Boss DR-670 newbie questions

[Wilbur Post]

Hi all,

This is my first post here. I'm primarily a guitar player, though I've done some composing on Cakewalk's Sonar products. Santa kindly gave me a Boss DR-670 Dr. Rhythm. Wow!! While I'm a proponent of RTFM and have been making progress in learning how to wrangle this box, in the interest of minimizing the banging of my noggin I was hoping I could get a few questions answered here.

1) Is it possible to program the bass pattern to accommodate chord changes, like a 12-bar I-IV-V blues pattern? All the bass factory presets I've heard just have the bass repeating a simple riff.

2) Using DR-670's Bulk Dump/Load MIDI feature, it appears that users can share custom drum configurations. If so, is there a database of user configs I can access?

3) I asked Roland Backstage if they could recommend an external drum pattern editor for Windows XP PCs, but they said that none would work with the DR-670. Dern. Is this true? I was hoping not to have rely solely on the DR-670 LCD interface.

Thanks!

[Wilbur Post]

Okay, I figured out how to program a 12-bar blues drum & bass pattern by creating separate patterns for each of the unique parts, assigned each to a key, then recorded the 12-bar blues "song" by pushing the buttons in real time.

[Zaphod B]

Hey, Wilbur -

Sorry I missed your post. I've owned a DR-670 for a couple of years new.

#1 - You've already found the answer. Each separate pattern can have a unique bass line.

#2 - Not that I know of. The user community seems to be completely uncoordinated.

#3 - LCD interface only.

By the way, I generated a notebook of all the DR-670's drum kits, with a single sheet for each kit that shows the specific instruments assigned to the keypads. I find it very useful when I'm surfing through the 64 drum kits, trying to find just the right one.

If you'd like a copy, PM me your email and I'll send it to you.

--Z

[Wilbur Post]

Thanks for the info, Z. Much appreciated!

Check your PMs.

[Zaphod B]

Nothing in my inbox so far.

[Wilbur Post]

Hmmmm. I sent you a PM about a week ago. Maybe it got lost in cyberspace? I just sent you another now. Thanks!

[Wilbur Post]

Got it! That's a really comprehensive document. Thanks again!

[Zaphod B]

You are most welcome. It took me so much time to do it, I feel like it's a waste to just keep it to myself.

I hope it's useful to you.