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The DR-3 Dr. Rhtyhm is one the latest drum machines from Boss/Roland. It follows in the footsteps of the glorious “Dr. Rhythm” line.
The Sounds on this drum machine are incredibly detailed and powerful… and expressive. A notable improvement over the older models.
Plenty of editing capabilities, and enormous Performance Control, thanks to the many Pattern and Kit variations, mute, key shift, and SOUND SHAPE and AMBIENCE. Lots of bass sounds as well. A really good tool to have in the studio or live. Check out the numerous audio demos below.
BOSS DR-3 audio demos
Let’s listen to the Demo Song:
The patterns used in the factory demo are the following:
P057 FUNK 1
P031 KNCKL HEAD
P069 FUSION 1
P025 ROCK 5
P006 MIAMI
P004 ROCK HOP
P005 STREET HOP
P014 HVY ROCK 1
P088 HOUSE 1
P052 BLUES 1
P054 CHICAGO
P075 GOSPEL 1
P078 SWING 1
P091 BOSSA NOVA
P093 SAMBA 2
P096 SALSA 2
P001 ROCK JAM 1
P018 FAST ROCK2
P015 HVY ROCK 2
And here below I recorded audio examples from some of the other on-board Patterns, utilizing the various Pattern and Kit Variations, fills etc.:
The DR-550 MkII is the upgraded version of the venerable, original DR-550. A big difference from the original model is the fact that the base ROM has been almost doubled and now features 91 drum sounds. The machine works at 16-bit and is fairly clean and punchy. Many of its sounds remind of its bigger sister, the Roland R-8.
Useful features include “tone color”, that allows you to modify the basic filter frequencies of each sample, and “decay”, that obviously lengthens or shortens the sample.
There are 64 preset patterns on board, and 64 more slots for your own creations. Also, as in other drum machines in the DR-series, you can chain patterns to forms songs – In the DR-550 MkII, up to 8 songs consisting of up to 160 measures each.
A big improvement from the previous 220-series is the inclusion of a basic MIDI IN port, which allows the unit to be synchronized to a sequencer, or another drum machine. There’s no MIDI OUT though, so in order to save your created patterns, you have to resort to the old-fashioned way of storing to cassette tape, using the tape interface.
BOSS DR-550 MkII audio demos
There are seven factory demo songs programmed in ROM, that show off the capabilities of this machine:
Boss DR-550 MkII Drum Samples (44.1MHz, stereo .wav)
The DR-770 is a direct descendant of the longstanding and popular Boss’ DR “Dr. Rhythm” line of drum machines that dates back to the minuscule DR-55.
The successor to the DR-660, the 770 improves on several aspects, including number and quality of samples, memory, and most of all, it features DPP, useful and lots of fun, especially in a live, jam or rehearsal situation.
The sample ROM is very generous, with many sounds to choose from, including vintage, jazz, hard, electronic, and ethnic samples – most people are not going to miss the expansion capability of other drum machines, such as – say – Roland (of which Boss is part of) ‘s classic R-8.
The 770 is an extremely compact instrument, with the buttons spaced pretty tight next to each other. Two alpha dials serve duty for volume and value changes. The inclusion of ambience and modulation effects is a big plus, especially for genres like reggae (the kits have great echo/delay effects on the right instruments) and electronica that can always benefit from them – as opposed to more classic styles like rock, that pretty much are okay with just a pinch of reverb.
In all, this blue wonder is a great tool for composing, and certainly great-sounding, and thanks to its large sample ROM, can be used in any recording or live situation that requires being able to provide percussion in several different styles.
Boss DR-770 audio demos
Here is the DR-770 on-board factory song:
and following are examples of the preset patterns:
This was my very first drum machine. It is a cute little noisemaker. Its sounds are somewhat reminiscent of the Roland TR-707, and are the typical “produced” 80s kinds of sounds.
The “A” is for “acoustic” – there’s also a DR-220E, “Electric”, with electronic, Simmons-like sounds.
Boss DR-220A audio demos
Let’s listen to the on-board demonstration song:
This demonstration song is a cleverly put together series of factory patterns. In fact, like in many other drum machines, songs are composed of series of patterns linked to each other.
And here below you can listen to the factory patterns – I recorded four measures for each pattern. I cut the .mp3 samples accurately in Sound Forge so they loop perfectly, in case you want to use them with your sequencer 🙂
The manual offers 32 more variations of these patterns, and it’s very easy to program them (and new ones) using Roland’s trademark “x0x-grid” layout. Some of these patterns are very good, and with a little compression, eq and effects will be perfect for those ’80s-inspired songs.
The “Electric Pop” is a great example of early eighties beat. The “Cuban” is downright ingenious in its programming. “Fill-in 8 Beat (2)” recalls “Rockit” by Herbie Hancock 🙂 and is a typical ’80s break.
And now for your sampling pleasures, here are the original drum samples sampled at 44.1kHz, normalized and trimmed in Sound Forge, in glorious mono directly from the drum machine. Assign them to your favorite hardware or software sampler, and you’ll have a virtual DR-220A at your disposal.
