| I've recently purchased and have been using both the | | | | It was comparable in many ways to the Roland |
| Korg KR-55 and KR-55b on some new Anjelicas | | | | TR808 analogue drum machine in terms of its fat bass |
| Baby tracks. I really enjoyed the hands on use and | | | | drum and electro like hi hats and snare etc. So why did |
| retro sound of these two machines. If you are into | | | | it not stand the test of time like the Roland TR808 |
| electronic, electronica, new wave, electro, synthpop, | | | | has? |
| dance or pop music in general you will love adding | | | | Well both drum machines suffered in the mid (1980's) |
| these sounds to your music productions. | | | | from the overriding desire by artists to use the then |
| Made in (1982), the Korg KR-55b was the successor | | | | extremely fashionable digitally sampled sounds from |
| to the popular (1979) Korg KR-55. Korg were one of | | | | real drum kits offered by, for example, the Fairlight |
| the companies at the cutting edge of analogue | | | | Music Computer. |
| technology when everyone was attempting to | | | | However, what may have saved the Roland TR808 |
| recreate the sound of a real drum kit. For its time it | | | | was the heavy use of the drum machine by the then |
| was revolutionary and very easy to operate. It had | | | | new electro and hip-hop artists from the USA |
| twice the allotted 48 drum programs of the KR-55 | | | | particularly from New York. |
| with a very handy switch for changing the swing time | | | | Also, more damming to the Korg KR-55 and KR-55b |
| on some of the patterns selected. However, on the | | | | was the fact that the drum machine was preset and |
| KR-55 all of the patterns could use this swing function | | | | could not be programmed. It played in mono and had |
| since now the new machine had routed the switch for | | | | no separate outs for each individual drum and did not |
| accessing the new bank of 48 preset drum patterns. | | | | have any midi implementation. |
| Also, the drum patterns were not identical to the | | | | Despite its drawbacks, it has held a cult like status. |
| original KR-55 with simply a new set of 48 programs | | | | Many believe that Depeche Mode used the KR-55 on |
| added for good measure. For some this might be | | | | their first album Speak and Spell. To my ears I suspect |
| disappointing. For others this expanded the patterns of | | | | this is true. Also, they are quite rare these days and |
| an otherwise limited preset drum pattern arrangement. | | | | make an interesting alternative to the done to death |
| Obviously, one would need to own both drum | | | | TR808 and with modern computers the sounds and |
| machines to achieve this. | | | | drumbeats can be easily recorded and edited in |
| Interestingly, it could be used as a trigger device for | | | | software packages such as Cubase or Logic. You |
| other Korg synthesizers such as the Korg Delta. It had | | | | can even get retro fits to increase the amount of |
| a foot peddle jack socket on the back for plugging in a | | | | outputs the drum machine has. They can be brought |
| foot peddle for stopping and starting the drum machine | | | | for around £150 or lets say $200-300. It is a |
| and inserting drum fills in live performances. The peddle | | | | pretty cheap price considering what you can do with it |
| came with the original unit as standard as I remember. | | | | once you implement it into a modern studio setting. |
| It even had six knobs for controlling the drum volumes. | | | | |