Roland DR-5

The DR-5 and I always clicked, and I used it on two studio LPs, back in the mid-late 1990s. It is perfect for hard industrial or electro music, and the ability to construct songs is a piece of cake. Great internal memory.. I could easily have a dozen complex, heavy songs, using all four tracks plus samples in memory. I spent a lot of time with this thing back in the day, would usually fall asleep at night with it still ticking away on my chest, and I loved using it. It's a lot easier than other drum machines that I have used!!

great midi, would very rarely go out of sync. sound modification is simple, and i love the ability to tap in soft or accents on different notes.. theres a ton of different possibilities with this machine, I've recreated 303 bass rips quite faithfully just by messing around.. A great machine. Quality sounds as well, although a bunch you'll never use.. Going by industrial/electro though, I found the bass to be pounding when run through a PA, enough to clip big ass speakers and monitors, to the dismay of the sound guy. This thing sounds great at high volume.

I love the DR-5 sounds, very high quality, and when run through additional effects or external processors, you're getting some thick stuff. I never had a problem finding the right sound to use, for pads, bass or drums themselves.

used it on many, many gigs, in both very hot summers and freezing winters, never had a problem. i depended on it, without backup for years, and it never let me down. However, in its old age (mine was bought new in 95?) the jog dial does not work correctly anymore, and some of the buttons have a worn out feeling. Sigh. Definitely an old warhorse!

never dealt with Roland/Boss, never needed to.

I would definitely buy one again, I still break it out from time to time, run the heavy kicks and snares through some amps and work out some backing tracks on its own, or else into the computer to mess with. It definitely got my music career kick-started, and I would never be without one, even though its getting up there in years. As a midi-trigger on its own, its great, especially with a sampler. I love this machine, if you play with it, you can get some SICK sounds from those synths, it just takes patience and a desire to get down and dirty with it.

Manual is pretty decent, covers basic functions. Not a hard machine to use, took me about an evening with the manual to get used to programming, triggering via MIDI, synching other devices etc.

Polyphony is not really an issue on a drum machine, but 19 seems fine for the moment. Contrary to previous reviews it actually can trigger four different velocities, done via a sort of binary system with two Accent buttons (holding down one or both of these provides three different levels from the default, one louder and two quieter). Not the most user-friendly way to set dynamics, but workable enough for the moment. Sequencing drum parts is pretty easy, but editing anything with note lengths is a bit of a pain in the arse, involving use of a tie button to link notes together. I don't use it for sequencing anything complicated, it's really just used live as a metronome into my headphones, plus providing MIDI tempo for the effects unit in my sampler.

As for expansion, forget it. This is a box, it does what it does. No pressure sensitive keys, they came on later DR models. Has a multi-channel mode which allows you to sequence various nasty synth noises, although the synth-bass is OK at times. Wouldn't really use them for anything more than a joke.

General quality of sounds is pretty damn poor. Why do people bother with these kinds of drum sounds? If you want something to emulate live drums, use live drums if possible. If you can't use live drums, get a sampler and a decent set of samples and trigger those instead. Sounds like every horrible guitarist one-man-pub-band you've ever heard, plus some even more cringeworthy "ROCK" sounds.

The best sounds in here are the cheesy horror movie synth sounds and the 808 drum sounds. You can edit the sounds a bit, changing decay and pitch and the like, but it's not possible to detune an 808 sound well enough to get a really mean amount of bass.

However, it's a bloody good metronome. Highly recommended for that alone, and it's great that I can synch external effects to my click. I'm a drummer, by the way, so I'm more interested in using this as a tool for me than actually making noises. I make much nicer noises than this thing can, and I have a sampler and drumpads for the stuff I can't produce acoustically.

Just don't go thinking this is a musical instrument and you'll be sweet.

Can't really depend on it that much, for three reasons:

1) I dropped it from a small height, and now half the LCD doesn't work and the data wheel no longer "steps", instead making a smooth movement. Makes it hard to change stuff mid-song on a badly lit stage, so I tend to avoid having to.

2) It uses one of those horrible 9V power supplies that are sold in music shops as a commodity along with guitar strings - they break about as often. Designed that way, I expect.

3) Occasional bursts of random noise that can't even be solved by switch off/on. Caused by power supply issues, I suspect.

Not really designed for a live environment. So, as I said, it's mainly my metronome, and quite flexible as such. Mount it in a rack case on a slide-out tray or something, make sure your power pack is secure, and just make sure you don't inflict any internal sound on the poor audience.

Got it very cheap 2nd hand, no need to deal with them. Plus, this is New Zealand - it's only ever distributors here, not actual companies.

Definately worth the money, as it does a much nicer job than a metronome. Wouldn't buy it new, but I don't need a nice drum machine. I love the fact that it will keep other stuff in synch with me and run a clicktrack of my choice in any of the fucked-up time signatures I play in. I wish the manufacturer would realise that these internal sounds are awful, and just make a nice programmable metronome with about 3 sounds available with similar MIDI synch features for around the same price new. Can't be hard.

Does a perfect job for what I use it for, just wish the damn thing didn't break so easy.

There is definitely a learning curve to get through. I had to order the video training manuel - and that made it much quicker to understand.

Polyphony is about 19 notes and that's plenty for most instruments. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the effects nor expansion capabilities, but you can tune the drum characteristics. It does have a good sequencer that tracks well with an external midi clock. The pads are useful, but for ease of use I use an external keyboard controller most of the time.

The unit is basically a drum machine with very good samples, but it is also a 4 track that allows for the addition of bass, rhythm & lead.
If you use an external sequencer, it is easy to overcome the memory limitations in the DR-5 by recording the individual tracks from the DR-5 to the sequencer and using sound modules.

Never had a problem. You might need to keep track of the KIT assignments in case the internal battery needs replacing.

Roland has always be very helpful. Almost all my recording equipment is Roland.

I would buy this unit again. It is a great place to start when writing songs and the price just keeps getting better.

This puppy does require some manual and human interaction time. It took me at least a couple of weeks to totally absorb the info and make it happen on the drum machine. Now, it is very easy to use and I use
it to reasonably quickly "Jot" down a complete music Idea.

I have heard the polyphony was 19, but can't verify where I'd heard that. built in effects come in the way of "Modifying" decay times on some instraments, or setting pan locations of the "virtual" 4 piece band ( called "Kits" by the manual", and some other straight forward things. Midi allows using the internal sounds in a "module" fashion ( selecting the channel that responds to the "instrament (s) desired. I also need to mention that being able to program the foot pedal input on the unit makes it very useful as a "Live" performance module. I have used it to play along with, and to present music Ideas
to the band I perform with. Yes, if your presenting a song you've written to say a 4 piece band, how cool to have everyones part playing on your Dr5!

I enjoy the Drum sounds, and the Piano sounds. Some of the other patches lean toward a GM midi flavor, ( I think someone else here used the terminology "Cheesey" which spoke volumes), but for the money, it's a good piece of equiptment for ALL it is able to do.
It works good for the Rock flavored stuff that I do. Theoretically, the machine is limited only by a persons musical knowledge. My knowledge of drumming and rhythmns is not as broad as I would like, so what rhythmns are not available as presets on the machine, I feed into the Dr5 from my Keyboards collection. The unit is very midi responsive. The tracking from the guitar input into the machine is pretty limp. It was not meant to be a "guitar synth" by any means.

I have had mine for about 2.5 years. I got it slightly used, ( the previous owner couldnt figure how to use it) I have had to replace the
Jog wheel which was slipping so bad that when you turned it forward to "advance" the numbers, it would actually make the numbers go in the opposite direction. On the whole I think it has performed fairly well.

Haven't dealt with Roland yet, don't know. Had the Jog replacement done through a music store/authorized servicing branch. That worked pretty well.

I got the unit as the "first" piece of my home recording studio. A sort of swiss army knife, so I could record Ideas with the capability of drums and other instraments being available. For that purpose and for
it's use as a "basic" sound module it has performed well.

Hard job to handle it smooth! It seems to me that nowadays modules and drum boxes, should have the simplicity of a microwaves... definetely not the case. Good if you just want to pick a couple of sounds amongst your sequencer, bad if you wanna go into editing or on-board sequencing. Presets are generaly good, although missing some (a lot?) of variety.

Although a small sequencer is present, it didn't help me mutch. Flexibility is limited. Well, my business is computer sequencing anyway... Built in effects don't exist. Midi behaves well, buttons are 3-degree sensitive velocity. Polyphony (8 notes) is good enough to drum performance.

Ok, here we get to the main point. Drum sounds are, indeed, good. Rock & pop fits well on the machine's habilities. If you're into dance/techno, forget it! This was my big mistake, I thought it would go well along these kinda sounds: it really doesn't!! Lousy! The GM sounds are Ok, preferably if you use an effect module. I don't like them dry. Bass sounds good. If you're the kind that likes to feel creation as you try a new module, pick another one. Resuming, I would say the sounds are good, but lacking a LOT of styles. And I mean... a LOT! I might suggest this box for a guitar player, just interested in some good rock beats, withouth noticing that there's not much to do with it. Still, some on-board pre-defined beats are acceptable.

Reliable, yes. Stable, nice and easy. Never failed. Although made from plastic, it looks, and feels, pretty reliable. And it is! You can trust on it if you wanna go into stage.

Never had the need, but still, Roland Portugal is showing an increasing approach to the public, and services tend to be on the good side, from what I heard from a friend of mine (yes, he had the need!)

I would never pick it up again. No effects, no variety of sounds. Hard to use. Fortunately, I bought it 2nd handed, with a low cost. Still, it wasn't worth it. I would never ever buy it again. Pick another choice. If someone would stole it, I prresume I'd be happy... that would give me the motivation to buy a new box.

It is a pain to use and it is not user friendly. Its hard to keep track of what buttons to use, because the same buttons used to access sounds are the one to use the other functions.

Not bad as a drum machine....The sounds are good. To use it as a sound source, bad!! The polyphony I think is 8 notes, it cuts off on me all the time, especially using a sustain pedal. Using the sequencer with another keyboard, doesnt work that well when programming it in realtime. It tends to transpose to a lower octive after looping through a pattern

Sounds are good, reacts to velocity good.

It is very reliable once you figure out how to use it. I have inadvertantly dropped it a couple of times, once on cement, and it still works as good as the day I bought it.

Never dealt with Roland customer support

I would not buy it again ever. I would get strictly a drum machine that does it right. I would worry about external sounds with other equiptment. I bought it when I was first getting into electronic music, so In that sort of use it is good, but for semi pro or pro, there are MUCH better options out there

Very user hostile. I found the whole user interface very unatural to use . The one saving grace in this dept was the guitar style keyboards.I may keep it just for that and the guitar to midi converter?

no comment worth making

the sounds were pretty good...especially the base sounds.

Sometimes it will go off on its own little computer induced drum solo which wil only stop when I hit the off button.

never tried

well all I can say is that I am glad I bought a yamaha qy700. It was so much easier to use and for me that is the bottom line between a usefull instrument and an expensive paperweight. However ...if you like to mess around with 4/4 housey type stuff then its probably ok but I gave up on it well before I got that far. Meanwhile I had completed the whole of my video soundtrack plus learning how the Yamaha worked in half the time. Need I say more....