sound quality. But I hate the effort it takes to program anything complicated.

THE SOUNDS ARE COOL...THE PRESETS ARE COOL...EDITING PATCHES ARE
EASY...THE MANUAL IS NECESSARY.

THE MIDI CAPABILITIES ARE REALLY VAGUE...I REALLY WANT TO EXPAND
SO THE SEQUENCER IS ABLE TO SEND THE ACTUAL VOICES INSTEAD OF THE
PIANO SOUNDS ON CHANNELS 1-3. IF ANYONE HAS ANY FEEDBACK LETS TALK.
THE SYNTH SOUNDS ARE AWESOME AND THE DRUM SOUNDS ARE TIGHT.AS FAR
AS I CAN SE PROGRAM CHANGE IS NOT POSSIBLE...DISAPPOINTED ME.

BASS SOUNDS ARE REALISTIC ESPECIALLY FINGER BASS AND ACOUSTIC BASS.
WORKS WELL FOR ROCK,FUNK AND JAZZ.NO F/X...THE ABILITY TO EDIT THE VOICES I.E.GATE,ACCENT,VOLUME,PAN ECT. IS WONDERFUL

VERY DEPENDABLE...HAS NEVER LET ME DOWN...NOT A SINGLE PROBLEM AT ALL
NO NEED FOR A BACKUP...

I HAVE DEALT WITH THE COMPANY IN REGARDS TO THE MIDI CAPABILITIES.
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IF THEY HAD A TOLLFREE NUMBER FOR TECH
SUPPORT.THEY WERE HELPFUL AND GAVE ME ALL OF INFO,SO MUCH SO THAT I
ONLY ABLE TO ABSORB A LITTLE AT A TIME.I WILLL HAVE TO CALL THEM
BACK TO CONTINUE TO PROGRESS.

I PLAN TO BUY ANOTHER. I BOUGHT THIS ONE IN 1994 NEW FOR 450. AN
IT HAS BEEN ONE OF THE BEST MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS I HAVE EVER INVESTED
IN. VERY SOLID.BUT IM NOT IMPRESSED WITH THE MINI CAPABILITIES
YET.MAYBE THERE IS SOMETHING YET TO BE LEARNED ABOUT IT.