The MPC-60 of budget drum ROMplers

My first hardware drum machine was actually the successor to the 660: the DR-770. I got on well with the little blue and orange 770, but found that my ears would start to hurt if I spent too much time banging away at it; the 770 had perhaps more brightness and top-end sizzle than I (or anyone) needed at the time.

I sold my 770 and picked up a used 660 based on the following:

1. Reviews from owners of both machines stating that (despite way more sample memory on the 770) they found the selection of sounds on the 660 more usable, despite it's flatter, more lo-fi sound quality.

2. The 660 had two individual outs for routing snares/hats/etc to their own FX/mixer channel. The 770 had just one extra out. For my FX-heavy musical fumbling of that era, 2 individual outs meant "twice as good!".

3. Separate, dedicated buttons for (MPC-style) rolls and flams, instead of one switchable button for both on the 770. I was listening to a lot of IDM/drill'n'bass at the time... rolling AND flamming in the same recording take somehow seemed important to me.

4. According to the internet, Roger Linn had supposedly worked on and/or designed the 660, but not the 770, and Tom Jenkinson was on-record as having sequenced all drums on all albums (to that point) using a 660... so, despite the 770 having essentially the same sequencer, I wasn't above buying into some of the 660s very specific pedigree + mojo. Note: I've yet to find any hard evidence that Roger Linn actually contributed to the 660, beyond a single vague line on Roger's own website: "In addition to these designs for Akai, he also helped design products for a variety of companies during the 1990s, including the Japanese Roland company."

5. The 660 was dressed in black: all business... and therefor sexier. The 770's plastic colors, while still reasonably tasteful for this "Groovebox" era of gear, didn't really fit its design, intent, and sound... the colors said "I'm fun! Bang my pads! Make Crystal Method beats", but the actual experience was "serious drum sequencer for serious(ish) musicians". In both intent and execution, the 660 and 770 are more of a budget, ROMpler-only version of the MPC-60/3000 than any kind of sibling to contemporaneous products like the MC-303/505. I still have a peak-electronica-cash-in-era DR-202 somewhere, it couldn't be more different... mostly for the worse.

Anyway... I overestimated how much use I'd get from the extra outs and extra roll button, but the sounds didn't disappoint: they were indeed more fun, flat, and useful for lo-fi electronic beats, with the standout being a great range of aggressively-late-80s "dance" snares. Most every sound on the 660 starts off somewhere between 80s Phil Collins and Fine Young Cannibals, but you can quickly edit them into something you'd wanna hear for 3 or more minutes. A decade later, when I finally got a real TR-808, I remember being disappointed that its snare didn't have the same cutting presence as the single 808 snare sample on my 660... I tweaked in vain, trying to get the real deal to match its much more cost-reduced great grandson.

Note: I've heard the 660's sample set was sourced from the library of the earlier Roland R8 drum machine and it's expansion cards -- a late-80s instrument now considered a classic by some folks, and still getting action on recent Aphex Twin releases. While I haven't verified this sample-origin story myself, it's worth nothing that, even if true, the R8 is a 44.1kHz/16-bit machine, while the 660 is 32kHz/16-bit -- and the DAC on the much more upmarket R8 is likely to be from a higher shelf of the parts bin... whether or not these realities ultimately makes the 660 sound better or worse than the R8 is up to you and your ears. I've yet to demo an R8 in the flesh.

A couple years after all that, Legowelt helped me discover the crusty joys of Chicago's Dance Mania label, and the dozens of (forgive me) "Ghetto" House tracks and proto-Footwork tracks that used nothing more than the DR-660, a 4-track, a mic, and some attitude to make underground party vinyl. That same recipe was the centerpiece of the early/mid-'90s Memphis rap sound. Shawty Pimp and MC Spade's 1993 Solo Tape is the ultimate in DR-660 ingenuity; other than the background vinyl in the intro shout-outs, that tape is 100%, DR-660, 4-track and a mic. It's gold.

I eventually learned to love my TR-808's snare on it's own terms, and I really don't hammer on the 660 much anymore... but I'd never sell it. Despite sounding a little grainy and muffled by today's 24-bit DAC standards, the 660 represents (for me) a damn good idea, executed perfectly... and the over-achieving it's done in the world at-large since it's release is testament to how right Roland's planners, designers, and Engineers got things with this very approachable 1992 gem.

Preferred Settings + Usage:

Hezké neotřelé zvuky

Boss DR-660 má v sobě spoustu typických zvuků bicích z 90tých let, o kterých jsem vlastně začal přemýšlet až při zakoupení tohoto drum machine modulu. Nikdy jsem je neslyšel v žádném pluginu, opravdu. Ne, teď se nebavím o pokusu napodobit 909 nebo 808 od Rolandu, nebo klasický power rock kit. Ale je tu spousta opravdu dobrých zvuků, které se budou ještě určitě hodit do mé produkce pro žánry Synthwave atd. Není to určitě nejostřejší tužka ve vašem penálu, ale pokud se vám tento modul podaří koupit "levně", doporučuji ho mít. Tento nástroj mám v mém nahrávacím studiu Sunteem records.

One great deum machine

I have 2 of them. That's how much I love this machine.

Vintage Digital Drum Machine

I used a lot in many pop arrangement combining this digital texture with organic drum sounds. Punchy and snappy, still very interesting.