I've got a few pieces of kit from the end of the 70's that still see regular use, a Korg Stage Echo (1978), a Boss DM 100 delay machine (1980) as well as a Rhodes Mk 1 73 (probably a late seventies one approx 1977) and a Hohner E7 clavinet (Late seventies approx 1979).

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Quote:

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What's the oldest piece of gear you have in your studio? (that works!)

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Me!

But if you don't count that then the Hammond is only a few months younger than me, and I've a couple of mics that are a decade older.

Hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Well my Rhodes is as old as I am!

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Must call up Yamaha and get a definite date for my CP70b. The RD1000 (belonged to Greg Kane of Hue & Cry) would be mid-to-late 80s. And I've got a Yamaha PF2000 (88keys fully weighted based around a DX7 II) that I started gigging with in '88 or '89.

I've got an old philips mono reel-to-reel, one of the domestic valve ones form the very early sixties which i still use in it's pa mode as a guitar amp and with it's original mic sometimes for harmonica. It has the motor disconnected.

It's the same age as me, made the same year.

A Copicat Super IC.

Cheers!

Chris

1930's Art Deco Speaker with sunburst case, 1972 acoustic guitar (got it for me birthday in 1972) Early 1980's Otari MX80, 1990's Sony 3348. All in perfect working order!



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The only excuse we have for making music in the first place is to make it differently..vis-a-vis our own difference (Glenn Gould)

This one had me scratching my head!

I have a glut of gear that is dated around early to mid-70s, so it could be that my slurpy keyboards and pedals actually bow to my Stylophones for being earliest!

But...

My oldest gear is now probably my 1964 Reslo microphone. It does still work, but I haven't used it in anger. Yet...

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

1917 Steinway baby grand. Still sounds awesome

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My latest work

Here's a few bits & pieces still in use amongst the newer stuff:

1950s: Excelsior Chordette, Fender lap steel, Hodson clavichord, Zildjian Avedis Ride

1960s: Klemt Echolette tape delay, Zenta Trem / Reverb

1970s: Hohner Pianet, dbx 118, dbx 200, Carlsboro Marlin spring reverb, Roland RS-202, Yamaha SK10, Hillwood Fullroter, Shure SM59 x2, Shure M625 x4, Monington & Weston upright piano, Kimbara 12 string gtr, teac 2a mixer, teac mb20 VU meters, Slingerland concert tom kit, Roland SH09

early 80s: Crumar Steiner Masters Touch, Lexicon PCM60, a few guitars & drums, Klark Teknik EQs etc.

National Console 8, console steel guitar.
Same year as me 1946.
Cheers
Dave

My Gibson Les Paul Signature (may the great man rest in peace!) '73

My Gibson "The SG" from '79

My Oberheim Matrix 6R from the mid 80s. I got mine at the end of the run for £300 by mail from Turnkey

The latter two are still in daily use. The Signature comes out for recording

Although not strictly in my studio I also have a Kemble upright piano in my front room which was in my wife's family from the early 70s. It could be older...

Steve

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arK music

Edited by arkie-boy (13/08/09 08:16 PM)

DBX-100 Subharmonic Synthesizer the "Boom Box" with wooden side panels. No idea of the year. Would guess late 70s.

My mother in law will be giving me her Hammond soon. I will covet.

ken

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I'm All Ears.

Most of my hardware is 80s / early 90s

Oldest 'nearly working' is my Crumar DS-2 (1973) filter envelopes gone AWOL again

Oldest working:-

Fernandes FR120 (1983) - oh hang on, I've still got to fix the trem
Yamaha CS01 - (1983) oops one key is missing
Fostex 250 4 track - not used anymore needs a new drive belt

Roland SDE 2500 delay (1985) working perfectly, still use it on synths

Probably the oldest that I use almost daily is my Korg DST-3 pedal (1985) now on my second one after plugging in the wrong power adapter

Most people rate this pedal as mediocre but I cant live without it



Maybe Studio SOS could come round and fix all my dodgy broken stuff ??

Oldest: Boss DR 55 (~1980)
2nd oldest: Roland MC 202 (83-85)

edit: Wurlitzer music learning machine (~70's?)

Edited by ewe (13/08/09 09:30 PM)

Greek Mandolin circa 1850s
English Violin circa 1900
Banjolele circa 1930s
Yamaha R1000 Reverb - This went on the road around Australia for 20 something years seriously this thing is so hardy I think this thing would survive a nuclear attack. Go Yamaha!
Fender Twin 1971
Akai Reel to Reel 4 track 1971

oh and me!

Edited by SongCave (13/08/09 10:56 PM)

i have a 1955 argus cine camera that i bought for sampling (it really does sound amazing when its whirring) if that counts?

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Apple Certified Technician. One half of http://www.turnbacktospring.com

Farfisa Compact - candy red! Approx 1968.

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Adam Inglis
A Disco Ate My BABY!

Quote SongCave:

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Yamaha R1000 Reverb

---

Fabulous snare reverb. I really should shop around for one of those old treasures. Try gating it - still one of the best around for 'that' sound.

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

There's some interesting pieces being mentioned! Thanks.

I remembered that I also have a S55 Shure microphone, which is the Red silks edition, so it's from the 50's. It doesn't get used, but looks cool! I must use it on something, even though it's not got a good S/N ratio.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

I don't have room for much old gear in my current room but just outside the studio is a 1920's wind up gramophone. It can be seen hiding under the plant pots...



Cheers

James.

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JRP Music - Audio Mastering and Restoration.
http://www.jrpmusic.net

Quote The Elf:

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Quote SongCave:

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Yamaha R1000 Reverb

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Fabulous snare reverb. I really should shop around for one of those old treasures. Try gating it - still one of the best around for 'that' sound.

---

Actually Elf, it had a gated reverb preset on it and the only one I ever used.

The rest was kuk.

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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

The P4 processor in my computer is about 5 years old now...

In terms of proper equipment, my trombone is from the 80s (like me!) and the piano from the 70s I believe. No outboard to speak of, unless you count the (un-used) Behringer Ultra-something Pro... That must be a design from the 80s!

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www.allyle.co.uk

I've got some mics from the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and tape recorders from the 1950s and 60s but I guess that the oldest things would be some of the instruments I get to record so the oldest thing at any given time would depend upon who/what I'm recording; e.g. stringed instruments from the 1680s. Probably the oldest thing I've recorded was a pipe organ built in the 1430s but it's not in my 'studio' - there again, I usually record on location so for those days I was recording it, it was in what passes for 'my studio'.

I used to have an upright piano with candlestick holders next to the music stand! I gave it away, but as far as I'm aware, it still works.

Still got the 1st synth I ever bought, a Mini-Korg 700s bought in 1978 at a cost of £450 & still going strong. Also on my 3rd (!!) Roland RD1000, the one I currently have is ex-Texas & still sounds great after all this time. I've also got a Elka Rhapsody 610 string-machine from the 70's and it makes up its own mind whether it'll work somedays or not.!

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Mac G5 Dual 2.3/6gb Ram, MOTU 828mkII, Yamaha 02r, DBX 286A, Logic 8, Roland SRV-3030D, Roland JV-1080, Roland JV-1010, Emu Proteus 2000, Roland SC55 MK2, Tascam DA-30 MK2

Quote Zukan:

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Actually Elf, it (Yamaha R1000 reverb) had a gated reverb preset on it and the only one I ever used.

---

I only recall it having four presets, each pair of which were almost identical. Are we talking about the same device?

But I liked to use a real (drawmer) gate on it - fabulous exploding snare sound like that.

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Quote 0VU:

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Probably the oldest thing I've recorded was a pipe organ built in the 1430s but it's not in my 'studio' -

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Winner, well kind of!

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Quote Macs:

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I used to have an upright piano with candlestick holders next to the music stand! I gave it away, but as far as I'm aware, it still works.

---

What still works... the piano or the candlestick holders?

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www.allyle.co.uk

Not very exciting but a plain old Roland JX-3P that is older than me.
Pretty much everything else in my studio is 90's and mid 80's other than the Waldorf and Novation gear I have.
The other two older bits are the Roland HS-10 aka Juno 1 and Yamaha DX-100

throw in some mid 90's akai rack samplers and a late 90's mpc 2000xl and that's pretty much everything I got

Hmmm.
Oldest thing working (and in regular use) is an early 1970s home made stereo headphone amplifier, using the latest germanium output transistors (AC187/188) and a novel device called a 741 OpAmp

Oldest commercial product Mk1 Roland Sound Canvas - about 1990 I think.

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It wasn't me!
(Well, actually, it probably was)

Early 1970's beige Wurly EP200

Either my EDP Wasp synth (bought in 1979) or an Akai 4000DS reel to reel, bought s/h a year later but probably 5 or yrs old by then ...

Wasp still gets regular use, the Akai ... hasn't been turned on for at least 8 yrs. At least it still worked then !

There's a Challen upright piano as well - probably about 1960 vintage.

... and a pedal harmonium. God knows what vintage, probably pre-war. First world war...

... and an accordion. German, vintage unknown, I'm guessing about 1925.

and that'll do for now.

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http://anotherfineday.bandcamp.com/ http://anotherfineday.co.uk http://apollomusic.co.uk


Edited by tomafd (14/08/09 10:53 PM)

JX3-P....1983

'Cello...1873

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MacPro / G5 Quad / MacBook/ G4 / Logic / Adam / Euphonix / Apogee
http://www.nicholasvarley.com

Quote N1C0:

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JX3-P....1983

'Cello...1873

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I'd rather have the JX than the cello

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

An Atari 260ST circa 1985, still works, still boots and still can run Pro24 V2 (V3 and Cubase need 1GB RAM)

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The website and the Atari bit

Quote Richie Royale:

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Quote N1C0:

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JX3-P....1983

'Cello...1873

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I'd rather have the JX than the cello

---

I'd take the cello anyday..! The JX-3P is an absolutely naff (imo) synth. Hated it when it came out & still do to this day.

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Mac G5 Dual 2.3/6gb Ram, MOTU 828mkII, Yamaha 02r, DBX 286A, Logic 8, Roland SRV-3030D, Roland JV-1080, Roland JV-1010, Emu Proteus 2000, Roland SC55 MK2, Tascam DA-30 MK2

Quote infiniteloop:

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Quote Richie Royale:

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Quote N1C0:

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JX3-P....1983

'Cello...1873

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I'd rather have the JX than the cello

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I'd take the cello anyday..! The JX-3P is an absolutely naff (imo) synth. Hated it when it came out & still do to this day.

---

Some people love it and go nuts for it..personaly it's the least used synth I have but the strings are nice

Ah - such a great list of vintage audio equipment! My oldest gear includes a late 50's pair of 12" Tannoy Monitor Reds in Lancaster cabinets, late 60's Farfisa CompactDuo (I'm still searching for its external power supply) and early '70s Minimoog and ARP Odyssey.

That's the one - with 4 buttons with longer decay time for each. It also has parametric EQ.
It is certainly a "sound" hard to get from anything these days - and to gate it was heaven...in fact I might start using it again - it is just that I have been listening too much to everybody on the web talk up the latest and greatest lush /64trillion bit depth reverbs - when sometime the lofi bit depth reverbs have a distinct colour. I suppose many also got rid of theirs in the 90s because they were so "80s" ....

This is a cool thread as it just goes to show that
1. because it is old does not mean it is good
2. because it is new does not mean it is good
3. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder...(re: the rest is "KUK"?)

In fact here is one with pics
R1000 eBay

Quote SongCave:

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That's the one - with 4 buttons with longer decay time for each. It also has parametric EQ.
It is certainly a "sound" hard to get from anything these days - and to gate it was heaven...in fact I might start using it again - it is just that I have been listening to much to everybody on the web talk up the latest and greatest lush /64trillion bit depth reberbs - when sometime the lofi bit depth reverbs have a distinct colour. I suppose many also got rid of theirs in the 90s because they were so "80s"...

---

I got rid because it was a noisy, mono, one-trick pony. These days that wouldn't scare me, but the noise was the reason I had a gate on it in the first place! Mono was a big limitation when it was your only reverb.

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

1934 Bluthner grand piano is the oldest kit I own (hand built by Nazis). But my house dates from, I think, about 1849 so the acoustic is fairly vintage. I've done some recordings of an unrestored 1893 Conacher church organ and I must have recorded some fairly ancient fiddles, though I've never asked.

In the modern era, I have a 1970s Yamaha YC25D combo organ; still works as well as the day it left the factory - and still weighs 90 odd pounds! And in evolutionary terms I suppose my Sony KC55 DAT is prehistoric; again, still working fine.

STC mics from the 50's
Nagras from the 60s/70's
Sennheiser mics from 50s/60s/70s
Lexi stuff from the 80's
All great


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I am the Walrus.

1968 Fender Telecaster Custom, Ivory binding and maple neck - unfortunately the previous owner put a dimarzio dual sound humbucker in the neck pickup position sometime before 1980 when I got it.

Steinway upright - around 1900
Baby Binson - early 60s and still going strong.
Lots of stuff from seventies...

I guess it'll be the Minimoog - 70's vintage.



--------------------

Excluding instruments, which aren't quite "gear" in my mind, I've got a 1929 Illustravox Senior turntable/amplifier/ speaker combo that I can use as an amp. I think it was one of the first available powered speakers that wasn't a radio.

I've got a Euphonella Viol from the late 1800's.

It's a single string Viol with a metal "grammaphone" style horn attached to it which amplifies the sound.

Ironically the bow is more valuable than the instrument itself. The bow is made by Torté and apparently is quite expensive! :-)

Pearl baby,

Any chance of a pic m8?

I tried Googling it and got dik.

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Samplecraze
Stretch That Note

I have a nice condition Logan String Melody Mk1. (supposedly once owned by The Enid). Not sure what year, but think its from around 73.


I'm thinking of selling if anyone interested...

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Current live keyboards - Kurzweil PC3x - Korg Triton Extreme + Moss - Roland V-Synth V2. www.xyzband.info

Quote Zukan:

---

Pearl baby,

Any chance of a pic m8?

I tried Googling it and got dik.

---

I'll dig out some pics for you Eddie.

I have a 1974 Korg 800DV synth...

1974 Wilson. Tele-shaped, light as balsa, affectionately known as Killer, due to the stenciled Killer on the back from my dad's flirtation with total aggression music in 77-8 And it is totally nails. Even if it is gouged from years of abuse at the hands of two generations.

working?

EMT 140

Hello to everyone, my very first posting on this site.
My little home studio is lap top based.I use it to record click tracks,some top end vocal harmonies and some keyboard parts to play along with the show Im involved with.
Some old equipment I have stored there but very rarely use are 2x Alieses Quadraverbs,1 being one of the very first in the country! a early 80s Westone 1a 335 copy ( pre production tradeshow model,according to Westone site superb!)A wem near mint early 70s valve 1x12 combo and a absolute rocking late 70s Valve preamp volume Park 50watt 2x12 guitar combo,which someone has kindley re badged with a gold vintage plexi glass Marshall-Kitchen logo after taking off the original Park logo,they left me with another two of these badges.I wasnt happy at first but grungingly admit they look cool.

Quote leftie:

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early 80s Westone 1a 335 copy

---

I have one of these - it's called a Westone Rainbow IIRC and mine's a Rainbow II...

Welcome to the madhouse BTW.

I dunno, this may be cheating:-



It's my MIDI controller. The electronics are about 4 years old but the rest is about a century old. When I got the concertina I found it had poor quality, ill fitting reeds, which made for a sweet sounding but very unresponsive instrument. It was an ideal candidate for MIDI conversion.

Chris

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Put the fun back into dysfunctional.
Mr Punch's Studio

crumar ds2 ( for sale !)

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'normal' is the new abnormal

I have a Roland TR77 preset beatbox, with the brightly coloured preset buttons (Bossa Nova, Cha-Cha etc) that dates from the mid-70s. I think the first ones were made in 1973.

It was an ebay bargain, and is in perfect condition.

It's almost as old as me :-)

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Minke - Home Taping album :<a href="" target="_blank">http://minke.bandcamp.com/album/home-taping</a>

Quote Hugh Robjohns:

---

Quote:

---

What's the oldest piece of gear you have in your studio? (that works!)

---

That was going to be my answer, my Headbox! but you beat me to it - shops what a slouch I am, maybe the head isn't working after all!

Moog Source

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It's the most devastating moment in a young mans life, when he quite reasonably says to himself, "I shall never play The Dane!"

Quote Minke:

---

I have a Roland TR77 preset beatbox, with the brightly coloured preset buttons (Bossa Nova, Cha-Cha etc) that dates from the mid-70s. I think the first ones were made in 1973.

It was an ebay bargain, and is in perfect condition.

It's almost as old as me :-)

---

A really nice looking bit of kit. If only it was a bit more programmable.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

I have a Boss CS-2 compressor pedal from the early 80s...and a Chapman Stick from 1985(refurbished by Mr Chapman himself at eye-watering expense!). Old is good....but sometimes noisy !

A mid 70's very tatty but much loved Hohner pianet T

1786 Mittenwald violin. Do I win?

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Real strings online

You win best avatar! Love it!

Gotta be a gag in there about kittens and mittens, surely...

--------------------
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

Probably my Hohner Electrapiano or Fender Champ. I'm not actually sure exactly how the Electrapiano is, I think the Champ is '73. The Electrapiano could be from anytime from the late 60s to early 80s as far as I can work out, though I would imagine it's towards the earlier end of that range.

Quote Richie Royale:

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A really nice looking bit of kit. If only it was a bit more programmable.

---

I cheat by sampling the individual drum sounds...once inside the sampler, it becomes very programmable

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Minke - Home Taping album :<a href="" target="_blank">http://minke.bandcamp.com/album/home-taping</a>

I would have to say it's my Mic-Mix 'Super C' stereo Master Room Spring Reverb made in Texas in around the early 70's I believe. The sound is still so good I get people asking to use it for an overall 'wash' while mastering their album. I use it regularly to save the CPU usage as an artist is recording.

Moog Source: 1981.

Sounds awesome!

Quote Minke:

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Quote Richie Royale:

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A really nice looking bit of kit. If only it was a bit more programmable.

---

I cheat by sampling the individual drum sounds...once inside the sampler, it becomes very programmable

---

Aye it's a workaround. I have a TR808, which is similar in some ways sonically, but it does have a huge kick drum sound that I doubt the TR77 has.

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http://soundcloud.com/richie-royale
http://www.mixcrate.com/richieroyale

Quote Richie Royale:

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Quote Minke:

---

Quote Richie Royale:

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Aye it's a workaround. I have a TR808, which is similar in some ways sonically, but it does have a huge kick drum sound that I doubt the TR77 has.

---

Well the 808 certainly does have a great kick drum - very punchy.

The 77 kick has a certain lo-fi, sub-bassy charm though :-)

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Minke - Home Taping album :<a href="" target="_blank">http://minke.bandcamp.com/album/home-taping</a>