V
virtual.ray
New member
Anyone who owns or uses this drum machine? I just got one for $199 w/o manual.How does it compare to the R-8 MKII or the JV Bass&Drums Xpansion card?
Snouter
New member
I used one for several years, but you must get the manual (9 chapters)or user's guide (48 pages). I just sold mine and am unable to help with copying the documentation unfortunately.
I am looking to get the Boss Jam Station JS-5 or something similar because I am a guitar player and prefer focusing on non-rhythm sections.
The R-70 has two demo songs: press "song play" while holding "shift" and press ^ or v to select which one to play. Those give you an idea of its potential.
I would create songs by setting up the number of measures and then clicking the pattern generator using slightly different parameters until getting a pattern that doesn't sound too impossible for a human to actually play.
As with most Roland masterpieces, even with the manual and guide, it is not exactly easy to use!
I am looking to get the Boss Jam Station JS-5 or something similar because I am a guitar player and prefer focusing on non-rhythm sections.
The R-70 has two demo songs: press "song play" while holding "shift" and press ^ or v to select which one to play. Those give you an idea of its potential.
I would create songs by setting up the number of measures and then clicking the pattern generator using slightly different parameters until getting a pattern that doesn't sound too impossible for a human to actually play.
As with most Roland masterpieces, even with the manual and guide, it is not exactly easy to use!
V
virtual.ray
New member
Hi,thanks for responding!I had a feeling the manual would be indispensable.THe salesman where I bought it called Roland to get one(I made him include it as part of the deal),but I haven't heard back yet.Since I've already got a bunch of sequences I've put together over the years,at first my main use for this box is gonna be more or less using it like a sound module,although I'm sure eventually I'll do pattern and song programming on it as well.So,the 1st thing I need to figure out is how to set up user kits with specific drums and panning and reverb etc.I can map the note numbers that'll trigger each drum from my sequencer no prob,but I want to set up different snares & kicks for various songs.I'm assuming that in this scenario each kit would be equivalent to a patch on a synth and would therefore take a program change message via MIDI.Any time you could spend shedding light on how to do this with the R-70 would be much appreciated.Thanks! P.S.Why'd you sell yours? Did you find something better? "cause I think this thing sounds pretty amazing.
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virtual.ray
New member
JS-5
P.P.S. I spent around 2 hours fooling around with the JS-5 a week ago at a local store.THe first thing is that it totally smokes the DR-5 in both sound quality and ease of use.Then it gets better 'cause you can record audio into it AND SAVE THE AUDIO AS MIDI DATA.Is this why you sold your R-70? If I didn't already have gear that does what the JS-5 does I'd be real inclined to get one.But you'll still probably want to record real guitars.Cheers!
P.P.S. I spent around 2 hours fooling around with the JS-5 a week ago at a local store.THe first thing is that it totally smokes the DR-5 in both sound quality and ease of use.Then it gets better 'cause you can record audio into it AND SAVE THE AUDIO AS MIDI DATA.Is this why you sold your R-70? If I didn't already have gear that does what the JS-5 does I'd be real inclined to get one.But you'll still probably want to record real guitars.Cheers!
Snouter
New member
Hi virtual ray:
I am glad to hear you like the JS-5! I am trying to get MusiciansFriend.com to match an internet price I found lower than their catalog. But anyhow, I sold the R-70 mainly because I need the $$ toward purchasing the Boss Jam Station JS-5. I am guitarist and I like to play 12 bar blues and variations and it was too time consuming to create a separate drum track, then play a bass track, etc. I want to concentrate on the guitar solos.
There is no doubt the R-70 is amazing, extremely flexible, and with the positional pad, and parameter adjustments, just about any drum set sound seems possible.
Unfortunately, I am not particularly MIDI literate. Someone gave me a version of Cakewalk 5.0, and I could not get it going properly. I hope to get a Fostex digital 4 track soon and just save songs to the Zip Drive.
There were, however, at least 50 pages on the MIDI setups in the manual and I am sure when you get the manual, your questions will be addressed.
My recording configuration was create a R-70 song. Play the R-70 going stereo into (old) Fostex X-24 at the same time I played an electric bass through my Digitech RP-7 (guitar processor that contains a tube for warmth) and that was recorded on tracks 1 and 2. I then would play guitar through the RP-7 into a Ampeg Super Jet Amplifier and onto track 3 via microphone. And finally the most fun part, lead on track four. Hopefully, the JS-5 will help eliminate some steps so the journey to the 4th track will be quicker .
What I do remember with the R-70 is that you can assign any of the 210 pre-programmed and 32 user-programmed sounds to the 16 key pads. Pad Assignment: Press ASSIGN, then press 1. While holding the SHIFT down, select the Pad Group by pressing PAD BANK. Select the Pad Bank by pressing PAD BANK. Press the key pad that you want to assign a different instrument. Specify the new instrument with v or ^. Repeat for the others and hit EXIT when complete.
I am glad to hear you like the JS-5! I am trying to get MusiciansFriend.com to match an internet price I found lower than their catalog. But anyhow, I sold the R-70 mainly because I need the $$ toward purchasing the Boss Jam Station JS-5. I am guitarist and I like to play 12 bar blues and variations and it was too time consuming to create a separate drum track, then play a bass track, etc. I want to concentrate on the guitar solos.
There is no doubt the R-70 is amazing, extremely flexible, and with the positional pad, and parameter adjustments, just about any drum set sound seems possible.
Unfortunately, I am not particularly MIDI literate. Someone gave me a version of Cakewalk 5.0, and I could not get it going properly. I hope to get a Fostex digital 4 track soon and just save songs to the Zip Drive.
There were, however, at least 50 pages on the MIDI setups in the manual and I am sure when you get the manual, your questions will be addressed.
My recording configuration was create a R-70 song. Play the R-70 going stereo into (old) Fostex X-24 at the same time I played an electric bass through my Digitech RP-7 (guitar processor that contains a tube for warmth) and that was recorded on tracks 1 and 2. I then would play guitar through the RP-7 into a Ampeg Super Jet Amplifier and onto track 3 via microphone. And finally the most fun part, lead on track four. Hopefully, the JS-5 will help eliminate some steps so the journey to the 4th track will be quicker
.What I do remember with the R-70 is that you can assign any of the 210 pre-programmed and 32 user-programmed sounds to the 16 key pads. Pad Assignment: Press ASSIGN, then press 1. While holding the SHIFT down, select the Pad Group by pressing PAD BANK. Select the Pad Bank by pressing PAD BANK. Press the key pad that you want to assign a different instrument. Specify the new instrument with v or ^. Repeat for the others and hit EXIT when complete.
V
virtual.ray
New member
manual
Hey Snouter,I got the manual and power supply as the salesman promised for the R-70.I've been having fun with the Rythm Expert feature,it's almost like having a drummer sitting there coming up with ideas and it's already inspired 2 new song ideas for me.I found out that although the MIDI implementation is quite extensive for a 1992 machine,you can only address 4 user kits as program changes compared to 16 on the slightly more recent Boss DR-5.BUT each of those 4 kits can contain up to 129 instruments,so someone who has the patience can remap Note Numbers to be able to have more sounds per kit.Have you gotten your JS-5 yet?
Hey Snouter,I got the manual and power supply as the salesman promised for the R-70.I've been having fun with the Rythm Expert feature,it's almost like having a drummer sitting there coming up with ideas and it's already inspired 2 new song ideas for me.I found out that although the MIDI implementation is quite extensive for a 1992 machine,you can only address 4 user kits as program changes compared to 16 on the slightly more recent Boss DR-5.BUT each of those 4 kits can contain up to 129 instruments,so someone who has the patience can remap Note Numbers to be able to have more sounds per kit.Have you gotten your JS-5 yet?