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Roger Nichols Wendel

Roger Nichols Wendel

$14.50 Price Tier: Budget

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Page last updated Jan 16, 2026

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In the Audio Samplers category, Roger Nichols Wendel is priced in the Budget/Beginner range. This is great gear to get started with or for creators on a budget.

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Step into the world of Roger Nichols Wendel, where vintage meets innovation in the realm of DJ Gear and Audio Samplers. Originally unveiled in 1984, the Wendel was crafted as a lightning-fast drum replacer, but it quickly evolved into a must-have tool for musicians looking to add a distinctive touch to their tracks. Designed by the legendary audio engineer Roger Nichols, this sampler encapsulates the artistry of the era with its meticulously engineered acoustic drum and percussion samples.

Unlike traditional drum machines, the Wendel prides itself on replacing the "horrible" synthetic sounds with its own quirky, yet captivating, acoustic hits. From the classic "Heart" kick and snare to unexpected elements like duck quacks and explosions, the Wendel is all about variety and creativity. This sampler doesn't just replay sounds; it breathes life into them, making each beat feel genuinely unique and engaging.

The magic of the Wendel lies in its high-fidelity digital samples, recorded with precision and without the influence of EQ or tape - a rarity for its time. This meticulous approach ensures that every sample retains its original punch and clarity, offering producers a clean slate to work from. Whether you're crafting rock, country, or disco tracks, the Wendel's expansive sound library is sure to inspire and elevate your music production.

Key Features:

High-fidelity digital samples without EQ or tape influence
Unique acoustic drum and percussion samples
Includes 20 original drum voices with 24 pitches each
Offers a wide array of sounds including classic kicks, snares, duck quacks, and explosions
Designed for use in various DAWs and samplers
Ideal for producers seeking a blend of vintage and modern sound palettes

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Synclav com

WENDEL (Roger Nichols/Steely Dan) Drum Computer - Not the WENDELjr, the REAL WENDEL!

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Donald Fagen

Singer, Keyboardist

Steely Dan

Verified via Soundonsound

An original version was used on "Hey Nineteen", while the Wendel-II was used on The Nightfly, as stated by Fagen in this August 2006 Sound on Sound interview and clarified on Nichols' official history page for the Wendel, respectively.

On both Fagen's first two solo albums, The Nightfly and Kamakiriad, mention is made of the use of sampling technology, while Morph The Cat has none of it. What has changed? "We started using sequencing and stuff on [Steely Dan's] Gaucho," replies Fagen, "out of desperation really. We were having trouble laying down 'Hey Nineteen'. We tried it with two different bands and it still didn't work, so one of us said something like 'It's too bad that we can't get a machine to play the beat we want, with full-frequency drum sounds, and to be able to move the snare drum and kick drum around independently.' Roger [Nichols] replied 'I can do that.' This was back in 1978 or something, so we said 'You can do that???' To which he said 'Yes, all I need is $150,000.' So we gave him the money out of our recording budget, and six weeks later he came in with this machine and that is how it all started."

The pioneering machine was the now-legendary Wendel, reportedly based on a CompuPro S100 computer with an CPM/86 operating system. It was capable of replacing already recorded sounds and moving them around, rather than constructing a drum track from scratch. "This was in the days when digital was still very primitive," recalls Fagen. "Roger's machine did not even have any switches, it only had a regular computer keyboard and he had to type all these bytes out, huge lists of numbers, which took him 20 minutes, and at the end he would hit Return, and we heard this one snare a beat. It took so long. It got a little better during The Nightfly, but it was so horrible, I have tried to figure out how to get out of sampling ever since."