BOSS DR-550 questions

Pinky

and The Brain...
Well, like, I have tons of questions. Does anyone know of a site or document with the shortcuts/tricks to using this particular drum machine?

No, I bought it used, so I don't have a manual !! :p
 
detuned6 said:
Check out the roland site you can buy the manuel for $15.

Thanks, but i couldn't find it... any linkage??? :(

I was secretly hoping someone might have a PDF or text of the manual, or even a copy cheap (I only spent $25 for this used, $15 is 60% of it's value!! lol ).
 
I Don't know about any tips and tricks, but I can help you out if you have any specific questions, like the basics of using it. It's a really simple machine without a lot of functions. $25 bucks, I got ripped when I bought a used one, I think I paid almost $90
 
Torpid-x said:
I Don't know about any tips and tricks, but I can help you out if you have any specific questions, like the basics of using it. It's a really simple machine without a lot of functions. $25 bucks, I got ripped when I bought a used one, I think I paid almost $90

It's prolly only worth $25, the pads have been used a lot (they are not as sensitive as it is when it's new). I will take you up on your offer in a few weeks when I'm working on my next project which will involved this drum machine... thanks :)

I was looking for info before then, but it's okay if I have to learn as I go, I do that most of the time anyway :p
 
Lesson 1 - The Sound Banks

This is the reason I have this machine. when writing a pattern, you have access to 48 pre programmed sounds at all times, other machines (at least in the price range) ussually make you build sets of 12 sounds and limits you to those sounds in the pattern your writing, This machine stores them in 4 sets of 12 sounds called banks A,B,C,D.

In the upper right corner of the display you'll see a box that says pad bank. press a sound pad 4, you should hear a kick sound. Now, press the button that says bank on it, notice the pad bank display changed, hit sound pad 4 again, you'll hear a different sound, maybe a different kick, maybe a totally different sound.

Knowing this isn't really a lesson, but you have to remember it, it WILL be on the test.

Stay tuned for Lesson 2 - Editing Sound Parameters.
 
Lesson 2 - Editing Sound Parameters

OK, each sound pad has 6 parameters you use to customise your kit.

1. ASGn - Assign - The actual sound that a pad is assigned, i.e. kick 1, snare 3, etc..
2. COLr - Color - Canges the timbre and pitch of the sound somewhat.
3. DCAY - Decay - The length of the sound.
4. TYPE - Type - I'll get to that a little later.
5. ACC - Accent - Allows you to make a sound louder or softer. This feature will be explained better in Lesson 3 - Pattern Writing.
6. PAN - Pan - Sterio left or right obviously

To access these settings, hold down the shift button and press sound pad 7. By pressing the shift button you can see which parameter your on in the lower right box in the display, release the shift button to see the value assigned to the parameters. i.e. kick 1, snare 3, etc..

To change the value, use the buttons with the +1 and -1 printed on them.

To change the parameter your setting, hold the shift button and use the buttons with the +1 and -1 printed on them.

The TYPE value has 3 settings.
1. MONO - when you hit the same sound pad a couple times in a row, close together, the decay of a sound gets cut off when the next hit starts.
2. POLY - when you hit the same sound pad a couple times in a row, close together, the decay of a sound overlaps the sound before it, mostly noticable with cymbols.
3. EXC1 and EXC2 - use these for hi-hats or to stop a cymbol.
EXE1 - When 2 or more sound pads are assigned to EXC1, one sound stops the others decay when hit (and the pad is in mono mode).
EXC2 - does the same thing. When 2 or more sound pads are assigned to EXC2, one sound stops the others decay when hit.

The 7th parameter - level. you can access this at anytime, while setting the pads, programming or listening to the playback of a pattern. press the level button... then the sound pad you want adjust. To change the value, use the buttons with the +1 and -1 printed on them.


play around with the settings. remember to press the bank button to change to banks a,b,c and d.

personal tips:
Forget about what the sound pads say on them.

Use bank A for 4 kick variations, 4 snare variation, 4 crash variations, wheather they are totally different or just variations of the same sound.

Use bank B for hat, ride, and ride bell. the more variations the better.

Use bank C for toms.

Use bank D for any other sounds you want to use.

keep a notepad handy to keep track of your settings, you may loose the settings accidently if your batteries die. usually you won't, but it has happened to me.

and ... changing the sound of a pad effects all patterns using that pad, this is why I explained how to make your kit first. The preset patterns will not be effected by your changes.


Stay Tuned for lesson 3 - Pattern Writing.
 
WOW!

Thanks! This is going to get me going very nicely :D

I'll report back with my results once I have a chance to try using the banks ;)

(I sent myself a text file of this via email already)
 
Glad to help. It's getting harder and harder to find a thread that I can actually help someone with. Untill you start writing pattern, don't worry about trying to get the sounds perfect, you'll have to tweak them while listening to the playback of a pattern. just set up your basic sounds and rough decays, colors and levels.

btw, which verion do you have? the original says Dr Rythem DR-550 in blue, the MK2 in red. same thing just more sounds in the MK2.

Now to think of the easiest way to explain pattern writing.
 
Lesson 3 - Pattern Writing

OK then... I'll Cover the basics of writing a pattern and deleting mistakes. This machine is very limited with a maximum of 16 beats per pattern. you can use less, but not more.

To enter pattern writing mode, hold the shift button and press sound pad 6.

To select the pattern you want to edit, use the small numbered buttons. enter a number 11-18, 21-28 etc... thru 88

First thing is to delete anything that may be in the pattern, while holding the shift button, press the small button #3
AND while still holding the shift button press ACC.
the pattern is now clear.

Real Time editing
This machine has a built in metronome called click, you'll probably want to turn it up if you're going to try tapping in a beat. to do this,
While holding the shift button press the level button
AND while still holding the shift button use the buttons with the +1 and -1 printed on them to raise or lower the click.

Press start, you'll hear the click with an accent on the first tick.
select your sound bank a,b,c or d.
start tapping.

when the pattern cycles through, you'll hear the sounds you entered. Turn the click back down when you don't need it.

Manual Editing
To manually enter sounds (the practical way to use this machine) :
The 16 little boxes with the arrows on top shows your position in the pattern 1-16, the blinky dot is the curser. the arrows mark the beats.

With the machine stopped and in pattern writing mode, use the buttons with the +1 and -1 printed on them to move the curser to the position you want.
select your sound bank a,b,c or d.
enter the sound you want in that position.

The curser moves foward when you enter a sound, if you want to add another sound in the same position, use the button with the -1 printed on it to move the curser back. select your sound bank a,b,c or d. enter the sound you want in that position. I think you can enter 4 (maybe more) sounds in a position.

Deleting Mistakes
This machine only allows you to delete by the sound pad, or the whole pattern. You cant delete a single sound in a single position. If you have 5 hits from sound pad 2, and want to remove 1, you'll loose all 5.

I already covered clearing a pattern, to clear a sound pad:
while holding the shift button, press the small button #3
AND while still holding the shift button press the sound pad you want to remove
AND while still holding the shift button, press ACC
That's it, re-enter the good beats.

Accents
An accent is simply a strong beat. louder than the others. usually placed on the beats.

The sound editing parameter from lesson 2 ACC sets the level (strength) of the accent on a sound, Accents can also be used to lower the sound or be set at 0 for no effect, depending on how you set the machine up. using accents takes a lot of planning and trial and error.

You can put an accent in any position in your pattern by placing the curser in the position (1-16) you want in the pattern and pressing the the ACC button.

WARNING - once an accent has been placed, it can't be deleted without deleting the whole pattern.

Limit - The accent effects all sounds in that position (1-16) in the pattern, your best bet is to start with all sounds defaulted to 0 in the accent parameter (lesson 2), then mix in the accents on the sounds you want. remember that any changes made to sound parameters effects all patterns using that sound.

pro, you can use the accent on all positions in the pattern to raise the overall volume, if you don't want to use it for expression.

You can now edit sound parameters while listening to the pattern you wrote. Just enter pad edit mode (Shift+sound pad 7) and press start, you'll hear the pattern.


Well, I'm getting tired now, If you have any questions on something you cant understand, just ask. There's some more writing features I'll get to later.

Stay tuned for Lesson 4 - Song Assembly
 
Torpid-x said:
Glad to help. It's getting harder and harder to find a thread that I can actually help someone with. Untill you start writing pattern, don't worry about trying to get the sounds perfect, you'll have to tweak them while listening to the playback of a pattern. just set up your basic sounds and rough decays, colors and levels.

btw, which verion do you have? the original says Dr Rythem DR-550 in blue, the MK2 in red. same thing just more sounds in the MK2.

Now to think of the easiest way to explain pattern writing.

It a standard blue Dr. Rhythm

I have yet to try anything, but I'm keeping a running text file of all these directions to printout and learn this weekend and next week while on vacation (it's all I have planened, sit home and record for 10 days ;) ).
 
Lesson 4 - Song Assembly

Ok, Back again. This time I'll cover the basics of assembling patterns into songs and playback of songs

Preset and User Patterns
The first thing to know is how to switch between user and preset patterns. To do this,
1. Hold the shift button and press the #5 soundpad to enter pattern playback mode.
2.Hold the shift button and press the bank button to toggle between the preset and user patterns. You'll see an A or B next to the pattern number in the display window. A patterns are user patterns, B patterns are presets.

Assembling a Simple Song
In this example I'll sow you how to assemble a simple song using 2 of the preset patterns.

To enter Song Edit mode, hold the shift button and press the #2 Soundpad
AND while still holding the shift button use one of the small numbered buttons to select the number of the song (1-8) that you want to edit. (select 8, it should be empty)

The bottom boxes in the display window now show (from Left to right):
1. The song your editing - Repeat the previous step to change song number.
2. The measure you are on - each song can have up to 160 measures.
3. The pattern that is currently in the measure. If the measure (or song) is empty, the default pattern will be A11.

Empty the song.
since you bought the machine used, there is the possibillity that all 8 songs are full. To empty the song:
Hold the shift button and press the small #3 button (Clear)
AND while still holding the shift button, press ACC.
That's it, the song is cleared.

Now then, this is just a simple song using presets:
1. Change from the default pattern A11, to B11 using Shift+bank.
2. Press ACC (enter)

the measure will change to 2 and the default pattern (A11) will show again.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 two times. so your song is 3 measures long, all B11.

You should be on measure 4, looking at pattern A11 again. Time to add a fill.

4. Use Shift+Bank again to change to b11.

5. Use the small numbered buttons to enter 12. (B12 is a fill)

6. Press ACC.

You now have a simple 4 bar song with a fill on 4.

Song Playback
Enter song playback mode by using Shift+Soundpad 1.

Press start or Stop/cont (Stop/cont starts the song at the spot you stopped it, start starts from the beginning)

To start on a specific measure in a song (useful for long songs), use the +1 and -1 buttons to select the measure, Press Stop/Cont to start at that measure (pressing start will just start at the beginning again).

To make the song loop infinately
Hold the Shift button and press small numbered button 6 (repeat)
AND while still holding the shift button, use the +1 and -1 buttons to toggle repeat on and off.

To change the tempo of a song
Press the tempo button and use the +1 and -1 buttons to change the tempo. press tempo again to see the current pattern number or to set the starting measure.

There's a little more on this subject, but that should get you started.

Stay tuned for Lesson 5 - More Pattern Writing Features.
 
Thanks again! :)

I just printed the instructions out and will be tinkering in the next 24-48 hours.
 
Pinky said:
Thanks again! :)

I just printed the instructions out and will be tinkering in the next 24-48 hours.

Just to let you know, I have yet to get any music done. I am thinking about bringing in a non-musically trained friend to play in Acid (downloaded the Boss and Korg machine wave files) and see if we can at least some basic stuff done, and use what you've explained here to possible create some more organic/fluid rolls, etc... I must admit that using Acid Pro is very easy and versatile, these old drum machines really lack in a lot of the PC software features, but come in handy in countless other ways ;).

Thanks again!!
 
Ah, The boards working again.

Yeah, all I use my external drum machines for is pull a couple samples and use them for sound fonts. I use piano roll software to program songs.

I dont know how good acid will be for individual samples though. I never did more than try out the demo for it, but it seems like its mainly for loops. I'd suggest cakewalk or cubase or something for creating drum parts from samples.

You might want to use the machine for portability, even though it is rythmically weak. The fact that it runs on batteries makes it useful for traveling, sort of a fancy metronome on the go. :)

if you still want the rest of the instructions let me know. you can get a couple more time signatures out of it.
 
Torpid-x said:

if you still want the rest of the instructions let me know. you can get a couple more time signatures out of it.

Absolutely! I'm just not using to create ALL my beats, but learning how to use it is a must!

Also, Acid is awesome for using samples, I actually find looping boring for the music I produce, and have only used drum loops a few times... all the drumming for the songs I've produced lately have been produced using Acid 2.0 and Pro 3.0
 
Lesson 5 - More Pattern Writing Features

In this lesson I'll cover time signature changing. Theres a couple parts. You can write patterns using 2/4 to increase your fills to 32 hits, using 2 patterns, within the songs tempo. You can write in 3/4 for triplet feel, and 3/2 to double fills resolution at the same tempo.

Enter pattern writing mode (shift + sound pad 6)

The Scale Button and 2/4 Time:

To change a pattern to 2/4, hold the shift button and press the small button #7 (Scale)
AND while still holding the shift button use the button with the -1 printed on it 2 times, to change the scale to 2/4.

Look at the arrows in the display, above the grid, you'll see there are only 2 arrows now. They mark the beats at the current tempo. You can now use the increased resolution by writing 2 - 2/4 patterns, or just use a single pattern if you need a 2/4 measure in your song.

The Step Button and 3/4 Time

To change a pattern to 3/4, use (Shift + Scale) and (Shift + +1) until you see 6 arrows marking the beats at the current tempo.

This time you have to shorten the pattern to 12 hits per measure. To do this hold the shift button and press the small button #8 (Step)
AND while still holding the shift button use the button with the -1 printed on it 4 times, to shorten to 12 beats.
You are now in 3/4 time. To double the resolution or use 3/2 time, Set the scale so you see three arrow markers.

While holding the Shift button, after pressing the Step button, The pattern grid in the display will show you how many hits per pattern you are using, in dots. +1 lengthens, -1 shortens.

Of course you can always use odd times by adjusting the Scale and Step as needed, I'll leave that to you to figure out. I once had to write a song using 1 beat per pattern, to switch between 8th and 8th triplets. This machine has limited memory, and it's best to stick to 4/4 and 3/4.


Personal Tip:
If your writing a 4/4 song that uses all 8th notes or less, at a tempo of 125 BPM or less, double the tempo and write 2 measures per pattern, to save pattern memory.

Stay Tuned for Lesson 6 - More On Song Assembly.
 
k, umm what does a cheap one of these go for?.....and dont scalled the rookie for asking(cause theres ALOT to read) but, sounds like alot of tapping on pads to make a complete set. is it really possible to make a good sounding kit from tapping pads? could you get double kick? and you could take preset patternes and change them up?(i mean four bars 4/4 then four 3/8 and back and so on...?)
 
Hey Torpid-x,
First a very BIG 2 thumbs up to your time and effort on the tutorial. Can't find any better help Anywhere!!!!!
Ques: What is the best drum machine for good sounding rock drums? All the older machines seem to favor the 808 -909 and the newer ones seem to be geared towards trance-hiphop-rap. I'm just looking for some decent rock-not metal, just solid. I'm currently using the ones on my Yamaha PSR550's auto-accompaniment section,but they are just not punchy enough.
Also, if I recorded the drums from the 550 to Cakewalk(midi sequence), would they playback on any of the newer Boss JS-5, DR670, DR770 machines or would I have to edit the sequence heavily? I just like to use the Yamaha to create mainly backing tracks when I compose. I am a guitar player, so all this midi editing stuff is too time consuming and alot of it over my head.
So...any ideas short of samples? TIA PEACE....
 
messsa said:
k, umm what does a cheap one of these go for?.....and dont scalled the rookie for asking(cause theres ALOT to read) but, sounds like alot of tapping on pads to make a complete set. is it really possible to make a good sounding kit from tapping pads? could you get double kick? and you could take preset patternes and change them up?(i mean four bars 4/4 then four 3/8 and back and so on...?)

Well, pinky got a used one for $25. check Ebay.

Setting up a good set is pretty easy. It's an old machine so the best you can hope for is a good, not great set.

Double kick sounds like a warlbling tone, being quantized to 16th (or 32 notes) bad results there.

you can assemble any combination of presets into a song, it doesn't matter what time signature the preset is in.
 
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