Sequential Circuits Drumtraks

Hi everyone im a lady user,
i love this machine but i do agree with the first reviewer
about the bass drum, but when affected sounds just like a less punchier linn lm1!

also it does have both oberheim and linn lm1 and lm2 samples,
sampled from ludwig drums, i bet it was a real laugh at those sample sessions.

you cant over dub the same drum with a different tuning each time
you can only do it once that is a little disapointing.
the linn drum machines offer pitch as well as tuning for that extra little nuance, and sliders are very handy for extremely subtle changes, the druntraks is push button all the way.
although the knob feature is just lovely too!!lol.

In all fairness i love this little machine it is still a proffesional sounding drum unit of its day, and sample based drum sounds are picking up again after the terrible monotony of analougue drums that have now been glutting the market place now far longer than the sampled drum machines ever did!!!!! in my opinion, and it makes young peoples jaws drop when hooked up to a recording/effects unit!!
it has the ability to sound like klique or sharon redd type hi energy musicbeats, also does a mean "things that dreams are made of" copy, as it has the same clap when tuned up to no 11

without a manual some functions are a little hidden but nothing that a little time would not sort out.

With an imagination and patience and a genuine liking and understanding of 80;s digital electronic music genre you could make 1983,85 hit record sounding type of music on this little machine!it is nice to have and i will keep it as a little piece of music history if and when it conks out

susan xo.

thirteen great drum sounds if you dont have lm1 dmx lm2!!
chaining patterns very easy
different time signitures and timings you can do rolls and flams when you error correct to 34.over that and they tend to go aray!.
decent swing funtion although slightly limited
a great drum machine i love it so there!!

you know they are perfect samples sound wise, they all sound real to a point meaning you know what they are when you hear them and they haveobviously under gone a little filtering before comercial use
but they are great wet sounds when tuned down
try recording the rim shot at vol 15 FIRST then apply the snare at vol EIGHT and you get that effect of fingers striking a snare in a sweeping motion it in other words sounds like the linn drum snare on dares version of "sound of the crowd"

youll know what i mean .

very functional at 2006.
two buttons need fixed but i got friends,


people who need people and all that shite lol!!!

well i think we all know what wine country are like

just because i m from belfast they treated me like i was a moron oh well maybe i am!!

well lets put it this way i wont allow my self to get ripped off.
Im an extremely in the know gal! since from age 6 i researched electronic instruments cause i loved them and have a musical daddy lol! pity about my typin skills though dont you think?
150 quid at the most its not a synclavier or a fairlight cmi.

ive used a variety of keyboards to trigger the unit (via midi). the unit also reacts to the keyboard pitch wheel (even during recording)which is nice, for instance, if you want 50+ toms, snares, etc. as you are recording. i have no manual for mine, but its a very easy unit to figure out....a lot easier than many newer machines.

I wish they wouuld have made it with a midi through, but ive worked around that. lots of fun playing around with the tuning feature. can make some really bizzare percussion sounds...turn a cymbal into a gong, snare drum into an explosion etc.

kick drum: sounds fair to good, depending on type of music. very "deep" sounding, but lacks the "kick in the chest punch" reccomend a compressor on this track.
snare/rim: sounds moderate...not too big, not too thin, perhaps a compressor on this track too. it has a pleasing sound. reccomend some reverb with it.
toms: not so good, i just don't care for the tone of them, i guess they're ok for some stuff, perhaps light rock or a slow song. there's just somthing about them that dos'nt sound right for certain music. perhaps they were sampled from a cheap drum set. a third tom button would have been more useful.
cymbals:just about the cleanest, crispy, realistic ride cymbals ive ever heard even compared to modern machines. i have a roland mv-30,and a few other newer units, and drumtraks ride is the one to go with. the crash is very realistic also. just tune-em where you want-em.
hi-hat: tune it right & it sounds ok. open sounds very real.
claps: sounds very human. many machines have claps that sound more like 2 peices of wood slapped together. i was surprised to find how real these sound.
Tamborine: this is why my drumtraks is still hooked up in my studio. yes, i use it a lot just for this great sounding tamborine.
cowbell: sounds very real. when i need one, this is usually a first choice. tuning it all the way down makes for an extra tom tom if needed.
casaba: never really had a use for one of these. don't know why so many drum machine bother to have them.

i would definitly use this unit on a gig. mine has been very dependable, and has had the the same memory battery since 1991.
Im also very impressed about how it's built. easy access to the insides, & everything laid out neatly.

upgrades, parts, etc. at "wine country".

with a little compression, noise reduction, & reverb, this unit can sound just as good, and in some aspects (tamb.& ride cymb.) better than a drum machine made today.

OK, but not as quick as it's contemporaries of the time, looks like they followed the Japanese trend of the time to save money by reducing dedicated controls, many of the functions seem buried in pages. Nothing too serious, just not as quick as some others.

Being able to save individual tunings was interesting but not amazing by any means. Otherwise, many of the functions of it's peers-Oberheims, Linns..

Disappointing-went in hoping that it would provide a viable alternative to the costlier Oberheims and Linns of the day, but they don't quite pull this off. First, the sounds are mainly copies of the above mentioned classic drum machines-don't know how they did this without being sued since it's quite obvious. Problem is, the sounds are muddy and don't have the punch of the originals. Second thing is that i can always recognize a Drumtraks, because of the mechanical and stiff patterns it provides. Maybe you can go in and change this, but who wants to start out with this? Even with the deliberately robotic sounds we've had shoved at us in current music for the last decade at least, this Drumtracks characteritic doesn't appeal.
FYI Prince wasn't using this, the confusion probably lies in the fact that the Drumtracks does appropriate some of the Linn sounds. He's already acknowledged past and present use of a rare LM-1 Linn..Back to the Drumtracks, the special Sequential contribution to drum machines was the Studio 440, not this.

No problem.

Mediocre-if bought to save $ back in the day or now, there were and are better alternatives.

the drumtraks is the ultimate old-school drum machine. in combination with an external midi controller that is velocity sensitive it is even more versitile.

i also find that controling the drumtraks from another device is often easier than programing it with the buttons built in to it. if you have a midi keyboard you can put the drumtraks in record mode and program the beat by playing the keyboard. if your keyboard transmits velocity then you can get more degrees of "accent" out of each drum sound than the built-in "accant" button provides. this can make snare rolls or tom fills sound more realistic.

right now i am having a crap-load of fun programing the drumtraks with a palm pilot. i can record any sequence i generate on the palm onto the drumtraks. just make sure to match the bpm.

the buttons on mine stick sometimes, or when i try to record a loop it will sometimes register a drum twice. i've also had some problems with it "freaking out" and losing all of it's memory.

each sound has 16 pitches (0-15) and 16 levels of volume plus and accent button. when controled with a velocity/pressure sensitive midi device you can get more degrees (128) of volume.

i would use it on a gig, but i wouldn't count on anything i programed on it today to be there a year from now.

i got it at a garage sale for $65 and have been in love with it since then. i haven't used it on any recordings, but i love playing with it and jamming to/on it. the sounds arent't great, but if you use some efects creatively(especially since it has six channels out) you can make this unit sound amazing.

It's an interesting piece for the fact that you can tune each drum and you can use multiple tunes of the same drum per pattern. But it's tricky to do. The presets are cool (at least from the previous owner). I don't have a manual.

One of the nice features are the MIDI interface and the fact that you can trigger old non-MIDI analog drums (such as Simmons Drums) using the individual outputs.

The samples are good and grainy at low pitches. You can't play 2 or more samples on the same channel at the same time. This becomes a problem for multi-tuned toms. You just have to work at a slower tempo.

Yet to be determined.

I've started builting my old analog drum collection (mainly Simmons) and i believe this will be a great bridge between my Simmons modules and my computer.

most preset sounds are good, except the toms!
didn't get a manual for it, so if anybody out there has one... :)

pattern & song features are good, easy to use.

some good sounds, easy to use.
big and heavy.
nice drum machine.

The Drumtraks is relatively easy to program. Just hit 'record mode' and 'start' then begin putting in your beats. Better yet, use an external sequencer and you can control it using another piece, (like a Korg Electribe). The manual is easy to understand. Whatever you can't figure out should be in there.

The Drumtraks does have an on-board sequencer (although I would recommend using an external if possible). There are no built in effects but it does have an 'accent' that can be controlled via MIDI. This piece is a snap to use. The Drumtraks does have MIDI, clock in/out, and six individual outs. This is cool because you can separate and tweak each sound on your mixer.

The Drumtraks has a grungy 'real' drum style to it. Prince used this box on many of his early tracks. Listen to the drums on the Purple Rain or Controversy albums to get a feel for the sound. I believe that the Drumtraks uses EPROM chips. Wine Country Sequential offers replacement chips if you want to change up your sounds. Personally, I think this box sounds like a cross between a Roland TR-909 and an Oberheim DX. However, it does have its own unique flavor. You can tune any sound individually. The snare can be tuned low sounds it almost sounds smashed. The kick drum is low and solid. The cabasa sounds great, too.

I've had no problems with mine. This piece is solid as a rock. However, it is from 1981 so I try to take good care of it.

Wine Country Sequential services all SCI products.

The SCI Drumtraks is a great piece if you're looking for that early 80's sound. I would try to pick one up again if it were stolen. It is not an 808 or 909! (Really, what is?) It does have its own unique sound, though. The fact that you can buy new EPROM chips from Wine Country also make it an attractive unit. I would definitely recommend picking one up.