Roland TR-1000 | Rhythm Machine

[DrGonzo]

Roland provides a free dedicated editor for it, but the hands-on capabilities are outstanding and very intuitive, not to mention that all tracks have customizable controls, and the screen size is just fine for its purposes. I’ve had the app open when I’m using the hardware, but I rarely even look at it because the hands-on aspect is so immediate.

My initial thoughts are that this is the most complete drum machine ever made, period.

How is the saturation? Is it full-on over the top or is it possible to dial in some gentle clipping beefing up without it going crazy?

[cryophonik]

Roland provides a free dedicated editor for it, but the hands-on capabilities are outstanding and very intuitive, not to mention that all tracks have customizable controls, and the screen size is just fine for its purposes. I’ve had the app open when I’m using the hardware, but I rarely even look at it because the hands-on aspect is so immediate.

My initial thoughts are that this is the most complete drum machine ever made, period.

How is the saturation? Is it full-on over the top or is it possible to dial in some gentle clipping beefing up without it going crazy?

It’s excellent! The analog drive knob stays down in subtle-gentle territory for about half its range and maybe only the upper 20% is full-on destruction. And, it interacts nicely with the analog filter for more warmth/saturation. There are also tons of digital per-track effects, including different types of saturation and distortion, so it’s easy to dial in whatever you want.

[ere2learn]

This is the roland rep that was on sonicstate

[DrGonzo]

It’s excellent! The analog drive knob stays down in subtle-gentle territory for about half its range and maybe only the upper 20% is full-on destruction. And, it interacts nicely with the analog filter for more warmth/saturation. There are also tons of digital per-track effects, including different types of saturation and distortion, so it’s easy to dial in whatever you want.

That's great to hear. It's too often when developers miss the beauty of gentle saturation

[N 4 LIFE]

sorry guys but I'm with Espen on this

[SLiC]

Speaking as someone who actually owns one and is using it daily the price is fair, it’s probably the best drum machine ever made. People will have different opinions, but most people seem to agree it sounds incredibly good and has real depth…this is more interesting than the price.

[Uncle E]

Herr Kraft probably spent twice as much on his Prophet-X, then made a video roasting it for being nothing more than a computer in a keyboard.

[DrGonzo]

Herr Kraft probably spent twice as much on his Prophet-X, then made a video roasting it for being nothing more than a computer in a keyboard.

That's what the algorithm does to good people.

[revvy]

Herr Kraft probably spent twice as much on his Prophet-X, then made a video roasting it for being nothing more than a computer in a keyboard.

That's what the algorithm does to good people.

V true.

For that reason there's the golden rule - never click on YT videos on KVR posted by some random that display a clickbait title and no further explanation of anything. (I have no idea who Herr Kraft-- Espen?--is)

[ghettosynth]

Speaking as someone who actually owns one and is using it daily the price is fair, it’s probably the best drum machine ever made. People will have different opinions, but most people seem to agree it sounds incredibly good and has real depth…this is more interesting than the price.

I think that Kraft was overreacting, but, Loopop made a point that I thought was interesting. He wished that Roland would release a digital only variant of it to reduce cost. He opined that the analog circuits dramatically increased the cost, but, the unsaid part was that, in his opinion, they don't add that much over the ACB side. At any rate, a lot of people are going to buy these because it's analog 808/909 sounds in a Roland box. In some sense, it has to be expensive.

I don't care that much about drum machines anymore, so it's not for me. However, if I did, it wouldn't be what I would buy. I loved my 909 when I got it years ago, but I don't play like that anymore. I still use my B.606, but that's because it's like the slightly introverted cousin of the 808/909 that is small and extremely simple.

[_leras]

Speaking as someone who actually owns one and is using it daily the price is fair, it’s probably the best drum machine ever made. People will have different opinions, but most people seem to agree it sounds incredibly good and has real depth…this is more interesting than the price.

I don't think people can really argue with that. Looks amazing. Hope you enjoy yours. Anyone that's a drum machine person should like this.

Having 808, 909 and samples ticks all the boxes. The machine looks amazing too, what a beautiful bit of kit, I'm sure it's built well too.

Its is quite steeply priced $5.5k in NZ, which is a lot compared to say a Tanzbar 2 that's much less at $1650... Tanzbar not so polished though, but sounds great and can load samples.

[N 4 LIFE]

Espen is a synth god to some....he's made a gazillion great videos deep dives into synths. on his sub channel, he talks about the silliness of some folks in the synth community. he's taken a lot of heat about the above video i posted itt about the new roland. here's his next video about it. he says that it can't be synced. is that true? no mmc or smpte code? his comments about the all in one idea are hilarious imho.

[cryophonik]

Speaking as someone who actually owns one and is using it daily the price is fair, it’s probably the best drum machine ever made. People will have different opinions, but most people seem to agree it sounds incredibly good and has real depth…this is more interesting than the price.

Totally agreed. It's not a drum machine for everybody and it's obviously not priced for the hobbyist market. But, there's a lot of tech and features packed into it and the price is justified by the performance and sound IMO. Others will disagree and that saves themselves $2700 and that's fine, too. Given that the entire available worldwide supply pretty much sold out overnight on the day of release, I'd say Roland did something right.

[Uncle E]

He wished that Roland would release a digital only variant of it to reduce cost.

That just makes me want a TR-8S even more.

[ghettosynth]

Espen is a synth god to some....he's made a gazillion great videos deep dives into synths. on his sub channel, he talks about the silliness of some folks in the synth community.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but, I stand by my point that he is overreacting. I have watched some of his videos, I don't think of him as a "synth god." To me, this comes across as rage bait. He might want to reflect a bit on his own silliness and blind spots. So, let's talk about them in a reasonable and not too rage-baity voice. How does that sound?

IMNSHO, and to be clear, I do consider myself to be a synth god, to me, YMMV, he's missing the point completely. People aren't comparing the screen size of hardware to software as a measure of productivity. We hear this all the time from people who like working ITB. For those that like to use hardware the interface is the entire instrument. It's a consequence of hardware that employs microprocessors that the screen will generally be smaller in order to manage costs. This has been true since the late 70s when we had two digit LED displays as the only digital interface on some synths. All of his complaints in this second video can be similarly dismissed. He is making the mistake of people trying to explain this to him as their weakness. It's really his own blindness to the value of the product. Keep in mind that I don't think that everyone needs to like the product, it's possible that it has no value to him, and that's fine. It doesn't have much value to me either, but I'll talk about that later.

Second, and this is even bigger point and relates to a part of the reason why I don't consider him to even be a leader in this space, let alone a "synth god", is that he completely fails to understand Roland's perspective on products. He's working under some delusion that Roland has operated differently at some point. Roland has always been up their own ass, even when it lead to product failures. Please note that of vintage synth manufacturers I own more Roland than any other vintage brand and the second place doesn't even come close.

However, the 909 and the 303 were product failures because Roland was doing things their own way, making instruments that they thought would sell. They have always made consumer goods with strange and weird compromises. This is also true with their synths, even when they are a success. Ever wonder why the JX8P/JX10 is so cheap compared to other vintage analogs. It's not just because you need the programmer. It's because that filter chip sucks, but, Roland preferred it because it was more predictable. They were rejecting the very thing that gave their early products the longevity that they enjoy today, character.

But, like it or not, Roland products were picked up by early electronic music producers (rap, house, techno), perhaps because they were cheap because "pros" wanted LinnDrums, or not, that's not really the point, and made history with new musical styles. So, there is a reverence for those sounds and there is a reverence for having them in analog form, whether or not it's justified is a different question, but, to suggest that Roland putting analog 808/909 sounds in a drum machine isn't creating products for musicians is completely missing the reality that "some" musicians were clamoring for exactly that.

Now, do I think that Roland does the best job at this. No, I do not! I think that Jomox have been on the right track in terms of the sound of analog drum circuits since the 90s. Perhaps not in terms of software development, but that's another story. The fact remains that people want Roland to return to analog even if it doesn't make sense, even if it doesn't bring the best products in a category to market. That history has value in terms of perception. It's the same reason that people will still buy Fender or Gibson guitars. Do those brands really make the best guitars, I don't think so, again, YMMV.

The TR1000 gets a lot of things right. In particular, level sliders, sliders specifically, programmable controls for the other parameters, effects in the box, compression per voice, samples as well as analog sounds. A playable instrument with a good size for muscle memory. Yes, I mocked it, I hope that it was seen as playful like I intended. The reality is that people are willing to pay the cost for more playable instruments and that means to stop worrying quite so much about the footprint. Eurorack represents the epitome of the disease of measuring value by the features/square inch metric.

So, I do think that it's a good drum machine, just not one that I want, it's not to my taste anymore. I still own a 909, I played the shit out of that in the 90s, I don't play like that anymore. You can see my discussion of this in the TR8s threads. I think the TR1000 is much better than the TR8s with respect to that criticism, but, it's still not my drum machine of choice today. A lot of that is that I don't actually want all of those analog circuits as they were. I think it sounds dated on the analog front. I learned this while I was playing my 909, the 808 is worse there. I love analog drums, but I'm very picky about them. Still, if I were going to back to playing my 909 live, I wouldn't, I'd buy a TR1000 instead.

Kraft is wrong on many fronts, but his blindness is to how this is perceived by electronic music producers who value hardware. It is a bit like buying the fender guitar that you drooled over as a kid, but, as a live instrument (even live in the studio), it really is nicely done and the small screen or endless encoders don't change that. Yes, it could be better, and it could be better value, but neither have EVER been Roland's strong points. This is the quintessential Roland product, overpriced, weirdly restricted in some ways but well designed in others, leans too heavily on their accidental legacy, but is reasonably well built otherwise.