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From: dce@hammer.UUCP (David Elliott)
Newsgroups: net.music.synth
Subject: Re: Roland TR-707
Message-ID: <1177@hammer.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Apr-85 02:13:43 EST
Article-I.D.: hammer.1177
Posted: Fri Apr 19 02:13:43 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 20-Apr-85 08:09:32 EST
References: <1583@decwrl.UUCP>
Reply-To: dce@hammer.UUCP (David Elliott)
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
Lines: 45


A few additional comments about the Roland TR-707.

I bought one three weeks ago (I only paid $525, but I buy everything from
the same store), and I have been very impressed with it.

The user's manual is very well written, and you get a reference card
so you don't have to carry the manual.

The sounds are excellent and the set of instruments is quite adequate
for most purposes.

I also have a DR-110 (a nice little drum synthesizer which is well worth
the $190 I paid for it), and have played with the other Roland drum machines.
The TR-707 provides the programming modes of both the DR-110 and the other
machines, so you get the best of all worlds.

Since the last reviewer didn't talk a lot about the editing features, I will.
A "track" is a sequence of patterns, like a song. A single track can have
up to 998 patterns in it. There are four tracks, and they share the 998
pattern area (so if you have one 900-pattern track, you only have 98 to
share amongst the other three tracks). There are four edit functions:
pattern-pattern copy, track copy, track insert, and track delete. Pattern-
pattern copy makes a copy of one pattern in another pattern space, which
is very nice for variations. Track copy enables you to copy a sequence of
patterns from one part of a track to another, which is nice for most rock
songs (there is no Da Capo on the TR-707 as there is on the DR-110). Track
insert allows you to insert pattern sequences into a track (great for when
you find out you missed a part after writing a long song). Track delete
allows you to delete part of a track.

These editing features make a big difference. With the DR-110, you have to
rewrite the song if you mess up.

I agree that the crash cymbal is a little loud when accented, and I too
would have liked a decay control. Can anyone out there recommend an
inexpensive VCA/Envelope Generator unit? One with both an external trigger
and triggering from the input would be great (I don't want to give up
my rimshot trigger, since it runs my percussion synthesizer box).

Also, if there are some people with TR-707's that would like to trade
tracks, contact me.

			David Elliott
			tektronix!tekecs!dce