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

I’ve just lately acquired and have been using the two the Korg KR-55 and KR-55b on some new Anjelicas Baby tracks. I actually liked the arms on use and retro sound of these two equipment. If you are into electronic, electronica, new wave, electro, synthpop, dance or pop audio in normal you will love including these sounds to your new music productions.

Created in (1982), the Korg KR-55b was the successor to the popular (1979) Korg KR-55. Korg were being one particular of the businesses at the chopping edge of analogue technology when every person was trying to recreate the seem of a authentic drum package. For its time it was groundbreaking and extremely uncomplicated to work. It had twice the allotted 48 drum applications of the KR-55 with a incredibly handy swap for modifying the swing time on some of the patterns picked. On the other hand, on the KR-55 all of the designs could use this swing operate considering the fact that now the new equipment had routed the swap for accessing the new bank of 48 preset drum styles. Also, the drum designs have been not identical to the original KR-55 with only a new set of 48 packages extra for good measure. For some this could possibly be disappointing. For many others this expanded the patterns of an otherwise minimal preset drum pattern arrangement. Certainly, one would have to have to very own both drum devices to reach this.

Curiously, it could be made use of as a bring about unit for other Korg synthesizers this kind of as the Korg Delta. It experienced a foot peddle jack socket on the again for plugging in a foot peddle for halting and setting up the drum device and inserting drum fills in reside performances. The peddle arrived with the first device as conventional as I don’t forget. It even experienced six knobs for controlling the drum volumes.

It was similar in many means to the Roland TR808 analogue drum device in terms of its extra fat bass drum and electro like hello hats and snare etc. So why did it not stand the take a look at of time like the Roland TR808 has?

Nicely both equally drum devices endured in the mid (1980’s) from the overriding want by artists to use the then particularly stylish digitally sampled sounds from genuine drum kits available by, for illustration, the Fairlight New music Pc.

However, what could have saved the Roland TR808 was the weighty use of the drum equipment by the then new electro and hip-hop artists from the United states especially from New York.

Also, additional damming to the Korg KR-55 and KR-55b was the reality that the drum machine was preset and could not be programmed. It performed in mono and had no independent outs for just about every particular person drum and did not have any midi implementation.

Despite its negatives, it has held a cult like status. Many consider that Depeche Mode applied the KR-55 on their first album Communicate and Spell. To my ears I suspect this is legitimate. Also, they are really unusual these days and make an exciting option to the carried out to death TR808 and with modern-day computers the seems and drumbeats can be effortlessly recorded and edited in software offers these as Cubase or Logic. You can even get retro fits to increase the volume of outputs the drum equipment has. They can be brought for all over £150 or lets say $200-300. It is a very inexpensive price tag thinking about what you can do with it after you put into practice it into a fashionable studio environment.