Roland CR-78

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Roland CR-78 is a drum machine that was launched in 1978. According to the standards of modern electronic music, the device looks very simple, but for the time it represented an enormous improvement in drum computer technology: the CR-78 was the first programmable drum computer on the market.

If you look at the wooden case and the stored rhythms such as waltz, rock, tango, bossa nova or rumba, it stands to reason that the designers saw the CR-78 essentially as an accompanying instrument for organs. However, it became a popular instrument with new wave and electronic musicians in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The machine can also be heard on some well-known songs, such as Heart of Glass by Blondie or In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins .

The sound generation of the CR-78 is analog. Early Intel - microprocessor was installed for digital control of editing options. The instruments to be simulated do not sound natural, but have their own sound. The CR-78 paved the way for Roland to the success of the later TR-808 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. Ralf Schluenzen: Vintage Drum Machine: Roland CR-78 CompuRhythm , bonedo.de, March 2, 2017; accessed November 21, 2017.
  2. on the importance of the CR-78 for In the Air Tonight cf. for example Robyn Flans: Classic Tracks: Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" , Mix (online), May 1, 2005; accessed November 21, 2017.