Roland TR-8S - (New TR-8 with user samples and individual outs)

Yes, I did, you’re perfectly right :rofl:

Achtung, Achtung ! GAS attack !

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Couple of things made me finally decide to try this one -

New FM engine - sounds just about right to me.

ACB tech - always liked it. And I think a proper analogue drum machine (which is where I put this, no matter the tech behind it) cuts through better.

The immediacy - sure, you gotta go digging if you want to tweak it hard, but I got plenty far with the knobs on the Tanzmaus and usually, you only got control of two or three parameters on that one. So three knobs per sound on this one without menu diving will work for me.

The output - it does sound like you can get stuff sound like it’s mastered and ready to go with this box. Which is really appealing to me, especially after my experience with the SP-16 which kind of goes for that aim to, but with samples only. Loops and stuff.

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exactly the points why I bought it.
I didn‘t want to pay 800 for „just“ drums when it was released but now I got one used for half the price, which is awesome for this package.

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Yeah, especially the output part is starting to matter more and more to me. I’m no good at mixing and mastering is a black art which I’ll never get around to understanding, so if a bunch of algoritms can take me closer to that result, that means a lot to me.

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Ive had my TR8-S for a couple years now I think. And one of the things I love about it is the sound, it cuts through a mix with no processing, sounds amazing with no need for any treatment. You can do some processing if you want of course. But the raw sound is legit.

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The TR-8s is actually the machine that first popped up on my radar a couple years ago and I thought, “hey, that looks fun”. My only experience with electronic music “instruments” at that time was a pair of 1200’s. It really started me on this journey of countless hours of researching gear and a few minutes here and there making music :wink:

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Ok, I just find a mint 2nd hand tr8-s with desk saver. Bought it today. GAS made another victime : my walet has been severly injured.
Looking forward to put my hands on

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Congrats! My bet is that you will enjoy it. It’s a great drum machine.

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I think so.
I read a lot about it, saw lot of videos. I have the sensation of knowing it.
I really love drum machines, it’s always fun to play with. This one seems to be the more natural way to play, thanks to the UI. I think also that there are menu diving, but the essential seems to be on the face/under the hand, as circuitghost write it above.

We all needs lot of drum machines :crazy_face:

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Just playing devil’s advocate here—and don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against the Roland legacy—but I might suggest that the raw sounds of the TR8 and TR8-S only seem so “legit” because of their far-reaching familiarity at this point.

I’m old enough to remember producers being laughed at by their engineers for wanting to use these sounds, citing them as being everything from too boomy to bright and anemic. To which end, a lot of scrutiny, effort, and processing was required to sell these sounds in the context of a mix. Four decades and twenty thousand songs later, however, we hear an unprocessed 808 or 909 and instantly think “Perfect!” Even worse, we start to overlook more progressive timbres, in favour of these old-hat sounds, if only by comparison or nostalgia.

Now, that’s not to say that it isn’t perfect per se; but one needs to examine that notion objectively.

Cheers!

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Not disagreeing with you. But I’m not really talking about the vanilla TR sounds in and of them selves, rather the end result of what comes out of the machines outputs. Be it TR sounds, samples or FM voices. The TR-8S has onboard distortion, filters, and compressors and a soft clipper on the output. To that end, once I have recorded the track, I find for my taste, no further processing is required.

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Yeah, I’m not getting the impression people talk so much about the actual acb-stuff when they refer to the output quality, but rather the overall result. I hear the same things about the 707, so this seems to be something Roland’s gunning for.

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Weird innit? The MC707 doesnt have ACB kits? Its all samples. Dont get that at all. Because yeah, to my ears, the ACB kits are brilliant!

Well, it’s like the Toraiz. Work it right and you’re close to Daft Punk quality, provided the source material can carry it. Most of the time, a fellow just wants things to sound properly glued and compressed with stuff being in their proper place. I can always hear this in my head but I don’t have skills to get there, so when an instrument helps me out a little, I like that. For more creative mixing and mastering, I’m glad people like Daniel Lanois show you how it’s done.

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Me before I buy the TR-8S:

“great ! this thing has many outputs, I will process the shit out of them”

Me After I play the TR-8S:

“great ! it sounds perfect and has so many good fx on board. I don’t need these separate outputs”

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Haha yeah I have the same feeling! Which is a nice and luxurous feeling :slight_smile:

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I do lust for a Sherman Filterbank for my 909 kicks though…

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Love my TR-8S, but it really comes alive if you put it through some overdrive on the way in.
just a little goes a long way!

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Right. We had a good couple of hours together, Roland, but back to the store you go. This one wasn’t for me.