LinnDrum LM-2 with Tuning Modification

[dzlvs8]

Uhhhh....what?

[kz1000ps]

3:10... the sound of that detuned crash is amazing

[DJCannibalMonkey]

Yo dude this is awesome! Love to see how people open up their gear and tweak with it to make it more interesting, great video man big ups! =D

[AceFan88]

i have one question

with a linndrum lm-2 can u tune the side stick without doing this mod?

[kotep777]

i think im going to get someone to do this modification....any tips or instructions?

tricks?

[kingofkeyboards]

loving the modifaction! very handy feature to have when wanting more professional sounding results. nice drum programming too :)

[BLACKSUNR1SE]

very nice! great work :)

[nzSkitzo]

Hi there, I have a linndrum being sent to me in the post at the moment just a few questions. I need to plug it into my audio interface that only has one stereo input, do I need to run two cables out of the linndrum (L+R) then send them into the one port on the audio interface or will plugging in just the left channel work? And did you say stock that the sidestick is tunable? but it affects the snare at the same time? thanks = )

[soundscapenyc]

prince and human league put this machine on the musical map. love it!

[mikej1227]

WE ARE DEVO!!!

[metabog]

Probably gated reverb.

[JaceInman]

the beat you've got going needs some various UGHs and YEAHs in there.

but great mods, very sick machine.

[keesimo]

Same Drum Machine Michael Jackson Used

[keesimo]

Electronic Engineering+ knowing your sound

[androoow]

awesome

[MmhGanja]

cool vid... how the hell did u know how to make those xtra knobs... u must be a genius :P

[sprintbass]

LinnDrum2 is comming in 2010

[donpepperoni0]

@sprintbass Time in runnung out!

[sneakyalien]

Man that is a great mod-Kudos to you for inventing the electronics to do this.

Awesome!!!

[raVe4theslaVe]

hi. you seem to know your way around the linn models and im very new to it so maybe you can help me with some basic knowledge.

i am thinking of purchasing one but need to know a few simple things, which of the 2 machines (LM1, LM2) does the most prince trickery? the classic side stick eg 1999, the distorted hi-hat eg when doves cry or the hand clap that he usaly adds on every 4th snare hit eg 1999, WDC. could you guide me?

what is needed to hear it and use it? as i said, im a newbie :) thanks

[rolandsh1000]

well, as far as I can tell and what I've read, the classic Prince drum machine is the LM-1. if you Google, you find the following: 1) he seems to have had several LM-1s; 2) at least one of them was modified with switches (I don't know what they did, though); 3) it appears he post-processed each drum sound individually.

Upshot: the LM-1 would be the best choice to mimic Prince's sound, but it might not capture it exactly because of mods and outboard processing. good luck!

[GazamYT]

Right, sounds were all stuck together.. The tuning fix you did is amazing.

Do you provide a service for the mod? Can you MIDI cape the LM-2?

Sounds amazing, I never thought I'd hear the LM-2 with indie tuning. Thanks for sharing!

[pannoni1]

80s rule! By this along with a Yamaha DX7 set and you're ready to compose some new "80s-style" hits!

[lennoxido]

is the coolest drum machine ive ever seen!!!

very intuitive!

i want one before i die!

[mattmoogstar101]

hi folks, ive just brought one but does anyone know where I can get a manual for this

[7042407]

Is your Lindrum for sale?

[rolandsh1000]

Nope! But if you buy a LinnDrum, you can do this to it yourself or have a tech do it. The basic instructions are on the Yahoo LinnDrum site as a download.

There's another similarly modded LinnDrum here on Youtube, so I know it can be done by others.

[rockdove81]

Nice video. You seem like you really know what you're doing. Maybe you have a tip?

I just got shipped a LinnDrum and it seems to have some how been damaged during its trip. Nothing lit up when I turned it on . Opened it up, one ribbon cable was loose, pushed that back in. Tried replacing the fuse, taking out and replacing the semi-corroded leaky batteries. Still exactly the same. Just the slight vibration I think from a capacitor when I turn it on... Nothing else. Any ideas?

Thanks.

[rolandsh1000]

Hi - yikes, that sucks. Hopefully it was working before it got shipped?

Anyway, if you have a voltmeter, what I'd do is start checking the voltages on each of the boards to see if they're what they should be (+5V, GND, etc). You can get the service manual from the LinnDrum Yahoo group which should specify the right voltages in various places. You've already checked one ribbon cable, but I'd check and double-check them all, make sure none are flipped. There's more, but I'm out of characters!

[f1racerf1]

make a samplepack out of it! :) make my day!

[BlizzardOfTheCoast]

super!

[1200killer]

Could I pay you to do this to my linndrum?

[aqaq1q1q]

This machine kicks ass! Not used on "billie jean" but many Prince songs from the 80's.

[exactspace]

sounds great. i can't wait until the linndrum II comes out

[blk59]

I have a linn drum machine, how could i modify my machine like yours? where do i get the parts. my Linn Drum machine is just called (Linn Drum). So can it be modified like your? It already been modified for midi. Please help. BLK59

[rolandsh1000]

Hi,

This modification is quite straightforward but it does require some work. I got the parts from Digikey (online electronics parts) - Mouser also supplies such parts - and the parts are not expensive.

Read the 'About This Video' section above to find the link to my writeup of this modification on the Yahoo LinnDrum page.

I think my email address is somewhere in there if you have further questions.

Thanks!

[blk59]

rolandsh1000 Thanks so much for your help.

[MarcS4R]

oh man awesome video. i wish i wouldnt have sold my linndrum :(

[bandwagonretards]

same story here.  hah

[TrueLoveQuotient]

Revolting Cocks! & their album says Simmons - guess not!

[knucklehead66]

Is it true they used this machine on Bilie Jean? I've always loved the kick and snare in that song.....

[mjames4208]

NO!!! Billie Jean was played with a live Drummer.

[LyndonTCorbett]

Billy Jean did used a drum machine, and it was the Sequential Circuits Drumtraks, which is very similar to the LM 2 - all sampled sounds.

[blewvelvet]

wrong....live drummer on there by the name of Leon Chanceler.

[amarillo114]

and featuring an A-Class producer... Mr Quincy Jones and his spring reverb....

[blewvelvet]

that's a live drummer on that song..not a machine.

[TR0jAX]

The Linndrum II is coming !!

[MontroBeats]

I love the way he opened it the trunk,

[Uberlaser]

Great work on the unit, and nice Demo video.

[djkikis]

can i buy this off u? xP (not joking..)

[rolandsh1000]

sorry, it's not for sale. ;)

but if you get an LM-2, I'm more than happy to try to answer any questions you have if you decide to make the mods.

[djkikis]

hehehe ah i live in South east asia... so im not sure where to get one actually :) but thanks anyways.. :)

im thinking about starting up on this circuit bending thing.. so yeah if i do have questions i will ask! thanks a bunch!

[minoruuuu]

very kool

[pepszi]

nice nice nice

[escalatorman]

this xucker grooves!

[TrainmasterCurt]

Funky! Neat oh, this is what Human League first used when they came out

[solidrate]

Very nice! I need to do this to my LM-2! I have however done alternate Eproms for it... fun times!!!

-dJ dAb

[OpusFinis]

wasnt possible to regulate the actual clocks that you bypassed?

[rolandsh1000]

well, there was basically just one clock driving most of the voices. what I did was drive the binary counters in front of each voice prom individually with it's own clock.

[OpusFinis]

i understand, but you have other voices that were adjustable. it would take more time but just curious if a similar circuitry may have been duplicated tapping into the original oscillators. great job though. btw you wouldnt happen to have any sh1000 packs lying around heh?

[rolandsh1000]

that's pretty close to what I actually did. the voices that were tunable had their own separate clock driving their binary counters (then driving the voice ROM outputs). the major difference between my mod and the original the linndrum used a linear VCO chip, while I used the more common 556 dual timer chip. if I did it again, I'd use a linear VCO to get the pot rotation to be more linear.

sh1000: sorry, my sh1000 needs a few switches itself! thanks!

[Studio271]

Awesome mods! :-D

I was planning to do this exact thing to my TR-707, but then it broke (I haven't had time to fully investigate, but I believe the sample chips may have fried). ;(

[rolandsh1000]

I haven't tried it in my LM-2 just yet, but Electrongate/Paul White has the LM-1 binary images posted (google on DMX files or Electrongate).

Just a matter of downloading & burning that LM-1 snare into a 2732 and popping it into the LM-2...assuming, of course, that the output signal path is the same (don't know for sure). I've heard that the LM-1's Hihat is quite different than the LM-2.

[supercrazyoi]

THE best sounding drum machine of the 80's bar none....sooo many records used it, I think it was far better than the Rolands..sorry! BTW, great mod!

[hendrixonlsd]

Alot of people used this and the LM1..

[rolandsh1000]

I'd love to have an LM-1, but they're more collectors items these days - I don't think I would dare to mod it!

[thesnake383]

Yea, because you can tune everything.

[victorcab]

It's worth the wait to get to the "gun shot" at the end...and by the third minute I had to get up and dance around the dining room a little! Kerry you are a badass...albeit a totally bend-a-rific one.

[rg2027x]

"the claps themselves can be very clappy" yes indeed!

[totaltwit]

Interesting how some people seem naturally good at giving demos. Nice work.

[19andrew80]

Analog beauty!

[rolandsh1000]

well, it was actually the second digital drum machine, but there's quite a bit of analog control inside. it is definitely a beauty!

[MrStereo]

Can i get a simple funky beat like at the begining with my MPC 60?

I search some Good Bank of the Linn Drum...

[waveterm]

Awesome !

[ikmijzelf]

really nice! very nice mod>this thing is an even wetter dream now.

i'm frikkin drowning over here. :)