Got the Drumulator today

Congrats on the purchase bro!
If I found a Drumulator for cheap I'd get it also.

Just did a YouTube demo of the beast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3R5Zc4ldAw

nice kick sound on that machine... it's always cool to see some old gear get put to good use. congrats on the find.

With all due respect, i'm struggling to see the attraction of such an old piece of gear. The sounds from this box are freely available from the net so what is the attraction?

Coz wrote:With all due respect, i'm struggling to see the attraction of such an old piece of gear. The sounds from this box are freely available from the net so what is the attraction?

I wish more ppl like u felt the same way about roland tr-808's, 303's, lm1 & all drum machines so they all would come down in price.

One thing I really dislike about software is the multitude of mouse clicks

Coz wrote:With all due respect, i'm struggling to see the attraction of such an old piece of gear. The sounds from this box are freely available from the net so what is the attraction?

I can play nintendo games with emulators on my pc, the wii, psp, xbox the list goes on but theres nothing like blowing into the games and playing on the original system with the original contorllers.

if this thing got individual outs... you could make shyt fly when it comes to making house.

MoonBased wrote:if this thing got individual outs... you could make shyt fly when it comes to making house.

It does. Not just for each pad, but each sound -- probably even the metronome.

Coz wrote:With all due respect, i'm struggling to see the attraction of such an old piece of gear. The sounds from this box are freely available from the net so what is the attraction?

I have the sounds for the Oberheim DX and DMX on my MPC's flash card (along with most other 80s drum machines). I wanted to use the DMX shaker in one of my beats but my DX has no MIDI. I turned it on and hit the shaker over the beat I was working and really liked the sound; to tune it I just reach in the back and turn the pots to my liking -- but no MIDI, so forget about it. I could sample the shaker into my MPC but I thought I'd take a shortcut and loaded the one I downloaded off the Internet; it sounded like crap. How did the person capture the sound? Did they EQ it before sampling it? Did they 'normalize' it? Was their audio device high quality, or the line in on a $20 Sound Blaster? If you simply want to get the job done, yeah -- samples are fine; if you have a love for a particular machine's sound though? You'll probably want to get the real thing, if for nothing else nostalgia and inspiration.

In the Drumulator's case, as we've mentioned here -- it has analog filters. So no sample of the machine can quite match it. Throw in some custom EPROMs and you have the possibility of some really interesting sounds.

Just want to add: I wouldn't know that the sample I downloaded was garbage unless I had something to reference it with. In this case I had an actual DX, but if we're talking about the 909 or 808 I've never actually heard one in person so I can't gauge whether a sample of either one is good or bad; all I can say is it's good enough for me.

Now if we want to get down to it, would the listener really care if I was using a real DMX shaker or a sample? After it's all said and done, absolutely not. "Oh, that shaker sound is a little grainy!" Bullshit.

So it matters and it doesn't matter. When you have a love for music you do a lot of strange, pedantic things, just like car enthusiasts go after 50 year old cars and fix them up. In some ways those old cars are inefficient and outdated, but some of that inefficiency can create unique, desirable advantages.

A friend of mine has the 808, 909 and 303. Believe me when I tell you no sample can come close, I decided to save up for an 808 recently because all my samples of it sounds so dull and lifeless compared to the real thing. Because it is analog no sound will be the same, you wont get that with samples.

64hz wrote:A friend of mine has the 808, 909 and 303. Believe me when I tell you no sample can come close, I decided to save up for an 808 recently because all my samples of it sounds so dull and lifeless compared to the real thing. Because it is analog no sound will be the same, you wont get that with samples.

there is a 808 kit you can build http://www.eight-oh-eight.org/

also one for the 303

am i the only one who thinks that the 808 is possibly one of the most overrated pieces of equipment, EVER?

*prepares for backlash*

yo bed-
just so you know you can make your own custom roms for that machine so you can put whatever sounds in it that you want.

SICK Aye!!

nice drums sound on that one . hey can you record those one shot ? would be great to have those sounds thats 80's rap music right there

lucky what did you pay if you dont mind me asking ?

LvngDead wrote:am i the only one who thinks that the 808 is possibly one of the most overrated pieces of equipment, EVER?

I think it's a personal thing. Like, I don't have a strong attachment to the 808, even though I really like the 808's bass drop and even snares occasionally. The thing is, I'm not so obsessed with it that I feel like I have to own one. My DR-202 is suffice for that need.

The DX/DMX though? That's such a signature Hip-Hop sound to me. Slick Rick used that all over his first LP. Run DMC. Davy DMX. Man, it just has such a raw sound to me. The 808 on the other hand has been given all sorts of acclaim; the DX/DMX is like a forgotten gem for me.

Same thing with the Drumulator in my book.

950skweezyotitties wrote:just so you know you can make your own custom roms for that machine so you can put whatever sounds in it that you want.

Yeah, I'm contemplating getting an EPROM burner. I could use it with the Drumulator and my DX which would be cool.

dj e.d.e wrote:lucky what did you pay if you dont mind me asking ?

Heh, $200 + $35 for the MIDI sync box I tracked down. I won't justify this or my DX for anyone. I just wanted it.