No mate I’m not getting one. Prefer 909 sounds for Techno I’m getting rid of some of my hardware. I’m keeping the RD-9 but just grabbed some Tip Top Audio gear.
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Ha, I thought this was an exaggeration but I tried one in a store yesterday and the keys are indeed their own unique brand of horrible. They don’t even feel like cheap (non-mechanical) keyboard keys. Definitely put me off.
Shame, because I actually quite like how the LEDs look through them.
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I finally caved in and ordered through Andertons. I now can do a yocto 808, RD-9, and Kyra for TB303 presets. I’ll let everyone know how it is when it arrived
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I discovered a thing. For assigning the 3rd trigger output …
Settings > Tap/Hold + Poly > instrument button of choice > Settings (twice)
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I was able to play with mine last night.
Pros:
- It’s analog so expect whatever setting you have for each drum sound to remain that way when powering off/ on.
- It’s a punchy sounding drum machine out of the box. There’s a transient designer in enhanced mode and I may use it later on. Eve. Though I use hardware compressors I’m already thinking “why do I need to smash these drums ? “
- The swing engine is good even though I don’t own the original using low values like 52% make a huge difference.
- Some people might not like size of this machine but I would prefer this size over the tiny boutique footprint.
Possible cons:
- The squishy trigger buttons aren’t as bad as I thought they would be as I was reading other user reviews. My workaround is aim your fingers towards the center of each key so it feels more tactile.
- The lo-fi crash on the original. Correct me if I’m wrong. It sounds a little more polished than the original 6 bit sample. Is it a show stopper ? Nope .
- Some original 909 owners say that the drums overall sound more hi-fi. If it does then I like it. I wonder as the chips age will it start to sound like vintage units.
Overall I’m happy with my purchase. If you’re looking for a drum machine to pair with ableton sessions or an Octatrack this might be the one. For 349US it’s what we call a “pawn shop deal”.
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The keys are just membrane type buttons as on most other gear these days. Although they’re not mechanical cherry type switches there’s nothing much wrong with them. I’ve had mine since the first batch shipped last year and they’re fine. No double triggering etc etc. I can’t see the age of the audio IC’s having any bearing on the sound quality over time. Any perceptible change will be down to electro’s ageing and their values drifting.
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@Bunker Iv’e owned x2 original TR909’s over the years since 1989 the last one I sold was in 2011 but I can tell you that none of the 2 I owned sounded the same. Everyone who owned the originals (including me) can’t say the RD-9 doesn’t sound exactly like a real one in any way at all as every one of them sounded different in their own way. The RD-9 is a steal for the price IMO
I’m getting along fine with the buttons on mine tho. For £269.00 who can grumble? 
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What do you think about the sound of the cymbals ? Is it too hi-fi for you ?
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Having never owned the original I can’t make a direct comparison. I think they sound okay to my untrained ear though. @rob_lee may be able to give you a more informed answer.
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My ears aren’t what they used to be like @Bunker but… I think the RD-9 is as close as you’re gonna get.
Like I say, Iv’e owned 2 originals over the years and neither one was exactly the same. A mate had one too and we compared them around 17yrs ago now and his was slightly different to mine vice versa, not much but you could tell.
So… after using the RD-9 for a few weeks I don’t really care if it’s 100% like the original I just think it sounds like a 909 and for the price you can’t grumble.
Even the 909 purists out there comparing their TR909 to an RD-9 on YouTube etc are full of it because as I said, all the original ones sounded different to each other anyways, not by much but you could tell if you had 2 originals side by side.
@v00d00ppl I wouldn’t worry about the cymbals or be listening to anyone on the web (most haven’t even touched a real 909) I think the whole unit sounds great and it’s a bargain. Just process the sounds in your mixer or whatever till you get it sounding as you want like we did back in the day.
Tip:
Buy another RD-9 keep it boxed up for 20yrs and flog it on the web for £4,000
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I almost want to buy another one as backup. This happens with the perfect pair of jeans. Buy another pair because they will NEVER make them like that again.
I think this unit is not complete without me smoking cigarettes again putting yellow stains all over the chassis 
, then it’s a classic machine after that.
Hats of to behringer for making such an awesome product, I love my TR8S but the low end on this machine puts a smile on my face.
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I had a TR8s when they first came out I liked it a lot. The addition of FM is fantastic. The RD-9 sure is a bargain tho for what you get. I’m selling most of my hardware to go modular tho but the only thing I’ll keep to integrate with my modular is the RD-9 only because those damn drum modules are so expensive and the Behringer does the job anyways 
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Rob quick question . Do you notice noise when your kick volume is turned all the way up ? I am trying figure out of the noise I am hearing is because of the power supply it came with or if the kick drum is naturally that noisy. I live in the states and I swapped out the adapter plate for the US one. I want to run my RD-9 into my Neve 5254 but at the current noise level it might get too noisy once it hits the diode bridge compressor.
I ordered a new third party power supply from Amazon and I’m hoping it may fix the noise issue.
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@v00d00ppl Hi mate, just checked mine and no such issue here. The BD is pretty loud anyways I have to watch the level on my interface but I’m not getting any noise here. Using a UK power supply.
Hope this helps mate.
Rob
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I love it. it’s like the opposite of the other day when I saw someone running a $14k Buchla into a Mackie 402.
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Running into an analogue mixer … I’m really liking those hot levels (before gain on the desk).
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Haha. That’s funny.
I can only imagine if I recorded that Buchla through my Neve and tried to mix the songs. There would be so many Buchla solos on that track just to show off the sound.
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Mine isn’t noisy either.
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UK power supply or US power supply ?
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UK psu here.
I’ll qualify my earlier statement by saying I’m not running into anything of Neve standard. Maybe you’ve got a faulty unit? I would have thought an issue with the psu would manifest itself across all instrument outputs as well as the bus output rather than just the kick output?
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