Roland TR-707 Rhythm Composer (1985)

(c) 2014 vintage gear demo by RetroSound

The sample based Roland TR-707 from the year 1985 was my first drummachine and I really love the crisp 8bit sound.

- 15 sounds (kick 1, kick 2, snare 1, snare 2, low tom, mid tom, high tom, rim-shot, cow bell, hand clap, tambourine, open and closed high-hat, crash/ ride cymbals)

- 64 pattern

TR-707 review written by me for the german amazona music magazine:

[retrosound]

Vintage Drum Machines playlist with sound demo vids, programming vids and a lot more.

[electroteck]

An amazing toy... I want a 707 or a 808, so legendary drum machines !

[gcoudert]

It is a great machine. The French studio I used to record demos in back in the late 80s had one. If I remember rightly, we used it to record an FSK sync track to the analogue 16-track tape machine and we would record the various sequenced parts from my Roland U110 module in several passes onto separate tracks. We never used it for drums as it sounded dated at the time! Hearing it now, I wish I had bought one.

[soundwave]

Man you are awesome I swear you bring me back to my younger days this machine was it back in the day I'm kind of upset I got rid of it.. Awesome video great feels These machines were so popular with dance music

[crlgroup]

Sehr feines und aufgeräumtes Design bei der 707. TOP!

[DD]

I bought one of these brand new in 1986 it was like 695.00 bucks! rocked it with 2 technics 1200 turntables! what you know about that? years later found one in a pawn shop window just thrown in a pile of old gear, maybe 50.00. It sound like 50 bucks now too. ha

[jonnyj]

Great programming and jam skills there with the TR (y) not many can make a drum machine jam like that ;-)

[rolandgerard]

Thanks again RetroSound... Great gear, sounds quite realistic actually

[kvfive]

Always loved the 'Shift key press then the toms' that doubled tom sound :)

[Guitaroverkill]

Funny thing is, back in the 80s this sold for like $200. No one wanted it after the newer models came out.

[ebookpioneers]

I also had the earlier 606 (pretty bad sounding), but the 707 was the first truly good sounding drum machine I owned or heard. It had one fatal flaw though. There was no way to turn off the quantisation. Every note had to be RIGHT ON THE BEAT. That ruined it for jazz or anything that swung. The heart and soul of music is between the beats. Later I got an Alesis HR-16, and my problems were solved. Boy that Alesis was a great drum machine. It could do most anything.

[Soundfactory]

oh yeah - i, ve seen this machine in my own Hands, 20 years ago, a Little bit tricky programming, but even more typical 80, s sounds, we are now missing ;-)

[RobertoGinsburg]

Is like the sounds of Drumulator w "Clap" from TR-808

[xan]

Sounds so similar to the MT-32 and the D series. Some of the samples are exactly the same even.

[jaggass]

It can come close to sounding like a DMX at times.

[FeonaLeeJones]

if one cannot afford a 707 or 808...what would the next option be ? besides utilizing sample libraries on a daw had a rhythm ace years ago and so regret selling it !

[Yagga]

Is there a way to change the pitch in the snare? Or is it in the 727? Cuz old school dancehall beats have that 707 snare tuned. I dunno. I could be wrong. But point if i am tho. :)

[palenoise]

Can I use any 12v 1A power supply for the 707 or do I risk burning it?

[afistofrap]

I had the Tr707 too, It always loos the midi clock sync after a while makes it almust unusuable. The sound is punch got a bit borring after while

[scootergreen]

That's funny. Roland had this good sounding drum machine in 1985. In the 2000s when they merged with BOSS they became worse!