Roland CR-8000

The presets are a basic range of patterns that are fairly minimal in their style. This helps a lot because the machine is kind of frustrating to program, so your best bet is to program some congas into one of the eight RAM slots, and then mix that pattern with, say, a preset rock beat.

As I said, it can be a frustrating machine to program because there is no visual representation of the 32 step pattern - you have to count each step. On the plus side, the "arranger" section is an excellent and very worthwhile tool. In this section, there are some preset instruments such as hi-hats and claps that are pre-programmed into very basic solo patterns, that you can introduce or cancel at the touch of a button. This means that with, for example the hi-hats, you don't need to program them into your own pattern if you are just looking for a basic arrangement.

The manual is pretty good. It does suffer a bit from Roland's typical "Engrish", but the machine is so simple to use that the instructions are not at all difficult to comprehend. You will rarely need to consult the manual anyway. I only used it to work out how to delete a rhythm from the RAM slots.

There are 24 preset rhythms, including a good mixture of rock based patterns, as well as a number of Lattin and 3/4 patterns. These are a good base to work on if you happen to be improvising (and improvisation is what this machine is best used for). You also get eight RAM slots to program your own rhythms into. There are also eight preset fill-ins and four programmable fill-ins. The fill ins can be introduced either automatically (depending on you predetermining with a knob how many bars of the basic rhythm should play first), or you can manually introduce the fill-in with a dedicated button. You can also program the machine to begin play with the fill-in.

It should be noted that some of the sounds you hear in the preset patterns cannot be programmed into your own patterns, such as claves and rim-shot. That seems a bit strange seeing that you are already provided with perfectly sevicable hi-hats in the "arranger" section.

The unit does not have MIDI. However it does feature Roland's DIN SYNC protocol, which makes it easy to synchronise to other devices, particularly if you have other Roland gear of similar vintage, or a MIDI>DIN SYNC converter (and most MIDI>CV converters these days have a provision for DIN SYNC). It also features a voltage trigger out to drive suitable arpeggiators of various old synthesisers.

All sounds are analogue.

It has a limited range of sounds, even compared to a TR-808, because you cannot edit any of the sounds. To my ears it has a more gritty, rock type of sound than the 808. It's sounds are actually not far removed from the rhythm section on the Casio MT-68. To give you an idea of a suitable style, the band Adult began using it quite heavily when they decided to go for more of a punk sound, and it fits in really well. Their song "Glue your eyelids together" simply uses a preset rock pattern and fill-in with claps added from the "arranger" section.

In terms of expressiveness, it's terrific. There is so much scope for added and changing sounds on-the-fly. Much more so than the 808. You can mix two patterns together, change patterns immediately at the touch of a button, and the aforementioned "arranger" section is great for instantly being able to add or detract instruments to build up a track or take it down. I have this drum machine, an 808 and an Alesis HR-16B, and I would definitely say that this is the best drum machine for improvisation, because there's absolutely no faffing about if you want to change the feel of a pattern, or indeed the pattern itself, on a whim.

When I bought it, most of the buttons were not working. I took them off, doused the innards in contact cleaner, let it dry overnight, and now it works like new.

I think you could easily use it to a gig with no worries. The technology is very simple, and unlike synthesisers of the same period, you dont need to worry about detuning issues. With it's terrific improvisational nature, it is ideal for live playing. Much more so than almost any other drum machine I can think of (trigger pads excepted), but you do need to be able to fit in it's distinct analogue sound with your style.

I live in Melbourne, Australia. The local authorised Roland repair centre is Logitronics in Northcote. Fortunately one of their specialties is repairing/servicing vintage analogue synthesisers and drum machines. They are however quite pricey, and they are taking a very long time to fix a couple of other bits of kit that I've handed to them.

I think I've said it all in previous sections. Get it if you want an analogue sound and want to be able to change patterns and styles and instruments on-the-fly. Don't get it if you want drums that sound real and want to be able to chain more than two patterns together.

As far as ease of use goes, everything I can comprehend must be pretty simple indeed. The CR-8000 is very straightforward and the only thing I can think of is that some would probably prefer the x0x in-line 16-step sequencer to the Register/Rest button pair.

I usually frown where there's no manual included with the gear I buy. The CR-8000 had one, but I needed to consult it extremely rarely, even though this was only my second piece of gear. And believe me, the Korg Poly 800, my first synth, really taught me to appreciate simple gear.

The CR-8000 is a typical "classic" piece of gear - limited, but a fantastic tool in the right hands. Mine weren't, but I only discovered that after I'd bought it. I'm not sure what the "polyphony" is - the CR-8000 can produce 14 different sounds, but I'm not sure whether all are available at the same time or whether some circuits are used for more than one sound. The fact that you cannot even select the rim-shot and one of the congas leads me to think that some "voice-stealing" does occur.

The sequencer is not "visual" at all. There are two leds to help you with the position slightly, but you still have to count carefully. I didn't mind, though - I have a TR-707 and the in-line sequencer doesn't do much for me, really. This probably has a lot do with the fact that the music I make has building block larger than 16 steps, but that's another story.

Again, the sounds may be just the thing you're after. If not, there isn't much to do about it because the sounds are not editable with the exception of the accent feature, which adds some grunge to the sound and distorts some of them, notably the hats, quite lovely.

The hats are one of the sounds I liked most - they're soft and the open and the closed hat are nicely balanced. The clave is quite good to, but I found little use for other sounds. The fact that analogue drum machines aren't quite the thing to buy if you're making new wave was discovered only after the purchase was made and the CR-8000 saw little action (e-mail me at sartre@siol.net to hear it in a few songs). The trigger helped me to drive the arpeggio of my Jupiter 4 for a while, but after I bought the 707, there was nothing for the CR-8000 to do and so it had to go.

Roland gear tends to score high on this one and the CR-8000 is no exception. The previous owner didn't look like a chap who'd know what to do if his gear stopped working one day and I had almost no problems with it myself. This is quite a compliment for a 22-year old piece of electronic equipment.

And what does "almost" mean? Well, sometimes a few buttons had to be pressed a bit harder, especially before the CR-8000 had the time to warm up, and the tempo knob tended to act a bit as if it lost its way from time to time. For me, this doesn't warrant a back-up, but I may well be a reckless fool to be struck by distaster on the most important gig of his life.

The fact that Roland even has service facilities in Slovenia is something to rejoice about; but they are very nice and they never turn down any repair, even if it's obvious that it's going to be a real bugger to fix.

I just sold the CR-8000 to finance the Yamaha RM-50 drum synth. It's going to help my quest for the perfect gated snare immensely more than the Roland CR-8000. I grew fond of it in a year since I bought it, though, and I still maintain that it looks fantastically radical If I wasn't such a heartless bastard with no money, I'd probably have kept it, but I do feel that it will make the new owner much happier than me.

If I ever crave analogue drums, I'll go for the big one - no, NOT the 909 - the Jomox Airbase 99, but at the moment, nothing touches a sampled pop drum kit with some the sounds getting cut off rather abruptly...

I got no manuals but the sequencer is the same as the one in my dead Soundmaster SR-88. You choose the instrument and then tap two buttons: Hit-empty-empty-empty-hit-empty-empty.. There are 8 user patterns (32 is the length) and writable fill-ins. Also there are preset beats, of which some are actually very nice, believe it or not! The "rock-6" beat could be used in a cheesy electro tune and "samba-1" is extremely grungey if you fuck up with noisy distortion!
The "arranger" is a great tool, by pressing down the sepecial key, it plays a little melody. =) So with one button you can have open hihat on offbeat, or a clap on triggers 9, 13 etc..
The sequencer COULD be better, but you can live with this.

Now the drum sounds are great in my opinion. Very 808-ish. And the mods for decay and pitch on bass drum make it even more 808-ish. But the greatest part is that it ain't a 808! The sound is still slightly different, if you want it to sound like a 808 - you can do it, but why stop there? The sound just has its own personality, I can't explain it.
But it screams for modding. I have decay and pitch for bass drum and cutoff for hihat's first bandpass filter (gr8 sounding!), and the snare is totally mutilated now, the old powerless snare is now something between 909 and 606. And some mods are still to come.

Blah, I wrote that stuff up there allready. Move yar eyes. =)

Had it for a month only now, no problems on this short period, hope there won't be.

Roland Scandinavia sent the schematics for this babe free, a big thanks to them!

Yes I would buy this again, but this is the first one I saw is on sale in Finland, so I quess I won't see another one for sale anymore.
And the journey I gone to get this was extremely dangerous, I nearly got eaten by a polar bear.