The Roland TR-505 is a budget drum machine

Drum machine

A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...

 and MIDI

Musical Instrument Digital Interface

MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...

 sequencer

Music sequencer

The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...

 from the same family as the Roland

Roland Corporation

is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...

 TR-909

Roland TR-909

The Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer is a partially analog, partially sample-based drum machine built by the Japanese Roland Corporation in 1983. The brainchild of Tadao Kikumoto, the engineer behind the Roland TB-303, it features a 16-step step sequencer and a drum kit that aimed for realism and...

, TR-707

Roland TR-707

The Roland TR-707 Rhythm Composer is a programmable digital sampling drum machine built by the Roland Corporation, beginning in 1984. The TR-707 was a staple in early house music, particularly with acid house. It is also a staple of almost all electronically produced Arabic pop music...

, and TR-808

Roland TR-808

The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer was one of the first programmable drum machines . Introduced by the Roland Corporation in early 1980, it was originally manufactured for use as a tool for studio musicians to create demos. Like earlier Roland drum machines, it does not sound very much like a real...

. Released in 1986, the unit can be used to sequence short, punchy, 12-bit samples. The drum kit includes basic rock drum sounds similar to those of the 707, plus a complement of Latin-style drum sounds similar to those of the TR-727, which was similar to the TR-707, but it had Latin instruments instead of rock drums.

Drum sounds:

Low Conga	Hi Conga	Timbale	Low Cowbell	Hi Cowbell	Hand Clap	Crash Cymbal	Ride Cymbal
Bass Drum	Snare Drum	Low Tom	Mid Tom	Hi Tom	Rimshot	Closed Hi-hat	Open Hi-hat

The three pairs that cannot be played simultaneously are cymbal crash and ride, rimshot and hand clap, and hi-hat open and closed.

Modes

The TR-505 features five basic modes, including the following:

• Track Play - plays whole tracks (arrangements of patterns to form songs).
• Track Write - sequence patterns into tracks.
• Step Write - sequence patterns by stepping through each position in the pattern.
• Tap Write - sequence patterns by tapping drums sounds in real time.
• Real time - play patterns in real time by tapping the pads.

Time signatures other than 4/4 can be programmed by changing the length of patterns and the scale, which actually refers to the signature ratio/swing.

Midi implementation

The unit handles MIDI quite capably. Each instrument can be assigned a level/velocity from one to five, a MIDI channel, and a MIDI note number. Individual pads also transmit MIDI data when tapped, although these aren't velocity sensitive. An accent can be applied to any position in a pattern and will affect all instruments triggered at that position by increasing their volume. The memory in the TR-505 can store up to 48 patterns in 6 songs.

External links

• Vintage Synth Explorer review
• TR-505 yahoogroup
• Burnkit2600 - Circuit bending and modding the TR-505