Hello all. New here. I plan to buy an A4 mkii next week as my one-box-to-do-everything. Long story short, I’m moving overseas and sold my studio full of synths, guitars, and most painfully, vintage drum machines. I had a CR-78 and TR-77, which I feel are the best sounding drum machines of all time. After I move, I do not want to accumulate gear like I did before (it was a lot of work and lost $$ to sell it off), so my fantasy is just to pull it all off with the A4.
I listened to the samples of the Taro and DRUMA packs, and heard some familiar sounds, but the more modern programming in the examples kind of obscures how the vintage sounds would work together as a kit. Has anyone recorded anything that sounds convincing like an actual pre-1980 (pre-808) Roland? I plan to buy these packs anyway as a starting point, but I’m curious what a full vintage kit would sound like.
Thank you in advance.
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In my experience it’s not simple to get those vintage tr/cr sounds out of the a4. The engine is flexible no doubt about it but a lot of those sounds had very specific circuit designs. Probably better off finding a used tr8 with the 7x7 expansion that included the acb models of the cr78 and 606 as well. They’re usually pretty cheap now that the 8s is around.
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Thanks. I tried mimicking those sounds on a modular before, and you’re right - it is not easy at all. Especially that lovely metallic beat. It was physically painful selling my 78, but life must go forward…
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There’s also the bass bot tt78 which seems decent. And is much less than a cr78 cost wise.
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I tried that one before, and it just sounded a bit off. The tambourine and metallic beat especially. The other sounds were pretty good, though.
I’m still going ahead with the A4 anyway, as my interest is not solely in recreating vintage drum sounds. I’m excited to make some new original sounds as well like I did when I had a DFAM.
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got an A4 this week and will try that one my self, I really love the sound of CR-78 and TR-77.
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There are some CR-78 type sounds in Druma, I will make some demos as I like these sounds too.
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Wow, thank you. That would be amazing. I plan to buy Druma in a few days.
The patch in Druma called “The78” seems to me to be very fairly named.
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Thanks. Curious to hear these in context.