Roland CompuRhythm CR-78 Demo

[DoReMiForever]

808 and 909 and 626 are better.

[900GTi]

Used on OMD's Enola Gay and John Foxx's Underpass

[LouiePlaysDrums]

Hall and Oates - Kiss On My List at 0:58-1:10

[Ni5ei]

Those Volume and Balance buttons aren't the original ones. Contact me if you're interested in some new old stock.

[eatmyvcr]

I bought a CR-78 a few months ago and found that Daryl Hall used the Rock-1 AND Disco-2 presets for the "I Can't Go For That" beat. FYI: Apple has a nice little app for the iPod touch and iPad called "Funk Box" that very closely mimics the Cr78, TR-808s and other drum kits. Very cool app but nothing beats the original!

[TypewriterMcRevenue]

Reminds me of "Dreaming of me" by DM... Vince Clarke is good people.

[ihasch]

Heart of Glass was based on the CR-78. You hear it distinctly in the intro and in the trigger pulses that the CR-78 sent through the synthesizers. HOG, recorded in June, 1978, was an early use of this technology.

[Godscarmachine]

Hear a ton of drum beats that were used in Metamatic, and Telekon.

[L3dtube]

i can feel it, callin in teh air tonight ..

[kautle]

oh i was wondering what drum machine the sounds from roxy music, japan, visage and jean michel jarre were coming from! this is it. awesome!

[cheddybumpkins]

Did Mick Smiley's "Magic" use this thing too???

[Abraxas80]

I remember this sound, Gary Numan and John Foxx made them famous....just listen to "Phantom Lover" on the new JF record.

[t1mTV]

im pretty sure i hear this unit on "Eminence Front" by The Who

[maxcohen13]

Does it have "hand clap?" I vaguely remember reading Phil Collins convincing Robert Plant to use this on a couple of his solo albums.

[SPAZZOID100]

you should have recorded the audio directly into your camera

[Ni5ei]

@mrduckbutt I always thought they used a CR-8000 for that track.

[hansolo989]

Yay 1:35

[darym3]

I just started a yahoo user group for the CR-78/68.

Everybody is welcome.

[djgambitron]

trying to find a good old school drum machine demo is starting to drive me nuts! everyone ruins the demo by recording with speakers & mics instead of straight line in.

WHY? WHY? WHY?

not going to give this video a thumbs down, but it would be nice to hear nothing but the drum machine once

[djgambitron]

trying to find a good old school drum machine demo is starting to drive me nuts! everyone ruins the demo by recording with speakers & mics instead of straight line in.

WHY? WHY? WHY?

not going to give this video a thumbs down, but it would be nice to hear nothing but the drum machine once

[blzbug242]

A great use of that first sequence is found on "Mouth To Mouth" from The Glove( Robert Smith and Steven Severin)

[mrduckbutt]

FYI - I had wondered about those extra bass drum beats on the 'In the Air Tonight' pattern. I guess Phil did program those on top of the Disco-2 beat like I had to do for this video .. here's his quote: "'In the Air Tonight' was just a drum machine pattern that I took off that CR78 drum machine. You could eliminate certain sounds and program bass drums and snare drums, so I programmed a bass drum part into it, but basically the rest of it was already on there."

[Obelisk2290]

does it have multiple outs?

[mrduckbutt]

@Obelisk2290 - It has high/low impedance main output, plus a trigger output (no separate voice outputs or anything)

[Obelisk2290]

thanks

[AntwaanMusic]

Now i think i need that instrument :D

[1200killer]

I would like to buy a CR-78.

Please help.

[ItsJonnieCraig]

I'll be putting one on ebay UK in the next week.

[collartrance]

I loved in the air tonight!

[nobby2000]

I heard a bit of Salt 'n' Pepa Push It, Blondie, Hall and Oates Kiss on my list, Phil Collins Air tonight.... Classic bit of kit.

[senorverde09]

Heart of Glass at the beginning?

[mrduckbutt]

@senorverde09 - I've always seen Heart of Glass listed as a CR-78 tune, and the beguine/rhumba rhythms are nearly identical (rhumba is what you hear at the beginning, and you hear both around 2:28). I could never get it to sound identical though, even mixing with other presets. Maybe they added some programmed bits in there with it?

[senorverde09]

@mrduckbutt Well, it's worth a shot. I think everything you did was pretty dang close to the orignal in my opinion (in the air tonight seems tricky). Can you try H&O's 'I can't go for that' on that thing? I watched a live at daryl's episode (episode 10) where he mentioned that no can do was made with a 78 using rock and roll one pattern. Check it out if you haven't. Good luck!

[mrduckbutt]

@senorverde09 - That's right, 'I Can't Go For That' uses the B-variation of the Rock-1 preset (you can hear it briefly at 2:58, that double-snare beat).

[snidelywhiplash]

@mrduckbutt Further in the Hall & Oates vein, I'm pretty sure that's the opening drum loop from "Kiss On My List" at about 1:00.

[DZA9mm]

OH I FINALLY FOUND The Dilla Drums haha

[groovechaser]

Was this used on E2E4?

[retromaster2000s]

used on Gary Numan's Telekon album also cool machine.

[alainraes]

just use the write switch and make your own patterns

use 2 preset switches pressed at the same time :)

[trolmper]

Classic machine, unique sounds, john foxx still uses it today on some of his new songs, was very popular in the early 80's, hard to find a good one now & expensive but a great buy.

[tonysx]

it controlled the synth on heart of glass as well as the intro

[yamahasynth]

What a classic!!!!! Thank you for sharing this video :--)

[topsyandpip56]

Also used on Island by The Buggles

[Luraka1978]

also 'In The Air Tonight' by Phil Collins.

[becauseicare2]

Any idea what this cost when it was introduced?

[CBXweb]

Those fills! Love 'em.

[theBadloves]

Hall and Oates....Kiss on My List and I cant Go For That....to name a few...

[emiel4sma]

I want a drummachine like this so i can play along with my drums, cause i don't have room for a whole band. I'd like to play on my on, just trying stuff. Do i need some more things apart from this machine, and do i need a reciever for it or anything?

[RDLoehrke]

Yes, you will need some form of amplification for just about any drum machine ever made. Your best solutions will probably be headphones or a small guitar amplifier. You can also just plug it into your stereo, granted you have the right cables and a stereo that has an auxiliary in jack. I'm assuming you don't have a mixing board, studio monitors or a P.A. system, because those are all handy for working with drum machines, but perhaps not what you need if you just want to play drums on your on.

[kryptonenz]

Was a CR-78 used on Nik Kershaw's song "Human Racing" ? Search youtube to have a listen, cheers.

[BaddaBigBoom]

Aw maaan! Classic sounds. The track that immediately came to mind for me was Atomic by Blondie.

[IiDmagazin]

of course roxy music... ;-)

[producermattpop]

I looove this machine, so crisp and electronic sounding. I hear it on the intro of Opportunities by PSB, Heart Of Glass by Blondie and Fade To Gray by Visage - and ofcourse many others.

[blitzbadger]

Fad Gadget used a Korg minipops.

Hiroshima Mon Amour used a TR-77 preset.

Blondie, OMD, John Foxx, Kontour, Phil Collins all used one. Great machine - even today.

[nashslash999]

Also used by John Foxx and Fad Gadget

[intromix]

And Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight"

[stef546]

And OMD-Waltz of Maid of Orleans, also OMD-Enola Gay

[12yearoldgarynuman]

Gary numan used the first one loads erm cant think what is called anyone know?

[ChronicBudInc]

there is one on ebay right now - current bid is $600

[synthpro]

I need to gey one of those.

Great video!

[BaddaBigBoom]

They're gey enough as it is ;-)

[synthpro]

I meant to say I need to get one of those. LOL!!!!!!!!!

They are neat sounding. I just bought a polymoog 280a. This little box would go good with it.

[melitoce]

The young marble giants used it on the testcard ep, from 1.15 to 1.20 you can hear "the clock"'s beat, "this way" is also made with it. And, of course, Blondie's "heart of glass" !

[thebrightonpeer]

Instant 'John Foxx' Metamatic!

Cool.

(although you can almost exact samples of this most places these days)

[gmaildotcom]

00:00-00:09 : Heart of Glass

[MrSYSTEM20]

@gmaildotcom Also " remind me to smile " from Gary Numan's Telekon album

1980.

[PappaWheelie]

This is a quality upload and info!

[lovesexcaca]

IM GNA GET ONEEE:d:d:d:d:d:dd:d:d:d:d

[Synthsound1]

The first rythym Gary numan used on a Telekon track called Remind me to smile .

[d3p3ch3mod3]

MAKE SOME IDM !!

[awesomesauce2000]

The hi-hat at 2:10 sounds like a lawn sprinkler.

[ORUPRANKSTAZ]

Not mine.. Gone are the days of the "KST KST KST KST KST KST KST KST KSSSSSSSSSSSST" sprinklers..

Now, bow before the power of the IN-GROUND SPRINKLER SYSTEM! lol

[Parallellines78]

the first beat is the one used by blondie on Heart Of Glass

[vinylman86]

omg, that is beyond awesome!

[LuxX63]

I had this box,it was very funny and with a sound that I like even now!

[djcondra]

Looks cool but a total piece of shit by todays standards.

[Parallellines78]

no music of today is a piece of shit music of the past is way better like the 70s 80s and early 90s instuments like this help make music more enjoyable to the listeners

[ORUPRANKSTAZ]

Para: I think the real issue is the loss of "heart" in instruments. There aren't any Bob Moogs around anymore.. Thank God for Dave Smith though...

And things are easier than ever.. there's no "finding out" process in keys or anything for that matter anymore..

Well..okay that's a generalization. I'm NEVER giving up my Korg microKORG! :D

[anonymous904]

at 1:26 you can hear the pattern from in the air tonight by phil collins. who woulda knew that that beat was a preset that came with the drum machine.

[ClearJack]

these are programmed beats

[anonymous904]

thanx for the echo buddy you just repeated exactly what i said.

[humphreyorama]

"programmed" beats and "preset" beats are a bit different in this case, my friend. the author of the video says in the description that there is no preset he could find that created the kick rhythm used in the song. so much for that echo, eh?

on another note, search youtube for "in the kraftwerk tonight" for an extra little treat.

[mrduckbutt]

With the exception of a few extra bass drum kicks in the second half of the pattern, 'In the Air' tonight is just a preset disco rhythm. It repeats after four beats though (compared to Phil's eight beats), so there's not really a way to get those extra bass drum kicks without manually programming them.

I am curious why he would bother with this though - maybe four beats sounded a bit too repetitive?

[aquadias]

Damn I'm totally copying that pattern at 00:20 so groovy! Great patterns, really nice demo.

[rosetwitches]

Damn that's OLD school. Haven't seen one of those in a LONG time.

[nobushjrnonono]

This rhythm box is amazing! It has such a great punch to the sounds. It was first designed for organists but contemporary artists of the time picked it up. It appears on The Buggles recording of "I Am a Camera" as and in many early New Wave tracks. I think Brian Eno used one as well.

[cr78fan]

Can you use a sustain pedal to program it in place of a ws-1 or a footswitch? Just curious

[bigblumer]

Phil Collins loved his, I think. He used it a lot on his solo stuff, as well with Genesis. You can see him actively programming one on the DVD that came with the reissued Genesis album Duke. There is some live concert footage of the song Duchess, where he is actively manipulating the unit for the drum machine solo at the beginning of the song. It may be out here on youtube somewhere. Check it out.

[Ni5ei]

I have one too but while the exterior is in pristine condition, I had to take out the internal battery which keeps the self-programmed rhythms in memory. It had started to leak and left a big mess on the mainboard :( I hope to find a terrible looking but good working model which sells for a reasonable price and combine the 2.

[EBT07]

yeah and the drum rolls at 101 secs are from 20th Century.

[EBT07]

a lot of John foxx in there

[UpTheShakers]

Yeah starts to get into Hiroshima Mon Amour at about 20 secs. intro percussion to Numan's Remind Me To Smile (and Blondie's Heart Of Glass) at the start and later at 2.30.

[mmmindcontrol]

this is THEE machine of the drum world. I just bought one for $5 dollars in a garage sale. Found out one went for $3,000 on ebay. Anyone got any idea how much they are worth. I presume the ebay one was immaculate???

[jufralu]

I bought a brand new machine around 1980 for $800 and sold it again for $200 in 1991. I never knew it made it to an antiquity.

Frank

[mmmindcontrol]

Thanks for the reply Frank. Good info to know. Maybe it's not the treaure trove i thought it was. Sounds damn good though.

[ddominict]

They sell for £450 in the UK if mint

[chinkogakusaizo]

GaryNuman fan should notice that pattern at the begining.I use clock out of this to sync with the onboard step sequencer of SH101 pretty good fun.The way of programming beat on this is a bit naff but at least its able to make your own beat.Nice to see demo of this on Youtube good stuff man.

[tomlund1983]

great machine man, i remember reading that Warren Cann and the Ultravox boys used this machine alot on the "vienna" record.. brilliant!

[chorcha7]

Did you use a WS-1 to programme the rhythms or some other set up?

[mrduckbutt]

Since the WS-1's are so hard to find, I just used a simple pedal switch to do the programming. From what I recall, you initiate the recording and just press/close the switch to program in that voice (selected on the front panel).

The WS-1 might be smart enough to do the timing for you (i.e. programming on the next beat automatically, similar to a Linndrum). But doing it manually like this, you need to do your own timing .. so you have to close the switch precisely.

[DaR4Buff]

AWESOME!

[sleestack]

I can feel it coming in the air tonight. Oh Lord