OUGD505 - Hardware Research

Akai S900/950/1000

The S900 was released in 1986 as Akai’s first professional sampler, an attempt at an affordable, market-friendly device. It offered 12-bit sampling, up to 40kHz sampling rate and a maximum of 63 seconds of sampling time. The S950 followed in 1988 with a higher sampling rate and increased memory. That same year Akai also released the S1000 with 16-bit sampling, 44.1kHz rate and up to 32MB of memory, a machine referred to by Sound on Sound as the gold standard of hardware samplers. Being rack mount units, the S samplers were arguably uglier and potentially more confusing than the MPC series, but behind their tricky facade lay a wealth of advanced editing capabilities that would prove a boon to various nascent dance music movements.

In the UK, the S950 became an integral part of jungle’s evolution from hardcore. The main driver for this was the sampler’s ability to timestretch a sample without affecting its pitch. By playing with the D-value you could effect the interpolation of the stretched sample, resulting in a sonic quality that ranged from metallic to realistic and outright bizarre. The S950’s timestretch quickly became one of jungle’s trademark sonic innovations.

Alesis-HR-16

For a long time in the 70s and 80s, drum machines remained the preserve of the relatively moneyed music-making elite (LinnDrum for $2,995 anyone?). It all changed in 1987 when Alesis unveiled the HR-16, one of its first forays into the drum machine market and the first truly low-cost digital drum machine. Overnight the playing field was levelled.

Offering an impressive 49 16-bit sampled drum and percussion sounds – including a full ‘ethnic’ set – the HR-16 was both powerful and affordable, and with sequencing duties taken care of across 100 user-programmable patterns (and 100 songs), its studio credentials couldn’t be argued with either. It was also incredibly easy to use.

Sound-wise the HR-16 is both clean, full-bodied and clear, if a bit, well… cheesy (its closely related younger sibling, the HR-16B, has a better sample set). Not that that stopped it from being embraced (and loved) by many thousands of fans and circuit benders worldwide, including Orbital, Leftfield and Autechre.

Korg - Volca Beats

The Volca’s limited feature set belies its capabilities. The kick drum section, for instance, only offers three controls – click, pitch and decay – but it can be coaxed into creating everything from booming, subby 808-style sounds all the way through to clicky, hyper-aggressive kicks which will happily turn your speakers inside out if pushed too hard. (On which note: ignore the pathetic built-in speaker – it’s no good for serious use. Hook the Volca up to your audio interface and let yourself hear the depth and range of its sounds properly.)

The Volca Beats is a great choice whether you’re a new producer in the market for your first hardware drum machine or a hardware head looking for a fresh piece of gear to inspire a few new tracks.

MicroKORG

The microKorg has 128 Programs organized into 8 categories: Trance, Techno/House, Electronica, DnB Breaks, HipHop/Vintage, Retro, SndFX/Hits, and Vocoder. The sounds are great and inspiring. There is only 4-voice polyphony and only one Program can be played at a time. 

The microKorg has two oscillators with 71 waveforms (7 simple analog waves + 64 DWGS waveforms from the DW-8000), a multi-mode resonant 12 or 24 dB/oct filter, 8-band vocoder, two ADSR envelopes, 6-pattern arpeggiator, oscillator sync, ring modulation, two MIDI-syncable LFOs, programmable multi-effects, and more. All knobs and buttons send/receive MIDI controller data. External audio can be vocoded and/or processed through the filter, effects and EQ via the included microphone or standard 1/4" stereo inputs.

BOSS - DR. RHYTHM 55

The DR-55 Dr. Rhythm was released in 1980 and was one of the first step-write-style drum machines, and it was the first rhythm machine in BOSS' successful Dr. Rhythm Series. It was small, inexpensive and easy to use - perfect for musicians at any level. Incredibly basic controls and sounds made this drum machine an instant hit among guitarists and other musicians looking for drum accompaniment to practice along with and even record into their home recordings.

The DR-55 could store up to six 16-step drum patterns plus an additional two 12-step patterns. The 12-step patterns allowed for 3/4 and 6/8 rhythms. A variation switch allowed you to, on-the-fly, alter the pattern playing. There were only four sounds in the DR-55 which included Snare Drum, Kick Drum, Rim Shot and Hi-Hat. 

The Odyssey was ARP’s answer to the Minimoog, released in 1972 and sold in various incarnations until 1981. It’s now difficult to find one on the second-hand market for less than £1,500. Essentially, this synth gives you a simplified hard-wired ARP 2600 in a much smaller and affordable package. The Odyssey is a 2-oscillator analog synth and sounds really good; the Minimoog has three oscillators and is capable of thicker sounds. The Odyssey comes well equipped with all the tweakable features: a resonant low pass filter, ADSR envelopes, sine or square wave LFO, and a sample-and-hold function. The Odyssey also added a few new features such as a high pass filter that could be used in series with the low pass, oscillator-sync capability, and pulse-width modulation. It is a very professional and expressive machine that can create nice analog basses, interesting leads, great effects and sweeping sounds straight out of a Tangerine Dream album.

EMS VCS3

It was designed to be cheap, portable and easy to program (or “patch”), and the Voltage Controlled Studio No.3 from British company EMS might have become the industry standard if it hadn’t been for Bob Moog’s tidier successor. Nicknamed ‘The Putney’ after EMS’s London location, the VCS3 was basically a modular synthesizer, but instead of patch cables, EMS had come up with a small (and notoriously fiddly) 16×16 matrix which was used to control the synthesizer’s internal routing. This was great for portability, but made the synthesizer incredibly unpredictable, as the different pins’ impedance would vary just enough that a patch would almost never sound the same twice.

Thanks to its uniqueness at the time (it was the first synthesizer that was truly available to the general public) and its very modest price point, the VCS3 was a massive success, lending EMS a market share that was set to rival competitors Moog and ARP. Sadly, after a number of bungled launches and a move from London to Oxfordshire, EMS hit an irreversible decline in the late 1970s and the failing company was sold off. In 1995 however, the rights to EMS were acquired by Robin Wood, who began building and selling VCS3s all over again, proving that the market for eerie sci-fi synthesizer sounds was a long way from drying out.

What did it sound like?

The VCS3 was weird, and it stands to reason that it ended up being such a science fiction standard. It was so quirky that most musicians couldn’t even fathom how to coax actual melodies out of it, prompting some to label it as a bulky, expensive effects unit. Those that persevered were rewarded, and the bizarre-sounding synthesizer was a bottomless treasure trove of peculiar pops, clangs and whines. The fact that you could play it with a joystick, a la Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones (the keyboard was sold separately), only added to its charm.

Delia Derbyshire was one of the most important early adopters of the EMS VCS3, using it prominently on her White Noise album An Electric Storm and even persuading the BBC to buy a few units for the Radiophonic Workshop. It’s hardly surprising, as she was a close friend of EMS founder Peter Zinovieff (they were both founder members of Unit Delta Plus, an organization dedicated to the promotion of electronic music), and the machine had been designed by occasional Doctor Who composer (and EMS co-founder) Tristram Carey.

The VCS3 even made it to rock studios, as bands like Hawkwind, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd began to experiment with electronic sounds and integrate them into their respective sounds. Hawkwind loved the shiny box so much that they named Space Ritual standout ‘Silver Machine’ after it.

SP-12 / SP-1200

A drum machine/sampler combo that succeeded E-mu’s Drumulator and was the short-lived precursor to the far more successful SP-1200, the SP-12 (it stands for ‘Sampling Percussion’ at 12 bits) combined both a classic drum machine with 24 built-in samples alongside a basic sampler offering a further eight user sounds stored in a hefty 1.2 seconds worth of memory.

The key feature that still makes the SP-12 a desirable addition to the studio is its beautifully warm, rounded lo-fi sound, yielded by its 27.5 kHz sampling engine – making it useful for downtempo, chillwave, trip-hop and deeper house productions (as well, of course, as hip hop).

More important than this was the historical precedent it set: the SP-12 was originally developed as the Drumulator II, clearly bridging the gap between traditional drum machines and the samplers which would soon knock them off their perch.

Although not around long enough to generate a huge user base, its younger and similar-sounding brother, the SP-1200, can claim fans and users among a host of electronic music luminaries from Daft Punk and the Prodigy to Todd Terry, the Beastie Boys and the Wu Tang Clan’s RZA.

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What you get with the SP-12 is a very good drum machine. Loaded with 24 crunchy 12-bit samples, the SP sounds fantastic in its own right. But let’s be honest: it’s really all about the sampling options. Throw in a bunch of drum sounds and samples, program some patterns using the basic but intuitive sequencer and you’ve got yourself an all-in-one production tool with incredible 12-bit character. The SP-12 and SP-1200 are probably best known for their use by boom-bap hip hop producers, but they also lend themselves very nicely to loop-based house and techno. As a result hey’ve been used extensively over the years by the likes of Theo Parrish, Todd Terry, Alan Braxe and Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez.

In this case we freely admit that we’re stretching the limits of our own rules, but the SP-12 deserves inclusion, even if it’s only on a technicality. Sure, it’s a decent drum machine, but it’s an amazing sampler. That’s what makes it a classic, that’s what makes it so good in the studio to this day, and that’s what means its second-hand value continues to rise.

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One of the first samplers to truly change the face of modern music was E-Mu Systems’ SP–12, which was released in 1985. Conceived as a successor to E-Mu Systems’ Drumulator, a sample-based drum machine originally intended to rival Roger Linn’s iconic LM–1, the SP–12 (Sampling Percussion at 12 bits) included 24 preset drum samples and allowed users to record their own sounds at a crunchy 27.5 kHz sampling rate. When you consider that CD-quality is 44.1 kHz at 16 bit, it’s easy to imagine the “dusty” character that came to characterize the SP–12.

The 1200 was one of the first samplers to offer producers, the would-be musicians of a new era, an all-in-one box in which they could create entire tracks. Limitation drives innovation, and the SP series’ weaknesses – scratchy, lo-fi sounds; short sampling time – became strengths. The machine’s easily-identifiable sound became synonymous with much of New York City’s musical output from 1987 onwards.

Beyond its sound and the classics it helped create, the legacy of the SP series is that it helped usher in a new era of digital sampling. Musicians were free to take the idea and potentials of sampling in a multitude of different directions.

 

Roland - JUNO-106

There are countless reasons why the Juno-106 remains a staple of so many dance producers’ studios. It’s a wonderful analogue all-rounder with an intuitive editing system, flexible synth architecture and a truly classic sound. If you can stretch to this level of investment in a first vintage synth, it’s our recommended option by quite some distance.

When the Juno series was introduced in 1982, it was pitched as a new budget line for Roland, undercutting the flagship Jupiter range by a huge margin. Its more basic synth architecture centred around a digitally controlled analogue oscillator (DCO) per voice, feeding into 24dB/oct resonant filters, all based on proprietary voice chips. The setup is very simple – in the case of the 106 you have pulse and sawtooth waves plus a square wave sub, noise source, LFO, high-pass filter and VCF, with one envelope generator to control the VCF and/or VCA.

Korg Triron

The Korg Triton is a 90s favourite with the potential to turn into a modern classic over the next few years. Unlike the older M1, the Triton isn’t particularly trendy at the moment, but it’s already made a mark on a few genres. It’s a staple of classic grime, used extensively by Wiley and Jammer (load up the ‘Gliding Squares’ or ‘AMS Feedback Lead’ presets and you’ll immediately be in eski territory). You definitely heard it on countless 90s pop hits. But maybe most famously of all, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo raided the Triton’s presets on a regular basis for their early Neptunes productions. Those amazing drums on ‘Grindin”? Triton presets. ‘Nothin”? Triton presets. ‘Milkshake’? Triton presets.

Mini Moog

the Minimoog is considered the very first synthesizer for musicians! Compact, affordable, simplified and based on the megalithic modular Moog synths, the Minimoog became the most popular synth of all time, and still is to this day. Prior to the Minimoog, synthesizers were custom built to order, and required a great deal of technical knowledge to be able to wire up and create a sound. The Minimoog changed all that by hard-wiring the most basic but essential of components into a compact keyboard any musician could not only play, but dial up some great sounds on. Thus, the Minimoog was the first synthesizer to show up on the shelves of music stores around the world.

MPC 60 / 3000

The MPC 60 launched in 1988 as an all-in-one sampling workstation, followed by the MPC 60-II in 1991. However it was the machine’s next jump, in 1994, that would seal its place in history. The MPC 3000 offered 16-bit, 44.1kHz sampling, vastly increased memory (up to 32MB) and a set of effects and filters. Over the years Akai released additional iterations of the machine including the 2000, 2000XL, 4000, 2500, 1000, 500 and 5000, making it one of the longest running and most comprehensive lines of drum machine samplers. This was largely thanks to the machine’s use in hip-hop and dance music, where it gained cult status throughout the 1990s. In 2012 the MPC series was rebooted with the Renaissance, a sadly sub-par attempt at wresting control back from the likes of Native Instrument’s Maschine, which had arguably superseded the MPC series as the pad-driven sampler of choice for a new generation

Oberheim Matrix 1000

Rack mounted synths are notoriously undervalued in comparison to their keyboard counterparts. At heart the Matrix 1000 is very similar to the excellent Matrix 6 keyboard: two DCOs per voice, fully analogue signal path and extensive modulation routing options.

While the Matrix 6 and the rack mounted 6R use a button-based editing system, the 1000 doesn’t offer any editing options via the front panel. Instead, it comes pre-loaded with 1,000 presets. But don’t think it’s just a preset box; the 1000 can also be edited remotely via MIDI. Program it using a cheap MIDI controller, a software editor, or Lemur on an iPad and you’ve got yourself one of the biggest bargains around.

The modulation capabilities of the Matrix synth architecture ensure that the 1000 excels at pads, strings and textures. Beyond that, it’s more than capable of great basses and leads. It’s got a distinctly bold Oberheim character coupled with that clean, precise 80s analogue sound. Even before you start editing your own sounds, you’re sure to find plenty of useful patches among the excellent selection of presets.

Tascam 488

The TASCAM 488 MkII is an eight-track ordinary-cassette-based "studio-in-a-box", with integral mixer section, computer-controlled tape transport, and lots more. Don't confuse it with anything having to do with the old 8-track tapes that people used to put in their cars in the 1970s...this is a sophisticated piece of equipment, but easy enough for beginners to use, after a bit of practice. Because of the recent introduction of digital multitracks, the street price of the 488 has dropped to less than $800.

Roland TB-303

The TB-303 is the sound of acid and techno house music. It's a monophonic analog bass synthesizer married to a pattern-based step sequencer released in 1982. It features a single analog oscillator with two waveforms (ramp or square) and has a simple but excellent VCF (filter) with resonance, cut-off, and envelope controls. There are also knobs to adjust tuning, envelope decay, tempo and accent amount. The TB-303 has become one of the most sought after vintage synths ever! It has helped develop and stylize many forms of electronic music including House, Acid, Trance and Ambient. If ever there was a need for a repetitive bassline/groove or an extremely resonant and bubbly sound, the 303 is King. Truly a unique machine with a very identifiable sound.

Tempest

The Tempest combines the best parts of both its designers’ strengths. From Smith, we get an incredible sound engine unlike anything seen in a drum machine before. Rather than providing one synth voice specifically designed for kick drums, one for snares, one for claps and so on, the Tempest’s voices are all identical. That means they all have to be incredibly versatile, which they are thanks to a unique synth architecture designed from the ground up for the Tempest.

From Linn, we get a sequencer which displays all the hallmarks of his work, most notably a focus on musicality above all else.

Combine the two and we get an instrument which redefines the limits of a drum machine, from its ribbon controllers and inconceivably deep sound design options through to neat touches like its built-in distortion and compressor circuits.

The Tempest sets a new benchmark for what an analogue drum machine can achieve in the 21st century. It’s not cheap, but the price is fair when you consider the level of engineering and development which goes into creating a unit this capable.

Roland TR-808

In the 80s producers saw a cheap and relatively intuitive means of generating beats, and more specifically, a bass drum that could easily fill out the lower end of a mix, as well as tight hats, crispy claps, snappy snares and an unmistakably honky cowbell. The rest is history.

In the dance music world, the appeal of the 808 – other than that kick drum, which is still layered with other drum samples to craft bass drums that tickle exactly the right low-end frequencies – was its ability to program 12 different 32-step patterns, making it a serious compositional tool. Never mind the fact that it offered no MIDI control, no swing and very few adjustable sound parameters; the 808 played a key role in the development of electro, early techno and house, then went on to appear in virtually every style of dance music since.

So ubiquitous is its use among dance music’s elite that again it’s almost easier to list those who haven’t used the 808 than those who have. It’s no exaggeration to say that the history of hip hop and dance music would have been very different – and considerably more lightweight – without Roland’s colourful ‘rhythm composer’.

Roland TR-909

The 909 was launched three years after its 808 forebear, changing the game slightly by offering a part-analogue, part-sample-based sound generation hybrid. As with the 808, the 909 sounded a long way from the more realistic alternatives from Linn and Oberheim that had all but secured the upper ends of the drum machine market.

The fact that second-hand 909 prices plummeted when Roland released the sample-based TR-707 helped it become a mainstay of early dance music. When techno and house pioneers got their hands on the machine, its analogue sounds – which, in the bass end particularly, provided the relevant thump – kickstarted a generation of 909-heavy rhythm tracks.

The simple step sequencer was ideal for four-to-the-floor beats, and its abilities to save a number of patterns made the box ideal for full-track studio work as well as live duties. Add to that its swing control and basic MIDI capabilities and it became a flexible beast for its time.

Yamaha DX-100

With its lightweight plastic case, miniature keys and battery slot for portability, the DX100 might look like a bit of a toy, but its sound is a different matter altogether.

In addition to featuring the legendary Solid Bass preset, being the synth of choice for talkbox legend Roger Troutman and being responsible for perhaps the greatest TV synth advert of all time, the DX100 is a Detroit techno classic. Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson all used the synth extensively.

The DX100 specialises in similar sounds to its big brother: cold, digital chords; hard, aggressive basses; metallic stabs, plucks and bells. Yes, editing it’s a bit of a pain, but that’s true of all FM synths.

Many would argue that Native Instruments’ FM8 plugin makes the DX synths redundant. They’d be wrong. Test them side by side and you’ll hear that the lo-fi 80s DA conversion and analogue output stage of the hardware give it a unique character which nothing else can quite match. Every dance music producer should try a DX at some point. The 100 is a true classic at a bargain price.

Yamaha DX-7

One of the most popular digital synths ever was the DX7 from Yamaha, released in 1983. It featured a whole new type of synthesis called FM (Frequency Modulation). It certainly is not analog and it is difficult to program but can result in some excellent sounds! It is difficult because it is non-analog and thus, a whole new set of parameters are available for tweaking, many of which seemed counter-intuitive and unfamiliar. And programming had to be accomplished via membrane buttons, one data slider and a small LCD screen.

Still the sounds it shipped with and that many users did manage to create were more complex and unique than anything before it. Percussive and metallic but thick as analog at times, the DX7 was known for generating unique sounds still popular to this day. The DX7 was also a truly affordable programmable synth when it was first released. Almost every keyboardist bought one at the time making the DX7 one of the best selling synths of all time!