My favorite vintage* drum machine-also a mod to for midi!

Maestro Rhythm King MK-1

Ok, 1st-on the MIDI mod: I should say unless your gifted at these mods- it may be difficult to find someone who will take on this particular midi mod. It's a VERY crowded box & difficult to work on (not my field, this is from my very gifted electronic tech & word of mouth). My tech offered to do this for me 6ish years ago & he had a lot of enthusiasm still -in spite of dealing with very difficult repairs he had to make already (I, foolishly took it on many tours w/o a tech)-I hope he's still game after all these years. If you Google around for this mod I have found at least one page where people are willing to do this, however they do make mention of the difficulty with this particular unit. If you have trouble finding it I believe I bookmarked it as a "just in case"

Okay! News outta the way about the MIDI mod! Take heart, if you really want it-you'll get it done. I know I will.

FUN STUFF!**

Here's the brief on this magical machine:

From ReVerb.com- "The Maestro Rhythm King is an analog drum machine popularized by groups such as Sly and the Family Stone in the 1960s and early 1970s. These machines had over fifteen preprogrammed rhythms, such as Bossa Nova, Samba and Cha-Cha. Eight sound trigger buttons on the front demanded careful planning of sampling and fills.

The Mark I offered a different array of preprogrammed settings from the 1970s Mark II edition."

So yup, them is the hard facts & for me it's all good news. I actually had a MK-1 on several records I've had released. For that matter they seemed to be everyone's favorites with that band...I agree really.

So for my favorites:

-PUSH IN MULTIPLE BUTTONS AT ONCE! Crazy poly fun. Play with the tempo while you do. What might sound like madness or dull can radically change with just multiple buttons in & adjusting the tempo till it sits in.

-Wanna sample it (like million have done of course) you've got 8 buttons to trigger individual analog drum sounds.

-toy with polyphony! Might not be in your song but it's awesome to break your rhythmic habits in "_______" instrument(s). Great for crushing a rut where everything you play feels like it sounds the same. We've all been there.

-my particular model is a 1966 build (I'm nearly positive but ready to be wrong)

I'm hesitant to say this as accuracy if my focus-but it was the 1st widely distributed drum machine to appear on a widely distributed album (I await being corrected) with Sly & The Family Stone. More in that here:

https://medium.com/cuepoint/sly-stone-the-original-rhythm-king-da29241897b5#.mp8mi1cu6

If your into that, check this out (disclaimer I've got so much to enter I can only do my best to provide good resources, I haven't 100% fact checked this but I think I'm on solid ground)

A bit of history on the drum machine & its migration into recorded music-

https://medium.com/cuepoint/looking-for-the-perfect-beat-machine-3c110417f81a#.ol1f9ixtx

disclaimer** So in an effort to gather & present better info I will be borrowing from well worn & checked specifications & then offer my thoughts/review after. So hard facts you should know-then my personal views/experience. Feels like a good formula & will hopefully save me having to do embarrassing edits after the fact. Thanks to the great community for making sure things are accurate. If I missed anything you think should be included or I'm just wrong on anything please reply & I'll fix it up.