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The Bare Minimum Beats: Panasonic's RD-9844 Rhythm Machine
Recently I’ve had a bit of a fascination with rhythm machines. Not the computerized digital ones like that built into my old Yamaha organ, but fully analog o...
For the most part, pre-microcontroller analog drum machines, even very nice ones like the Roland TR-77, were limited to preset rhythm patterns. In fact, the earliest drum machines recognizable as such, like the Wurlitzer Sideman, used a mechanical rotating disk to trigger each step in their patterns. (Used by Jean-Michel Jarre in Oxygène, among others) I got this for my organ playing, but if people are interested, it might be worth taking a look how a higher-cost machine solved the same problems.
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