ROLAND R-8

Studio drum machine / Produced in 1988 by Roland Corporation / One of the very best drum machines ever. It has excellent sounds which can be expanded by adding additional sound cards (808 and 909 cards). Great rock, electronic, ethnic and industrial style drumkits! Most of the sounds are editable - tune, decay, attack, nuance, output, etc.. But its coolest tricks are the Feel Patches which give your program a human-like groove! The sounds are ROM based samples, the R8 has 32 note polyphony, 68 instruments, 100 patterns and 10 songs! The R8 later became the R8mkII with more memory and sounds. It is used by Orbital, Underworld, Jimmy Edgar, Autechre, 808 State, Dave Holmes, Fluke, Human League and The Shamen.