Roland CR-68

The Roland CR-68 is a vintage drum machine that was first made in the late 1970's. This was one of the first drum machines ever made, along with the CR-78. It comes in a little box and is from before the days when MIDI was a standard so there aren't any MIDI connections. I don't know if it has any connections at all, as when I've used it it has just been inside of the box.

UTILIZATION

It takes a little bit of getting used to, but the Roland CR-68 is a fairly straight forward drum machine. Perhaps at the time the make up would have been a bit more foreign, but now that the world has gotten used to drum machines, these parameters should seem somewhat familiar to experienced users. It's got a series of different patterns to work with, along with a variety of rhythm shaping parameters. I've never seen the manual for the CR-68...

SOUNDS

As far as the sounds on the Roland CR-68 are concerned, this has the exact sounds that should come to mind when you think of an old school drum machine. This drum machine has definitely been used on a ton of records from this time period, as it's a very familiar sort of cheesy drum sound. By modern standards it is certainly not an ideal drum machine if you're looking to get something close to real sounding, but for getting that cheesy analog/vintage drum machine sound, this is where it's at.

OVERALL OPINION

The Roland CR-68 is a bona fide classic and should be treated as thus and take it for what it is. It reinvented the wheel in it's time, even if the sounds aren't what you would look for if you want a modern sounding drum sound. However, for those looking to turn back the years a bit, the Roland CR-68 is a lot of fun to mess around with and can certainly work in modern music if this is the type of sound you're going for. Definitely mess around with this thing if you ever get the chance...

Old mono drum, not noon. It is the little sister of the CR-78, it has the same sound source, but lacks the ability to program their own beats. Relatively limited so ... It is just ignored by comparison with its big sisters (CR-78, CR-8000) but once connected and in working order, it is a small drum very nice.

UTILIZATION

Not easier to use. We choose a preset from the time you press the Start / Stop button (nice touch by the way) and it left my kiki! ! ! There are several variations of rhythms, full of funny fill-ins while (aaaah bearings snare ...) that can involve either automatically (2/4/8/12/16 measures) or so manually with a button similar to the Start / Stop. There is a knob to vary the speed with which Led beats to the rhythm, a knob for focus and balance. Not the usual balance (Pan), but a balance that leaves appear to be the Bass Drum and bass Tom, or high (snare, hihat ...) and the middle is balanced! It invites us to try, and it's essential.

SOUNDS

When we see, it pays not really mine. A box more or less cubic, black wood, with a few buttons of every color on the front and a few knobs. sounds a bit cheap and old school next to a 808 or 909, see the new MC505 - 909 ... But once plugged into a good monitor speakers, you wake up the tiger in it ... An impressive momentum, a Bass Drum very deep and full, a super snappy snare, in short, you'd sometimes hear a 808. We can also use it raw, without effect, it is very clean, no breath, but for my part, I sometimes add a compressor, reverb or delay and a little bit of equalizer. This opens up unexpected possibilities ...

OVERALL OPINION

Yes it is limited in programming (though Analogue Solutions offers a MIDI for £ 119 kit that allows you to assign a midi channel for each instrument ... from there it is programmable as all the others. ..) but just with the presets that it offers big sound and very nice, it's a drum that I found totally underestimated it. For 30 Euros, I could not complain. And is like new. The guy sold it as a metronome, because the sound is not enough in his opinion today.

For electronic components, and other 70's is a very great deal. I highly recommend