Vintage drum machines: Rhythm Ace, CR-78, Linn 9000 and Simmons

Preset rhythm boxes: the Rhythm Ace

In the 1960s drum machines mostly accompanied home organs. They offered preset patterns such as bossa nova or waltz; the player could choose and combine them but not write new ones. The Japanese company Ace Tone, founded in 1960 and an early forerunner of Roland (both were started by the same founder), was central to this era.

• R1 Rhythm Ace (1964): a transistor percussion unit to fit below an organ's manuals, with six buttons played by hand. It was shown at that year's NAMM Show but, with no automatic accompaniment, did not sell.
• Rhythm Ace FR-1 (1967): automatic rhythms at a variable tempo, generated by a diode matrix. Pressing several rhythm buttons at once combined patterns into more than a hundred variations; later models added volume controls for each instrument. It was a commercial success and led to a partnership with the Hammond Organ Company, which added Ace Tone rhythm units to its range.
• Other names: in the US the units were also sold under the Multivox brand, and in the UK as the Bentley Rhythm Ace. In November 1972 an album was recorded with all its percussion played by a Bentley Rhythm Ace — the first album made that way.

Programmable machines arrived in the 1970s: Eko's ComputeRhythm (1972) and the PAiA Programmable Drum Set (1975, sold as a kit) were among the first, and Ace Tone's Rhythm Producer FR-15 (1975) let users modify its preset patterns.

Roland CR-78 (1978): the first with a microprocessor

Microprocessors were appearing in instruments such as Roland's MC-8 MicroComposer sequencer, and Roland realised they could program drum machines too. The CompuRhythm CR-78 was the first drum machine to use a microprocessor and the first with which users could write, save and replay their own patterns, with four memories for user patterns. At first it attracted little attention; it later became a favourite of new wave musicians.

Its clock output could drive other gear — the Jupiter-4's arpeggiator, for example. Roland followed it with the TR-808 (1980), an analog machine of which about 12,000 were built, and the TR-909 (1983), Roland's first drum machine with MIDI.

Real drums on chips: the Linn LM-1

The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer (1980, US$4,995) was the first commercially released drum machine to use digital samples of real drums. Its sounds are 8-bit recordings at 28 kHz played from 12 hard plastic pads, each sound with its own level, pan, tuning and output; it stores 100 patterns and syncs to tape or an external clock, as it predates MIDI. Many of its drum sounds were built from two chips triggered together. A cheaper LinnDrum followed in 1982, with swappable sound chips, and Oberheim's DMX added sampled sounds and a swing feature like Linn's.

Linn 9000 (1984): pads, sequencer and sampling

The Linn 9000 combined a MIDI sequencer, optional sampling and 18 large velocity- and pressure-sensitive rubber pads in one instrument optimised as a drum machine. It listed at US$5,000 (US$7,000 fully expanded) and about 1,100 were made. It was the first drum machine with a built-in MIDI sequencer, custom sounds, optional sampling and floppy drive, and an LCD.

Its operating system was riddled with bugs: the machine often locked up and lost data, and fixing it was limited by the memory layout of its Intel 8088 processor. The problems contributed to Linn Electronics closing in 1986. Forat Music and Electronics bought the remaining assets, fixed the software, added features and sold the machine as the Forat F9000 from 1987. Its design was drawn on heavily for the Akai MPC60 of 1988, whose rubber pads followed the same idea.

Simmons: hexagonal electronic drums

Simmons, a British company founded in 1978, made electronic drum kits from 1980 to 1998. Its SDSV of 1981 is regarded as the first fully electronic drum set and the first viable electronic replacement for acoustic drums. Its hexagonal pads, inspired by a honeycomb, became an icon of the 1980s.

• The brain: a rack-mountable unit with modules for bass drum, snare and three toms, plus two spare slots for cymbal, hi-hat or extra tom modules. Each module has controls for noise level, tone level, bend, decay, noise tone (a simple filter) and click, which adds attack from the pad impact, and four adjustable presets.
• The pads: the first heads were solid polycarbonate, chosen for durability, but their lack of give hurt drummers' wrists; Simmons soon switched to softer rubber surfaces.
• Connections: balanced XLR outputs. The pad inputs are also XLR but wired unconventionally (the manual gives pin 2 as hot), so use Simmons cables or follow the manual. Each module also has a quarter-inch trigger input.

The company closed in 1999. The brand was later bought by a US retailer, which sold unrelated budget kits under the Simmons name; from 2017 kit design returned in-house with the brand's original founder.

Vintage drum machines on a session

1. Find out how it syncs. Preset boxes have only a tempo knob; the LM-1 syncs to tape or a clock; the CR-78 has a clock output; the Linn 9000 and later machines have MIDI.
2. Record each sound separately. Machines with individual outputs, such as the LM-1 and Linn 9000, let every drum be recorded and processed on its own track.
3. Save patterns before you start. User patterns live in small memories; use the cassette interface or disk where the machine has one.
4. Use the right cables for Simmons. The unusual pad wiring means a standard microphone cable may not work for the inputs.