Linn LM-1

An advertisement for the Linn LM-1, circa 1981

The LM-1 Drum Computer, manufactured by Linn Electronics, Inc., is the first drum machine to utilize digital samples of acoustic drums. Conceived and designed by Roger Linn, it is also one of the first programmable drum machines. Released in 1980 and originally retailing for $4,999 [1], it is prized by amateur and professional musicians alike for its rarity as well as its characteristic sounds, which can be heard on the recordings of such famous artists as Prince and Gary Numan.

History

Roger Linn was a semi-professional guitarist in the California area in 1978 when he began to develop the LM-1 as an accompaniment tool for his home studio. He had experimented with many of the preset rhythm boxes which were popular at the time, but was dissatisfied and "wanted a drum machine that did more than play preset samba patterns and didn't sound like crickets." [2] Having learned how to program in BASIC and assembly language, Linn set to work on a computer program which could play user-programmed rhythm patterns, as well as chain them together to form a song.

According to Linn, the first to suggest the idea of digital samples was Steve Porcaro of Toto. For his drum machine, the percussion sounds were played by local Los Angeles session drummer Art Wood. Linn accomplished this with a chip, built into the machine, which converted the digital samples into analogue audio. His first prototype, manufactured around 1979, was a cardboard box which contained the electronic components of the drum machine. Supposedly, Linn brought this prototype to parties and jobs and marketed it to fellow musicians, including Peter Gabriel, the members of Fleetwood Mac, and Stevie Wonder, who bought one of the first units ever produced.

In total, approximately 500 units were built and sold between 1980 and 1983, when the LM-1's successor, the LinnDrum, was released. The first 35 units were assembled in Linn's home, before manufacturing and distribution was taken over by 360 Systems, ran by Bob Easton.

Features

The LM-1's many features set it apart from other drum machines of its time, most of which could only play a limited selection of preset rhythms (i.e. Roland CompuRhythm CR-78). One of its most prominent features was its programmability. Although the Linn LM-1 was not the first programmable drum machine (the PAiA Programmable Drum Set was released 6 years earlier), it was the first to use digital samples and gained widespread popularity among professionals, including Prince on 1999, Gary Numan on Dance and The Human League on Dare!. The LM-1 also introduced a "shuffle" feature, which enabled users to program swing notes into their rhythms. Although this feature has often been imitated, the "Linn shuffle" has widely been recognized as the best and most natural-sounding, and is present on every device Linn designed, including the Akai MPC series. The LM-1 included a built-in 13-channel mixer (one channel for each sound) as well as individual output jacks. This enabled Linn's machine to integrate with existing recording equipment in a way that had previously not been possible for a drum machine. Unlike the later Linndrum, the LM-1 also had individual tuning pots for each voice, resulting in many users requesting the much larger and feature-laden LM-1, even after the Linndrum was introduced in 1983. Unlike its younger brother, the LM-1 lacked cymbal sounds and the drum sounds could not be triggered by MIDI or trigger inputs. Nevertheless, the LM-1's sounds are very punchy and prominent, and it still sounds great, even by today's standards.

There are notable differences between the features of the earliest LM-1's built by Linn himself, and the later LM-1's built by 360 Systems. Unlike the later LM-1's, the earliest (Rev. 1 and early Rev. 2) units had buttons engraved with a small symbol of the drum it represented (the bass drum button had a small engraving of a bass drum on it). The Rev. 1 units did not have a sync input or tape backup circuit, but did have separate tom and conga circuits so that these sounds could be layered. Later models would not allow tom and conga sounds to be played simultaneously. The Rev. 2 LM-1's introduced two rows of LED's to indicate the shuffle and quantize settings, trigger sync and FSK sync jacks in the back, and several additional buttons on the front panel. There were a handful of Rev. 2 LM-1's with engraved buttons and shuffle LED's but they are extremely rare. Cost-cutting measures were introduced to later Rev. 2's such as removing the engraved buttons and adding the drum names to the front panel, removing the sync input jack and sync output knob from the back of the machine (the current quantize setting became the sync output rate by default), removing the low volume stereo outputs, decreasing the size of the play/stop button, and replacing the raised buttons with sealed buttons (flush with the surface) that were notoriously difficult to clean.

Influence

Because of the Linn LM-1's versatility, it superseded its original purpose as an accompaniment tool and became a fully-fledged rhythm section for many synthpop and progressive acts. Along with the Roland TR-808, which was released around the same time, it is widely credited with legitimatizing drum machines which, with a few notable exceptions, had previously largely been considered toys by most professional, mainstream musicians.

However, in some ways the most important and lasting of the LM-1's various features is its sounds, which remain powerful and characteristic. Linn acknowledged that his lack of audio engineering know-how may have contributed to his drum machine's unique sound - many of the samples contain playback frequencies above the Nyquist frequency which, although it results in aliasing under normal circumstances, contributes much to the "sizzle" of the LM-1's sound. [3]

As of 2007, LM-1's have sold for as high as $5,000 on the used market, depending on condition, revision, and/or modifications. The average price for a used LM-1 in good condition appears to be around $1500. Those that were owned or used by famous musicians or that contain rare add-on cymbal boards or other custom modifications tend to sell for much higher.

Linn introduced the successor to his revolutionary machine in 1982. The LM-2, also called the LinnDrum, contained more sounds (including cymbals), more options for programming sounds (step programming mode), and 5 programmable trigger inputs, but was a step back from the LM-1 in that it removed the ability to tune all of the individual drum sounds (hi-hat, bass, cowbell, tambourine, sidestick, and many other sounds were no longer tunable). It retailed for $2,500 less than the original LM-1 and the cost-cutting measures are quite obvious when one compares the two machines side-by-side. Although the Linndrum helped make electronic drums more affordable for the common musician, they are still not as revered as the LM-1 and generally can be found on the used market for much less.

Notable artists who have used the Linn LM-1

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