Roland TR-606 "Drumatix" Analogue Drum Machine

[harpsinth]

DJ´ toys... bleah...

[captinp3anuts]

where can i get one?

[HeavenlyRealms0910]

Classic and todays drum machines overpriced and are not as impressive for a musician that need a drummer my advice would be this find a older drum maching amp it up have more props on stage. It works

[jgk381]

Can you program velocity changes on these? or is every note the same velocity?

[JohnnyLovely2]

oh god i want one

[RJADVids]

There is a mod you can do to the snare drum sound - there's a variable resister (I think) inside, that when rotated will lengthen the decay time of the snare. I did that in 1987 and I no longer have my 606, but it worked it's and worth doing so thought I'd pass it on.

[JavaSpitLava]

why does the 606 sound better then the 707....the 707 sounds like childs play drum kits....like some early hip hop....and this one sounds very useful and clear...but then again when the 707 is with the 727 its pretty cool

[xan2xan3]

i belive you can use it whit midi on your juno 106 what does it do whit that?

[synth77]

love the sound of this little thing.Its a shame you can fiddle with it though that's kinda the whole point in an analog drum machine this modded and one of those bass drum synths are all you would need.Saw a broken one on of these an auction site for about €150 before(it was probably just a loose wire and i don't know enough about circuits to fix it though).I got an RolandCR8000 for €450 great machine.

[theskinswxm]

when the toms come in around one minute it sounds eerily like Marco Carola - Groove Catcher.

[nordishXtro]

i wish i would have a fully modded 606 with midi interface. :P

i would prefer it instead of a 808

[theredreceivers]

808vs.909?

606vs.707?

[monowaffle]

I got a question about these. I know you're able to connect a footswitch to use the Run/stop button on it. But does it let you connect a footswitch to change between patterns? Like a forward and back between rhythms?

[retrosound72]

@monowaffle

start/stop yes

[miltonatchet]

@retrosound72 "start/stop yes" doesnt really answer the question as i would also like to know the answer to monowaffles question

[thesmellyfish9000]

That is the coolest thing ever!

[btyremanable]

I have samples of this machine, so I don't need need the real thing, sounds good! very warm, think it's my favourite of all the rolands, love the hi-hat sounds

[systemOVsound]

i still got mine in the garage somewhere....DUST all over i dont doubt....

[brokeass89]

my brother in law had the 606 made into a grooms wedding cake at his wedding.

[TheCottonTop]

How much was that?

[VisceralVoids]

This is the drum machine that helped kickstart Steve Albini's career... all of Big Black's "Lungs" EP was this with some slapback delay if I recall correctly.

[TheSynthesist94]

I love 80s drum machines! :D

[djvladtepes]

Lol, "computer controlled" :D

[PitifulActivity]

I never get sick of hearing the 606, such an historic machine!!! great video :)

[KaslarProductions]

the toms and hats are my favorite thing about the 606... My ideal machine would have 808 snare, 606 toms, 606 closed hats, 909 open hats, 909 kick, 909 rim, 707 tambourine.

[XHALE303]

Dah dah dah, kraftwerk ;)...200vids?....congrats

i dedicated my latest vid 2 u....u already lucky bastard :)))

i always enjoy your quality vids ..keepin it realretro

i want 2be your neighbour...ill bring the drinks ;)

[retrosound72]

@XHALE303

thanks a lot :))

ok you bring the drinks ;)

[funkberto]

@retrosound72

DA DA DA is not Kraftwerk..is from TRIO

[neurolowfix]

@retrosound72 shit=\ i want 2b your neighbor too=\

but living in Russia...ehh=\

i should born in USA and learn to play piano well=\ than i could be yoour neighbor, playing all your synth >_< such a korg x50=) (if u have it,of course)

[one2nd1]

@XHALE303 Dah Dah Dah Kraftwerk - I always thought they used a Casio SA1, Cause it's got the beat on it honest !

[XHALE303]

@one2nd1

i understand u thought that..but the SA1 is from 1989..so after the ''Dah'' track ;)

most of the Casio PCM drum sounds where based on

(analogue) Roland & Linn Drums

My 1st sampler (85/86) was a Casio SK1..BURP..& your memory was full :)

[RaygunShaun]

@one2nd1 Trio used a Casio VL1 on "Da Da Da".

[SLagerZahne]

@XHALE303 Dah dah dah, is by german band trio, not kraftwerk ;-)

[XHALE303]

But your totally right SLagerZahne :) even i get mixed up sometimes :P

its cause Trio was very often mixed as 1 song with Kraftwerk & Herbie Hancock

on my old 80s mix tapes...thats what u get 4having 20.000 vinyls+Tapes&synths:)

..well while im here 4the 3d time :)...i wanna say BIG upzz 2 RetroSoundoMarko...

how ya doin me fellow synth buddy?....Marko...such a stupid name :))) hihi

Cheerzzz

[tygaelement]

I play acoustic drums & produce & im constantly amazed how a simple drum rhythm can sound edgier on a machine but boring elsewhere with minimum effort.

[ruicarl]

i liked the old version, where we actually made someone work...

[HelloNewYorkCity]

i like the old style drum machine where it has the sequencer and the lights. the modern style that has the velocity pads and looks like a watered down version of a sampler, which makes me sick

[modnarm]

SOOO sick. my gosh i love analog

[retrosound72]

@andy92811

absolute different sound

the 606 is analogue and the 707 sample based.

[coolshit28]

@andy92811 707 definitely you can do way more. Just my 2 cents! :D

[andy92811]

@coolshit28 thanks for the help :)

[systemOVsound]

@andy92811 808vs909.?

[andy92811]

@systemOVsound 909 :P

[defcreator]

a step recorder...kinda dull to program..a realtime drummachine is way nicer

[hallobaaaby]

Very cool! Could this Roland havea pattern length that we choose? -like odd beat 7 notes or five notes?

[pomfrit93]

I got this one ! :D

[hallobaaaby]

Does this thing have a custom pattern length??

Thanks for vid!

[xEternalx]

LOL at 1:23 - 1:29 .

[ell500o]

just bought one in good condition for 150$ from a buddy of mine

[BearKeys]

I remember this machine, used to have one :) Not as fat as the 808 but it had its own sound.

[systemOVsound]

@BearKeys i agree.......

[JOCKATEO]

you wouldnt think it was nealy 30 years old it looks as if it could be built today

[whosdfgbawl]

where can i get one i must have it

[freqazoidiac]

Great machine. Thanks for sharing. I had a chance to buy this at a pawn shop 15 years ago, but I was looking for an 808 biasedly at the time..I should have grabbed this baby. I have not seen once since.

[RyanGrinder07]

You know in the Pitbull son 75,Brasil Street it has a Drum Machine in it.I wonder if you can make that beat?.

[joselchino]

how nice it sounds.. bufff

[Sukyhoi]

My dad owns one and I used to play with it when I was little, didn't know what it was then, now I'm gona treasure this piece of vintage kit :)

[theyearofourlordig88]

duh duh duh

duh duh duh

duh duh duh

duh duh duh

[HomeboyNJ08]

@radiohead49 Are you saying that the Roland TR-606 is better than the Korg electribes? Knowin that i own both the E-mx & the E-sx (blue & red machine), I could assume that with the Roland here, you can make more sounds with this machine or do more than the koeg, cause if anything, I'm sure that with the Korgs, you can just about do the same exact thing here with slowing up, fasting the beat & what not. Beats may not be the same in the machine, but you're comparin like apples & oranges over here.

[JimmyDiggs87]

i liked that one. it's hard to find drum machine vids where people don't just play the presets and occasionally hit the fill button.

[JVGmidi]

i want one

[senorverde09]

No hand claps?

[Jezro]

Sad, right? ):...Love Hand Claps.

[BRAKESUK80]

god bless the 606 :)

iv just got my electribe and am loving every minute of it.nice video mate

[vinylkolours]

chingooooon

[plague1715]

Your best bet is a jomox or a machinedrum

[VincentsVideoVisions]

@carter0012 all of the Korg Electribe series are set up like that basically... if you want just drum sounds (and a lot of editability) I'd go for an Electribe ER-1 mkII... there's plenty of videos

[Metamusik]

@carter0012 If you want a cheap, nice little analog drum machine that's easy to program I could recommend the MFB 522. Very price worthy and fun to use.

[cxpage]

@carter0012 Korg Electribe.

[eyeflow9]

@carter0012....yeah, it's called fruity loops LOL.

[vicebrentversa82]

@carter0012 oh totally Korg Electribe. there are a bunch of them. If you want just drums Id go for the ER-1 or ER-MkII. But you can get both drums and synths in one if you go for the EM-1. they also have a few samplers. there pretty cheap too. Check out my page. I have videos of me playing the newest Electribes. ESX-1 and EMX-1

[youngthizz81]

@carter0012 try korg electribe drum machines/samplers

[perspeeks]

@carter0012 Korg Electribe

[westcoasthaze]

@carter0012

jomox xbase

[colorform2113]

@carter0012 check out the mfb 522

[thespandexman]

@carter0012 MFB makes some fairly decent quality machines. Check out the 522e. That one does have an LED sync bar. I believe it's 250 euro.

[groovechaser]

Bought mine for 50 bucks in 1994. Travel case and everything.

[raymondleeleggs]

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

[willmasahiro]

Basically

[UtahMike41]

Hey one of these, a microphone, some shitty lyrics and I am a rap star!

[KaersoNProductionS]

Not really shitty lyrics, I know Dr Dre used this to produce songs for N.W.A. and they had some bad ass lyrics ;)

[nseign]

@UtahMike41 you don't need any gear to be a total asshole tho

[rapideye89]

@UtahMike41 yep... make sure you sing about things you've never really done, and make it cartoonish.

[UtahMike41]

@rapideye89 haha agreed

[RikAmmo]

@UtahMike41

dont forget to talk like a run away slave also and then u a mega star!!!!! ( gucci mane )

[buddyeagle]

@UtahMike41 i agreed with you.

[vincienalotto]

le cose antiche sono sempre le migliori :)

[vjDITTO]

excepto cuando todavía son nuevas ;)

[henryburner]

Play with the tempo knob when it´s in sync. Then you can raise and lower the open hihat decay.

[retrosound72]

cool!

thanks

[disconnect4]

any more trix you know of? the machine is hard to swing i think.. or maybe i'm not trying hard enough..?

[BCThunderthud]

@disconnect4

Don't forget that there's a third hihat sound if you put both open and closed hihats on the same step. I guess it's basically the open hihat with the envelope of the closed but it adds some nice variety to patterns. I want an 808 with the 606 hats.

[576557]

i like the 606 so much, i have one.

do you have any programs , the number sto press for each instrument .

your BD you programed on this vid starts , 1, 5, 9, 13 then you enter the rest of the other

[LHZZ12MM]

How many tunes did Heaven17 use this for...if any?

[mrpeanut25]

It looks like a 303 haha

[elPistao]

now days these drum samples are used in minimal house

[TopracAk47]

sweet

[dUJARAH7]

what are the advantages of analogue synthesizers?

[AmourSynthetique]

they just sound nicer in my opinion.

[SizZ1eR]

For one thing u get some randomness with analog because its affected by temperature of the components making things like resistors etc differ a bit in value.

Because of that, an analog synth doesnt produce the exact same sound twice. ;-)

[sprintbass]

its hard to explain...digital atleast back in the 80s when it came out you couldnt work with it the same way as analog..digital was seen basically as a tape recorder with out the tape..think of the Emulator II...where with say a jupiter 8 you had endless tweeking options..if you want to hear the magic of analog..look up jupiter 8 and sequintial circuits prophet 5..id kiss to have either of those...

[skrikon]

What will you have to pay for one of these today?

[SizZ1eR]

They sell at ebay for around $500-$600.

[rafi78rg]

nice

[spongyplunger]

this is anolog right

[Intosia]

Yes, 606, 808, 909 are analog, the rest is all PCM sampled.

[PilferMusic]

some of the 909 sounds were samples, but the kick certainly was not :)

[Intosia]

Hm thought it was full analog, bummer! :D Now i dont want it anymore, hehe

[SizZ1eR]

The 909 were analog except for the hihats and cymbals, those were 6bit samples. :-P

[Intosia]

Hm didnt know that, thx for the info :) Now i know it, the cymbal indeed sounds pretty '6bit samply' like :P

[SizZ1eR]

LOL well i didnt actually know either, ive read something about the 6bit samples some time back but didnt remember exactly what it was about or regarding, so i got curious and tried to google it and wikipedia had the answer. :-)

[PilferMusic]

yep

[NyczGr8st]

i think the electric emx 1 is i cnt stand analogues

[lemonproject]

DAH DAH DAH.

[KirkHammett131290]

Ja!!!

[nikagandofacho]

Niiice dude!

[butheadVSbevus]

I thought the 808 was awesome but I think I might like the sounds from the 606 more

[yasushi73]

banzai Roland!

[i0wnDaWorld]

isn't Roland a hair product brand name

[Tayl0NP]

and a food product brand name ;)

When I started working at this bakery I saw all these cans with "Roland" on them... I had weird day dreams about synthesizers for the rest of the day.

[Redrum267]

I got an MK1 and its fucking awesome.

[Capeau]

its different for every one.

just check them out on here and make your own choice.

[mowerwizerd]

that what rap sounds like rap=crap

[NewGeneralCatalogue]

1:35 Aphex Twin - Fenix Funk 5?

[Compastral]

This Tricked Me, I Thought It Was A 303 :P

[disconnect4]

aww, i wish mine was in such good shape. some of the contacts on the buttons are not 100%. let this be a lesson to all you button mashers out there. it works just as well if you tap it lightly. lol.

[haloNINhunter]

This is a great machine, and not to be rude, but I don't think anything "computer controlled" can be considered analogue.

[perspeeks]

are you fucking stupid or what?

[haloNINhunter]

How the hell are the samples analogue if there isn't any tape. Pretty sure the samples are on chips. Do you know anything about electronics?

[haloNINhunter]

and don't tell me analogue synthesis makes this an analogue machine... hardly. True analogue synths don't have digital circuitry.

[keykrazy0]

yeah, what perspeeks said: the drum sounds are created by analog synthesis.. e.g., pitched or tuned white noise run through envelopes that control the amplitude or filter, etc.

you silly cake-taking-analogue-nutter, you! ^_^

[perspeeks]

The 606 uses synthesis, not samples. Tape? Are you shitting me? You think this is a Mellotron or something? I've heard some analogue nutters in my time but you take the cake.

[cxpage]

It's amazing that someone would say " Do you know anything about electronics? " and then not know anything about how analog synthesis works.

Just to reiterate..this machine has no samples. The sounds are created by analog (non-digital) circuits that oscilate and create white and/or pink noise. They are then run through envelopes and filters to create the sounds you hear.

No samples were harmed in the making of these beats.

Oh, and there is no MIDI either...

[haloNINhunter]

Thanks, that's all I really wanted to know. After searching for a schematic I learned exactly how it worked.

[knoid1]

Also, tape can be used as both an analogue and digital storage medium :D.

[MrAudity]

As the prophet 5 and early oberhiem 4 and 8 voice synths used the micro proccesor based digital keyboard scanning technology developed by Emu systems, as indeed did the original Emu Audity, I'm afraid by your definition they are not real analogue synths.

Neither is the Roland SH101 as it has a 100 step digital sequencer, or the Moog Source because it has digital parameter access.

So they all fail on the grounds that they are "computer controlled" .

[MrAudity]

And Btw the tr-606 sounds are all generated using analogue technology, no samples, no tape

[haloNINhunter]

One thing I've been trying to figure out... that has stumped the engineers I work with, I guess because they don't specialize in sound, but I'm trying to figure out how to make a keyboard from discreet components. Only thing I can think of is to tune a freq. generator for every note. Lot's of circuitry, but as far as I know, infinite polyphony, or as many keys as I have anyway. I'm not sure how the pros do it...

[cxpage]

Most old analog synths are designed so that each key puts out a different voltage.

This voltage then controls a VCO (voltage controlled oscillator).

Hope that helps.

[josh0unlucky]

hey for frum machines how does the sound work do you plug it into amp or wat??

[LBOWBEATZ]

great drum machine

i wish i would have this one

chekk out my beatz

L-BOW BEATZ

[frostedminipete]

1:35 sounded like you were going for Fenix Funk 5 by Aphex Twin?

[frostedminipete]

Oops, just looked down and saw somebody else noticed this too! :P

[kinglynx]

so how do people like aphex twins, amen samplers, square pushers, use them to make thos really un-natural drum beats that are near impossible to do live on drums??

[trisky1234]

they sample the output and put it through some fx, plus a loooot of edits.

[augias]

Theres also the tr 707 and 909 which have individual outputs per sample, for mad effecting. They also use sample based drum sequencers. The tr- family of drum machines aren't the breaks you hear but samples of them and old funk boogaloos.

The More You Know*

[Sechs7]

Great drum-machine! Need no sticks anymore! :D

[Jazzybreaks]

can the 606 "midi" or "sync" with samplers in the likes of S1000 or S3000???

cuz im not sure if it has a Midi out and cant really find into on that...

[Jazzybreaks]

or other synths..,

[retrosound72]

no midi only DIN-SYNC

you need a Midi-Sync converter

[1FutureSounds1]

hi , i have one of these for sale , if you are genuinely interested , mail me to discuss further details

[hakzear]

Fenix Funk 5 @  1:38

[vonnicolai]

(l) aphex twin:D

[McEnus]

can i purchase that wonderful machine?

[retrosound72]

look on ebay

[SirAaronEdward]

cool, I want one

[owlwink]

this is a wonderfull drum machine.

a true classic.

[cavalier777]

lol why are you on youtube?

[Greenblackie]

Sounds like the drums on "Giddy Up!" by The Hives.

[chunz10]

is this conected to a computer ofr how dose it work

[snolan1990]

if i was to get one what would you guys recomend 606 or 707. 606 is analogue but the 707 just seems to have the better sounds to me

[jmdonovan]

A 707 is digital — cleaner, less gritty. More towards "ethnic" percussion with timbales, congas, whistles, etc. For vintage Chicago house, the classic machine is the 707. If you want to make more synthesized-personality music like electro, a 606/808 is typical. But you should get whatever and make music, you might stumble upon a totally different sound. You can always get something else later, and update your tracks if desired. Experimentation and personality is most important in making art!

[BillyBatsonMarvel]

around $300

[zsyed12345678]

How much did one of these cost back in the early 80s?

[eec3456]

I dont no

[boisbrut]

i dont know either.

[hsifylleg]

I don't still have the receipt but I think I got one for around £100 at the time.

[djsteve9000]

Was it this model that Jarre used for Magnetic fields 2

[marcvanderloo]

I used one of these because I could never afford an 808. No-one knew the difference even those know-alls who claim to be able to tell the difference immediately.

[r0by]

i don't consider myself a knowitall but i can tell a 606 from an 808. personally i love the 606 sound better than the 808, the hats are sweeter IMO. so when i *think* i hear one, i go 'oooooh!'

lol

[haikousei]

the underground DJs in america in the 80s who started the whole house, techno, electro thing were also poor and couldnt afford much so they had to get these things for like $10 at the pawn shop. poor is not necessarily bad. being poor means you have to improvise and be creative just like the original creators of this club music that became tooo expensive now.

[derbydookie]

I agree. Electronic music has become mainstream and bloated. Now even cheap tweakable drum machines are at least $100.00

[TrainmasterCurt]

Sounds like somethin Vince Clarke would've used back in the early 80's, way cool :)