Reviewing the Korg KR-55 and KR-55b Retro Analogue Rhythm Machines

I have not too long ago ordered and have been using both of those the Korg KR-55 and KR-55b on some new Anjelicas Newborn tracks. I definitely savored the palms on use and retro sound of these two machines. If you are into digital, electronica, new wave, electro, synthpop, dance or pop songs in common you will adore introducing these seems to your tunes productions.

Created in (1982), the Korg KR-55b was the successor to the popular (1979) Korg KR-55. Korg ended up a single of the firms at the reducing edge of analogue engineering when every person was attempting to recreate the sound of a real drum kit. For its time it was innovative and really quick to operate. It experienced twice the allotted 48 drum programs of the KR-55 with a incredibly helpful swap for changing the swing time on some of the designs picked. However, on the KR-55 all of the patterns could use this swing perform because now the new equipment had routed the swap for accessing the new lender of 48 preset drum styles. Also, the drum patterns ended up not identical to the unique KR-55 with only a new set of 48 plans extra for very good evaluate. For some this may well be disappointing. For other folks this expanded the patterns of an or else confined preset drum pattern arrangement. Certainly, a single would require to very own both of those drum equipment to attain this.

Curiously, it could be applied as a set off gadget for other Korg synthesizers these as the Korg Delta. It had a foot peddle jack socket on the back again for plugging in a foot peddle for stopping and beginning the drum device and inserting drum fills in stay performances. The peddle came with the unique unit as conventional as I try to remember. It even had 6 knobs for controlling the drum volumes.

It was equivalent in lots of techniques to the Roland TR808 analogue drum device in conditions of its unwanted fat bass drum and electro like hi hats and snare and many others. So why did it not stand the test of time like the Roland TR808 has?

Effectively both equally drum equipment endured in the mid (1980’s) from the overriding need by artists to use the then particularly stylish digitally sampled appears from serious drum kits offered by, for instance, the Fairlight Music Personal computer.

On the other hand, what could have saved the Roland TR808 was the large use of the drum machine by the then new electro and hip-hop artists from the United states significantly from New York.

Also, much more damming to the Korg KR-55 and KR-55b was the simple fact that the drum device was preset and could not be programmed. It played in mono and experienced no different outs for each personal drum and did not have any midi implementation.

Regardless of its drawbacks, it has held a cult like position. Lots of imagine that Depeche Manner utilized the KR-55 on their very first album Communicate and Spell. To my ears I suspect this is true. Also, they are fairly unusual these times and make an interesting different to the completed to demise TR808 and with fashionable computers the appears and drumbeats can be effortlessly recorded and edited in program offers these as Cubase or Logic. You can even get retro suits to maximize the quantity of outputs the drum equipment has. They can be brought for around £150 or allows say $200-300. It is a pretty affordable value considering what you can do with it the moment you put into action it into a fashionable studio setting.