Zoom RhythmTrak 323

I also have the older 234 drum machine, that is an awesomem easy to use bit of gear, the 323 is all that and a bit more.

Mainreason i got it: midi out. Thank you zoom. 13 velocity sensitive drum pads, 4 tracks for recorsding patterns/midi data, plus midi out, plus battery powered! This plus any sampler is a lot of fun. I'm sure this bit of gear has been overlooked by most of the dance/electrinica crowd, but the hands on sequencer options are very very cool indeed. I'm planing on bsuking soon with this and my nord micromodular, with maybe a delay pedal. Should be a ton of fun.

If zoom turned this machine into an 8 track akai mpc style sequencer only, it would sell lke hot cakes.

anyway, i love this drum machine, it's my favourite one (I also have a an alesis hr16 and the zoom 234 drum machine). i would be really disappointed if i lost it.

I'm a relative noob to sequencing and non-real time stuff can be sort of difficult to pick up but I'm gradually getting there. (I bought the 323 to comp my guitar). Editing the songs is pretty simple but the LCD disply would be better if it had more info on it. The manual covers everything - just. It can take some trial and error to get what you want but it's greatly helped by the pads lighting up during step input.

It's got over 30 voices so no worries there. The velocity sensitive pads are easy use to their full potential. I don't use the MIDI.
The SMART card is essential for a full set list of songs and there is plenty of output options.
I've only just found the song track feature and it's potential seems fantastic - a real boon for those who want to create realistic songs without taking up all the pattern memory slots.

The volume of kits/instruments can be almost overwelming at first (18 clave-type sounds!) but ultimately it's a case of 'the more, the merrier'.

The instruments have real presence and depth and the quality not just the volume of the sound changes with harder hits on the pads. This also applies to the bass sounds (hit the pads really hard on some basses and you get fret-buzz!). There are loads of preset patterns but most of them are too ideosyncratic to be of great use when covering songs, never-the-less for songwriting purposes they sound great.

The 'groove-jam' feature is useless for me but could be combined with e techno kits for DJ use.

The bass track features are good for rock and pop etc. but the way you can transpose the bass pattern only to another major key is not entirely suitable more harmonically complicated music. In these cases the bass song-track would be the (more time consuming) way forward.

The sheer number of sounds makes it usable for all types fo rhythm-making - once you get past the steep learning curve, anything is posible. (No jazz snare brush sound though -aargh!)

Plastic and silicon - nothing to go wrong with it really.

Zoom are notoriously bad for customer support but nothing has gone wrong for me yet with either this or my zoom 707II effects pedal so I've not had to use them.

One listen to a 323 will tell you just what this is capable of. The quality of the sounds are it's major selling point and far exceed anything I've previously heard from a machine in this price bracket.
It's pretty good fun just running through the kits seeing what instruments are there. If you have any doubt just listen to the range and dynamism of the demo tracks - outstanding.

thall i can say is that for a beginning programmer, the manual leaves a lot to be desired. The translation from Japanese to English is of course, in true Zoom fashion, Vague to say the least.
If you are just playing with the patterns then you will have no problem. If you want to program your own patterns with your own kits, then be prepared to spend a lot of time programming. Make sure you have a punching bag handy to take out your frustrations on.

The features are great. tons of sounds, a smart media card slot for storing info, and the usual midi I/Os. You can also plug in a 1/4 inch jack to the back directly into the Zoom's signal for easy jamming.

the drum sounds are done quite well, although a few of them get carried away with cock-rock reverb. Not everyone wants a snare to sound like its in a 50,000 seat arena. Has a decent picked bass and a few other things that sound really good for just jamming around with this thing.

I've used it "live" only in my own home playing with friends. As far as I know, it was always reliable while plugged in with its ac adapter.
Batteries are another story. If you do not touch the Zoom, then batteries will work 85% of the time. If you accidentally bump the thing, then you can forget about whatever it was you were playing. so . . .ac is good, batteries are bad.

I have had no problem with customer support, but i have only contacted them once.
As far as repairs or pads dying on me, i have had this thing for 2 years, and the pads and velocity sound like its brand new. i had to put that in here because i forgot to above.

I was going over this machine thinking about putting it on ebay thanks to the advent od soft synths/drum mcahines.
It was just collecting dust for the last year, but now as i was browsing all the other drum machines on the market the only thing i saw that might be better than this little machine is the fact that the sounds have probably been improved in the last two years on newer units(i mean, they better have!). Other wise this rhythmtrak is overall a really good, sturdy machine.
Bottom line: If you can get past the terrible manual, and you are decent at programming, then this machine will definately not let you down.
If you are new to programming and are looking for a easy to use back up drummer for when your real drummer is drunk, you might want to have your bassists girlfriend play for you instead(if the bassist does actually have a girlfriend like he says).
Good sounds, tough except when battery powered, and good customer service.

I am amazed at the ease of use for this machine. It really is easy on the user. You can do whatever you want its not restricting or complicated. Manual is a lil confusing but u learn more by using the thing. Preset patterns are mediocre to crazy cool. Some of the techno ones are pretty cool. But it is so easy to make ure own.

Lots of features. Lots of ports. 375 sounds. Easy to use. Nice features for the price. Groove play is just rediculously fun to play with. U can get 4 patterns goin at once. Some pretty complex rhythm possibilities.

Sounds are very good. Some are so realistic and others u hafta play with a little (pitch and such). Jam slider is soooo cool. Lots of good kicks, snares. Theres this whole section of drums with delay... why? Maybe i ll use them sometime who knows. I wish it had a couple more hi hat sounds and some more cymbals. But it has anythin u can think of. I cant even pronounce some of the cool indian instruments. Very good stuff.

Blah bla i dont use it live. Always reliable to me

I use this as a realistic drum substitute for song writing. The sounds are incredible, easy to use. Lots of possibilites, lots of sounds. You cant go wrong with this thing. Its a beast!

It was easy to start recording patterns, but using grooveplay and actually making songs, (if thats what you are using it for,) is a bit more difficult. Manual was very good, you only need to read a few sections and you've got your own simple samples up and running in no time. On the whole pretty dam easy.

Lots of ports, in and out, therefore lots of possibilities. A bit dissapointed with the selection of drum kits, only a few beats change with each different theme, most stay the same. Bass choices were good with a nice selection of different styles. Lots of features to play around with, shame theirs no recording mode with grooveplay mode though, that sucks

Excellent, most of the drum samples sound very real, if you get a decent beat it can sound very impressive. When your inputing the different beats it makes sure their in time as best it can, but this can sometimes be a bit annoying if your trying to imitate a specific beat. Pressure sensitiveness is excellent.

No problems yet, only had it since xmas 2002 so cant really comment.

Again, no problems, but if iv'e been stuck the manual has helped enough to not require extra help.

its very addictive, and when you stop using it you run all sorts of beats over and over in your head. Some people will think its a bit basic, but you need to spend a lot of time with it to realise its potential. Iv'e heard imitations of real drum 'n' bass songs on it, and they are extremely good. Im a well annyed about the price I paid for it though, #260 is about $400, or 350euros - serious overpayage. However, its worth it.

Not too bad in learning how to use it and the manual makes sense. The presets are interesting and can lead to some ideas, but only if you turn the bass off. The LED could use a light, it is difficult to see unless it is under direct lighting.

The drum pads light up when played. This is an excellent feature. This is extremely helpful during editing. One thing I don't like is that you cannot have patterns at different tempos or with different swing settings within a song. This is inexcusable. On a more positive note, it does have 4 outs, which allows for some flexibility in recording to a sequencer.

The sounds are realistic, especially for rock and blues. The reverb included in some of the drum kits is quite awful, but thankfully, this was not overdone. The drumskins kit is superb. I really have no use for the techno or dance kits, but they sound somewhat interesting. The bass sounds very digital, but you can send it out to your sequencer seperate from the drum kits and improve it with effects, for example, with some eq and compression.

It seems to be pretty durable, but I do wish some of the smaller buttons, such as erase and edit, were a bit larger. I'm worried that they will wear out prematurely, but hopefully I'm wrong about this.

It's a good machine for the price. In fact, I have seen it new for about $250 on the web recently. You definitely get your money's worth with this product.

In my opinion this is the real problem with yhis unit, really too hard to program. Even if you are familiar with programming this sort of machine, you may have some difficulties.
After all the manual is quite good.

It has a lot of capabilites. A lot of sounds, a large interne memory, a smart media cards reader, a nice front panel etc... BUT, there is one thing terrible : the LCD screen. It's so tiny and inadequate for editting patches, it's a shame. The other problem is the midi compatibility (many users don't care about this, but for me it's important). In fact I was hopping it could play midi files from my PC or my other midi units. I was disappointed when I try it, it's not 100% general midi compatible. Some sound are simply replaced when playing the midi file or sometime it's not the good sound (for example the bass drum will be a sfx sound).

I'm a guitarist and I was looking for a machine able too help me compose music (I'm in heavy metal and extreme metal) and for direct recording on my PC. So I was looking for realistic drums sounds, and for that it's OK. There is a lot of sounds and you can create your own drum kit. You can also edit many parameters. No problem, it sounds really great and it's suitable for all sort of music.

It seems to be reliable.

I don't know if I would buy it again because it's too expansive for what it is. I play guitar for 4 years, and I also own a Roland PMA-5 and a some guitar effect and amp.
I really like the sound of this machine and the possibility to edit your own drumkit.
I totally dislike the pattern editting approach (in fact you can't see the notes on this useless LCD screen). The midi compatibility problems are also frustrating.

Finally it's a nice machine with very good sounds(and that's the most important). With a better price and a real screen it would be a fantastic machine.

PS: Sorry for the poor translation, I hope it will be OK ;-)

The SOUNDS ARE INCREDIBLE - no comparison to Rolands DR-770 which cymbals sound like mud and the kits have no life. And open hi-hats. The damn things sound like a real drummer. The manual is very straightforward and answered all my questions.

I have 2 words for this: SONG TRACK. Never saw a drum machine with one. Every other machine requires you to write a separate pattern for
silly things like a cymbal crash on beat 1. You can even play an entire song live if you want. And you can make your own kits.
I have 2 complaints: 1) If you string together a group of patterns and then go back and change the length from say, 2 bars to 1, you basically have to redo the whole song or edit the "measure events" which is a pain when you 30 or 40 reps of that pattern.(the less expensive Zoom 234 doesn't have this problem) 2)You can't
start a song from a specific point to listen to edits you make. You have to start over from the beginning and listen

Of all the drum machines, the Zoom 323 (and even the 234) blow away
the others. I have an Alesis HR16, a Zoom 234, and I had a Roland DR-770 which cost more and isn't nearly as good. I took it back

Haven't had any problems yet. The smart media card is the best. Its
really fast and space could never be a problem

Haven't had to deal with customer support. The manual pretty much says
it all.

I definitely would have to replace this baby if it were taken. Thank God for the smart media card (I store it in a separate place) I must say that when I opened the manual and started the read that it did this and it did that, I was like "WOW! WOW!" Believe me the song track rules!

Very easy to use straight out of the box. The manual is very comprehensive and stepped out nicely. I have had the ZOOM RT-323 for 18 months now and I'm still finding new things it can do but in saying that within a couple of hours of purchase I had completed a song with drums, fills, stops and complete bass lines using the factory presets.

Compared to some of the BOSS drum machines I have owned and used this product is a breeze to use.

This baby features 2 seperate drum kits, a seperate bass track and a song track so can have up to 4 different tracks happening at once. By mixing the kits and bass lines you can get some really cool mixes of pop drum beats married with a Hip Hop bass line etc.

For building your own drum beats and bass lines its again very easy to use and quite intuative.

I haven't use the jam fuction so can't comment there.

The Drum sounds are quite realistic except perhaps for the symbols which do sound a little digital. For recording adding reverb helps to bring them out a bit.

My complaint would be a round the bass sounds. They are quite digital sounding. I have yet to find a truley realistic sounding bass but then again for the price you can't expect to much. Also the bass presets area little limiting in there arrangements but this can be easily remedied by building your own bass lines. I would say though that the electronic bass sounds are pretty cool if thats what you are after. Some very non-bass sounding presets that can be used as background or intro noises.

I have had the unit for 18 months and it seems pretty durable. I wouldn't like to drop it so I have a padded box to transport it to and from gigs and recording sessions.

BUT be warned ... don't switch this baby off from the mains while in record mode or you'll lose the whole song you are working on. Doh !!!

never had any need to contact ZOOM.

I am an original artist who has been playing /writing songs for 8 years and I use the RT-323 for recording backing tracks for my original compositions and I use it as a 'band in a box' for gigging either as a solo act or with my duo partner. My musical style is pop/rock.

I play mainly acoustic guitar with my black Takamine running through my Fender amp or straight into my Fender Passport 250 PA.

If it was stolen or lost (or dropped !) I would definitely replace it. In fact I thank the guy at the music store for talking me out of the BR-5 and convincing me to buy this instead. $400 cheaper than the BOSS amd SO much easier to use.

This product has definitely aided in both song writing and in the studio. I really like the way you can split the drum tracks from the bass tracks so the bass can be made more prominent.

For the price and the fact you can back it up to smartmedia its gotta be the best bang for your bucks.

I love it !!!

The presets are fine. Only the volume changes not the timbre if strike the pads hard ot soft.the manual is well written.

I find the polphony reasonable. This unit has a smart card slot so you can save your masterpieces if you run out of space in the unit's memory OR if you just like using smartcards.This unit has midi in and out. It is very easy to construct your own patterns. User Drum Kits editing needs a little more patience and effort.NOTE if you assign different sounds to a pad it will be become NON GeneralMIDI drums compatible anymore as the note assigned to the pad is fixed. For e.g note 36 (kick) for pad 2.etc if you assign a tambourine sound to that pad, the pad MIDI note will not change. It will be a heartbreaking thing is you want to uese RT323 to trigger sounds in your MIDI module..
It has some very good features like for e.g you can assign a pattern to a pad and you play the patterns in realtime just hitting the pads. More like a D-jay thing. The velocity sensivity is okay if you plan to use it for dance music or if you are not going to fake the whole thing (your song)to make it sound as if you are using real drums. Unless of course if the programmer wants us to believe the drummer used the same kind of velocity level throughout the songs..no timbre changes..dig?

The instruments sound realistic for the accousitc models. No routable chorus/reverb FX.
I believe this drum machine is better suited for genres that forgive the musicians for using drum machines..
I tried using this for my Steinerg LM4 mk II via midi and found the whole process very disappointing. The velocity levels achieved by this machine is not as expressive as my little Novation keyboard. I found it difficult to show off the multi samples' velocity bound timbre changes of the LM4 using the RT-323.You guessed it, I am fanatical about accosutic drum sounds but cannot afford to have a drumset in my house..

It is a very dependable machine if you are willing to accept the fact coffee machines are only for making coffee. i do not gig as i am not a pro yet..I am 33..counting the days to the g...as a pro rock musician wannabe...

So far everything is fine..GOD willing, i do not wanna have difficulties until this machine(RT-323) retires.

Well it is a good machine..If it ever gets lost i would probably look for something recent(in the future) and with more features..more like a SR-16 with a velocity sensitive footswich to trigger drums and a switch that produce all the sounds produced hitting a fully closed hihat (from the middle to the rim)to wide open. A machine that has pads for 5 toms,3 crashes,1 splash and 3 extra pads oh yeah for rides .all timbres..dream man dream...